sleep

I don’t know where you fall in the gauntlet of the “my kids are young enough for a bedtime” years, but we are still somewhere smack in the middle.

We have five kids spanning 8 years between them. Sleep routines are a must around here.

And that starts with what we do to signal that it’s time to start pressing into the unwind.

Here’s what that looks like for all of our kids:

1. After dinner, three of them enjoy their Kidscents Unwind supplement. (All natural – hormone free- powder supplement that tastes like a watermelon pixie stick. It’s full of good ingredients that promote the production of a child’s natural sleep hormones.) –

( Synthetic hormones and even natural melatonin can disrupt the body’s natural production. It can become addicting and eventually not enough. We try to avoid that at all costs with ourselves and our children.)

2. Everyone heads to brush teeth and turn down the lights in the house. We all have low light lamps by our beds, so all overhead lighting goes off and lamps come on. This is the beginning of letting our bodies know through our eyes that the day is almost done.

3. Everyone starts their diffuser, climbs into bed, and picks up a book. This is a simple way to let the mind ease into rest without the overstimulation of an electronic or the damaging effects of the blue light from screens that stops melatonin production.

This sweet girl LOVED her time reading in the rocker.

4. Time with Mom and Dad. We try to be intentional about their first and last moments each day. Getting to bed at a decent hour so that there are a few hours of “before midnight” sleep, gives my children the opportunity to wake up tomorrow ready for the day. A few moments of reading together, praying, or simply listening to their thoughts will help them process and exhale everything swirling around in their minds.

Tip: On the nights that our routine includes a bath, we like to add epsom salts infused with Kidscent’s Sleepyize essential oil blend.

Always add oil to epsom salt, allow it to sit for a few minutes, and then salt to water. A way we love to do this is to prepare a cute jar in advance and then just add a little to each bath. (maybe 1 cup per bath)

So the only question is…. are you ready to transform bedtime?

Grab your Kidscents Unwind HERE.

I don’t know about you, but waking up multiple times a night because of my bladder was driving me crazy. I needed my sleep.

After five kids, most people expect that I have bladder issues, but our last child was born in 2015 and I haven’t struggled at all. I can run and jump rope with no issues.

A few months ago though, I began waking up every night as if I were pregnant again. I would literally have a completely full bladder several times a night.

I thought I simply needed to drink less, but that didn’t do the trick.

I was also having some pretty intense discomfort right above my pubic bone that I had assumed was maybe cysts associated with ovulation possibly since I had dealt with those when I was younger. And what’s worse is that I was starting to feel like my bladder wasn’t emptying properly during the day too.

I started doing some digging and came up with 3 simple steps that have helped my bladder understand that we are sleeping during the night.

Step 1: Cut out food and beverages after dinner.

I love to drink my Magic Mushroom “cocoa” from YourSuper each night so I make sure I do that right after we finish dinner. I think of it as my dessert. Not a drop or crumb after that. This gives me a couple hours before sleep to completely empty my bladder.

Step 2: Completely empty your bladder.

This is something that I hadn’t realized I needed to address and, if I’m honest, I think that my cell phone (gross, I know, but I’m a mother and sometimes that’s my only quiet time/space all day long) and my stress level (hello 3 months at home and a world gone mad) had a LOT to do with this part. When you go to the restroom, go alone. Literally. No phones, no books, no magazines. Leave your “to do” list at the door and RELAX your body. Breathe deeply and sit there long enough to fully empty your bladder. I can’t tell you how many times in the last two weeks I’ve sat there a tad longer only to find that there was still a lot more.

Step 3: Bladder care.

My bladder care looks like pelvic floor care and essential oils. Yes, oils. Hear me out. I was doing some reading about how essential oils can support the bladder when I came across a “hanging” bladder section. (Essential Oils Pocket Reference) I realized the pain I was feeling happened a lot when I needed to have a BM and when it was full. Furthermore, when I needed to poop, I couldn’t empty my bladder until after I was done with that part.

I decided to give the oils a try and wouldn’t you know that my nighttime AND daytime issues have significantly decreased in just 2 weeks. (Night one, I was only up once and now i’m sleeping through the night).

Here are the oils I use and where I apply them:
(Scroll to bottom to grab these oils for yourself)

I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me. If it does, I’d LOVE to know about it.

Sweet, uninterrupted dreams, friends!

xoxo
Courtney

P.S. If you don’t have those oils, you can grab them from Young Living Essential Oils HERE. (Even if you’re not a Young Living member)

I use only YL because they are the only company on the planet who owns and co-operates their farms all over the world where each plant is sustainably grown to be the best possible purity and potency. They do this via their Seed To Seal promise.

If you’ve never tired, YL, all three of the oils I mentioned can be found in the Premium Starter Kit (as well as individually when added to the Basic Start Kit) HERE. The Premium Starter Kit makes you a wholesale member of YL forever. You’ll receive 24% off of anything you need forever. No monthly required expenses. I call it the “Costco of Healthy Products”. Order what you want, when you want at the best price.

Tag: sleep

Happy Sleep Routine

3 tips for night time bladder control