I think one thing we all can agree on - especially if you're a parent... Is how valuable sleep truly is. For me personally, I am a stay at home mom! After a long day with the kiddos, sometimes I'm more ready for bed than they are. And sleep lately in this household has been way off the map.
Our five year old daughter has this non stop energy. She is bouncing off the roof and it's 10PM. She goes to kindergarten, FULL TIME - Monday through Friday. Yet, she is absolutely wired .. what am I missing? And her little brother has this constant need lately for me to hold him until he falls asleep.
He will not, and I repeat WILL NOT go to sleep unless he is in my arms. He will scream like there is no tomorrow until he sees my face.
And what makes things worse... In the middle of the night he'll wake up out of nowhere and walk into our room (crying already), and wanting to snuggle in our bed.
If I take him to his bed in the middle of the night, this is what my typical sleep schedule usually looks like:
- I'll place him in his bed where he then clings for dear life that I don't leave.
- Once he finally falls asleep and I hear snoring, he senses it immediately, starts crying. I place him in his bed. Give him a kiss. Tell him to please go to bed. He follows. We do this pretty much all night long until I get totally and completely exhausted.
I needed a different solution. I was desperate. Literally losing sleep by the night, and feeling completely hopeless. I needed SOMETHING!
My sister mentioned melatonin gummies because she gives them to all three of her kids before bedtime. I thought what could go wrong?
We purchased two different brands to coincidentally find out that they are both identically the same in every way. The ingredients, the dosage, the flavor, even the way they look and smell is exactly the same. But still we kept both in case they turn out to be a huge success.
Night 1:
On the first night, I gave Gracie one gummy, and I gave Rylan half a gummy and them got them both in the bath so that we could start bedtime routine because the label suggests allowing 20-30 minutes before they fully work. Well, halfway through the bath Gracie got really sleepy. She started to get cranky and she really just wanted bed. She mentioned that she doesnt like the way she felt in that moment. So I got her out of the bath, and Rylan too. Got them both dressed and tucked them in. That night it was easy to lay them both down. I think they fell asleep in seconds honestly.
A couple of hours later however, Rylan woke up screaming - more than usual and made his way into our bed...
About an hour later, Gracie woke us up crying and screaming that she had a nightmare and can't fall back asleep.
Same thing happened with night 2 and night 3:
Rylan can't talk, so we aren't sure if he was getting nightmares like Gracie was - and if the nightmares even happened because of the gummies. But when Gracie sleeps, it's usually rare that she a bad dream. Especially one three nights in a row.
We stopped giving the both of them the gummies. It's just not worth it. I am trying to find more easier, natural solutions to getting Rylan to fall asleep all on his own, and Gracie to calm her energy levels down at bedtime - not hours later.
Any and all advice however would be greatly appreciated ☺️
The takeaway:
Melatonin gummies are not for us. We tried them. I don't know if it was just the brands we used - but we're just going with our hearts and saying no on this one. What works for my sister's kids, and other little ones just didn't for us. But I'm glad to say we tried because now we know! Let me know in the comments below if you use gummies or other forms of sleep aids for your kids to fall asleep at night. What works best for you? What didn't? I'd love to hear from you :)
Until next time,
Jess ❤️
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