Have you ever had one of those nights where your baby just does not want to sleep or where your older kids are running around the house like wild hooligans? I have those nights. Quite often to be honest with you.
My kids are still small and they have LOTS of energy. Being that it’s winter here in Tennessee and the ground is covered in snow, there’s not too much to do outside on a regular basis so their energy builds up and results in a chaotic scene some nights before bed.
When I find that my kids are wound up and bedtime is approaching, I have to assess our situation and many times make adjustments to what we’ve got going on in order to help them calm down.
So if your kids are like mine, I have 3 pieces of advice for you that should help your kids calm down and get a good nights rest… along with a little DIY goodie for you too. Who doesn’t like those?
3 Things That Will Help Your Child Settle Down Before Bed
Well, my first piece of advice here would be to establish a bedtime routine. Every night before bed, we go through the same steps in the same order. My kids are used to it, they know what to expect from it, and it helps them to start calming down because they know bedtime is approaching.
My second piece of advice would be to cut out things that stimulate them. This may be a quick tv show before bed, wrestling with dad, listening to music, eating a snack, so on and so forth. If you notice that your kids are consistently wired before bed, look over their routine and see if you can find anything that is giving them too much stimulation.
Lastly, replace anything stimulating with something relaxing. Maybe you can gather your kids up with you on the bed and read them a book or two. Perhaps you can sit by the fire and tell each one of them something they did that day that made you happy Maybe you could make a nice massage oil together during the day and give them a massage with it before bed. Maybe you can give them a calming, warm bath right before putting their pjs on and putting them in bed. Maybe it’s as simple as rubbing their backs while you sing them each a lullaby in their beds.
This last piece of advice is where our DIY comes into play.
My kids love helping me make things in the kitchen, and they also love putting fun stuff in their baths. I’m not big on giving my kids a bath every day, but they do like to play in the tub. In order to keep them smelling good and to not deny them their joys of bath time, many times I’ll put things in their bath water that will help their skin, not harm it like too much soap oftentimes can.
Enter, relaxing bath salts.
Why Use Bath Salts In Your Children’s Bath?
Bath salts are a perfect addition to your kids bath if you’re trying to cut back on the soap. Not only are the salts good for your child’s skin and body because they provide some added minerals for your kiddo and they don’t dry their skin out as much as soaping up daily will, but this recipe is formulated to help them relax so that after bath time, they’re ready to settle down to a good nights rest.
DIY Relaxing Bath Salts Recipe
You’ll need:
- 1 cup of redmond bath salts
- 1 TBSP of oil (sweet almond, jojoba, coconut)
- 7 drops of relaxing lavender essential oil (buy here or buy here)
- 3 drops of grounding patchouli essential oil (buy here or buy here)
Directions:
Put all your ingredients in a bowl, mix well, put in a pretty glass jar, label, and store. Put about 2 TBSP of your salts into a full tub (use 1 tsp. for baby tubs) and mix well allowing them to dissolve. Put your kids in and let them play away!
Enjoy!!! ~ Meagan
Love this! I was JUST looking for an answer to whether Epsom Salts were safe for my 18 month old. I wanted to relax him. However, do you have any alternatives to patchouli? I really don’t like patchouli… thanks!
You can leave it out altogether or replace it with Chamomile EO instead.
Hi! I’m so glad you posted this. We’ve been having some trouble getting our 2-year old to sleep at night. More troublesome though is that for the past couple months she has been having nightmares almost every night. We have no idea what started this, as other then my poor health our lives are fairly decent and she is a very happy child. Do you have any recommendations? I really need some suggestions. I have nightmares often, and it breaks my heart that she’s so young and having them so often. Thank you ahead of time for any advice you have. I love your blog and know you are very knowledgeable about children’s health.
I’m so sorry about your little one an her nightmares Tracy. I honestly don’t know much about them. My kids have had them here and there, but nothing that’s been ongoing or concerning.
My first thought would be to make sure your little one’s diet is in good shape. I know that can be hard sometimes, but it seems like the more nutrient dense a child’s diet is, the better they function in all areas of life. She needs to be getting lots of organic/local non-gmo veggies, quality proteins, and healthy fats. Also, getting out in the sun and getting Vitamin D is great, as is having good gut health either by taking probiotics or eating cultured/fermented foods. Trace minerals could be lacking too so trace mineral drops may be a good addition as well. To me, diet is always gonna be #1 and the thing to look into first. Ask yourself, where does her diet need improved and how can you work to make that happen? I’ve got a post planned soon that talks about children’s multi-vitamins and supplements to help explain them a bit better. Stay tuned for that.
The next thing I’d say was to make sure her life is as routine as possible because routines tend to help kids feel secure and in control… it helps them know what to expect. This can be hard as well, but maybe just starting with a bedtime routine would be a good thing. You may already do that of course, but maybe go a little further with it and spend more quality time with here before bed if possible. Give her a nice warm bath full of fun playtime. These relaxing bath salts would be perfect for that. Follow up with some jammies and body oil and massage. Read her a book. Put on some nice soft music, sing her lullabies, tuck her in, say prayers to her (we specifically pray for good dreams), and put her to bed. You may do a lot of that and if you do, then this may not be the area to work on.
Lastly, there are herbs that you can give her that are calming, sedative type herbs that are safe for kids. I would advise giver her these in a glycerin tincture before bed. Teas are great, but you don’t want her drinking lots of fluids before bed. Some relaxing herbs for kids are chamomile, lemon balm, passionflower, lavender, catnip, and lobelia. Here’s a post on children’s relaxing herbs and a few of the things I mentioned here are addressed.
Best of luck with this. We mamas don’t like seeing our babies upset so I hope things get straightened out for you soon!
Tracy, it sounds like your daughter may be suffering from night terrors. I have seen some good information concerning night terrors but don’t remember what it was so if I were you I would look it up and see what you can find to help her.
I have thought about using lavender for a while but wasn’t sure what to mix it with. Thanks for sharing this 🙂
You’re so welcome!
Are Epsom salts not good?
Epsom salts are great! You can use them on their own or in combination with the salts in this recipe.
So I can use epsom salt instead of the Redmond salt?
Yes, definitely!
How often can a 15 month old be bathed with epsom salts?
From what I’ve read, they can be bathed nightly with it if you want. They’ll absorb the magnesium through their skin, and it can help them sleep. Just make sure they don’t drink too much of their bath water as the magnesium can irritate their bowels if they drink too much of it (and because these bath salts have EOs in it).