When decorating and planning your child’s bedroom, creating a calm environment can be a great idea so your child associates it with relaxing and going to sleep, rather than a place to play. With limited space in most houses, bedrooms do tend to be multi use places, whether its a place to play, do homework, read and sleep. However, there are some simple ways to make it a relaxing environment too.
Decor
The way the room is decorated can make a big difference. Create a calm space by using soft neutrals like greys and taupes mixed with pastel colours. You could paint, get a mural or kids wallpaper but remember, as much as your child may love red, or in our case, Lucas would love Teenage Mutant Turtle walls, it will be overstimulating.
Consider how furniture is arranged
You could arrange the furniture so that there is a specific space for sleeping, play, a desk for homework and even a reading corner. If there isn’t space for each place, you could find ways to put the toys and games out of sight once it gets towards bedtime. Using under bed storage is one way of achieving this. Use floating shelves to keep teddies and dolls off the floor and uncluttered. Keeping the bedroom clear of distractions will help clear their mind at the end of a day.
Think about the noise
Consider the noise in the room, whether the room echoes and if it needs anything to make it quieter and more cosy. Using a bedroom rug or bean bag can assist with this, adding comfort and it creates a warmer feel to the room.
You could also use white noise at bedtime to relax your child. Lucas has listened to lullabies on his baby monitor since he was born, he is nearly 5 years old now and still asks for the lullabies on each night.
Lighting
Keep the curtains open during the day to let the daylight stream in. Soft, soothing lighting is ideal for a bedroom. Having a dimmer switch on the light is a fab idea for gradually lowering the light towards bedtime. On the windows, make sure you use either blackout curtains or black out blinds so your child isn’t waking at 5am or thinking it’s still the middle of the day at 11pm. If your child doesn’t like being in the dark, your could get a nightlight for them. Lucas’ baby monitor that plays lullabies, also projects stars onto the ceiling so he keeps that on all night.
A comfortable bed
No matter how calming the bedroom may look, if the bed isn’t comfortable, there will be no relaxation and a restless nights sleep. Invest in a good mattress, many mattress companies now do long offers, where if you aren’t happy after so many days, you can return. When you spend so much on a mattress and you want your little one to have proper support whilst sleeping, it’s definitely worth looking for this.
Sleeping tips
As well as a relaxing bedroom, there are other ways you can help your child have a healthy sleep. A relaxing bedtime routine is good to get into as early on as possible. Turn off all electricals an hour before bed time. Run a bath for your child and give them a massage once they’ve finished. You can use any cream or oil buy ones with lavender or chamomile are particularly good for promoting sleep. Once they’ve got their pyjamas on, get them tucked up into bed and read them a story or two. You could also try slow breathing and meditation with them to slow down their thoughts.
With the assistance of wallpaper from the 70s