I'm in love. LOVE. And I want you to be, too.

For several months now, Brandon has decided that his bedtime needs to be around 9:30 p.m. Which does not work for me since by about 8 p.m., as a mom, I'm DONE. I'm off the clock. Over it. Had enough.

It was a MIRACLE if I got him to bed at 9. A JOKE if I put him to bed any earlier. He would hang out in his crib, make a ton of noise, climb out of it, cry. I tried everything. Well, almost everything. I adjusted his nap schedule, woke him up early, rocked him, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Nothing worked.

It was annoying. Frustrating. Maddening. It was getting to the point where I kinda wanted to choke him out - just to make him pass out, not to kill him - each night to get him to sleep earlier. While it's obvious that I wouldn't really do that, it speaks to my frustration level.

And then, after spending four nights in a row being woken up by one or the other younger two boys, my sleep-deprived self decided to finally listen to what my friends, family, and peeps on the Facebook page for this blog have been telling me for a while now.

I got some melatonin.

Melatonin is made naturally in the body and regulates sleep cycles. It's what makes you sleepy. So I got a 3mg bottle, and halved one of the pills and then halved it again, and gave each quarter (so .75 mgs - and I'm thinking of halving the quarter if I need to give it to them again) to Connor, age 4, and Brandon, age 2. Connor because he has trouble staying asleep and wakes up in the middle of the night and comes into our bed and proceeds to sweat and snore and flop around like a dead fish. While it's fun and super cozy to have that next to me, it disrupts my sleep just a tad. And I gave Brandon his dose at 7:30.

At 8:15, a FULL HOUR OR MORE before his normal bedtime, BRANDON HAPPILY WENT TO BED AND PASSED THE HELL OUT.

Did you catch that? At 8:15, a FULL HOUR OR MORE before his normal bedtime, BRANDON HAPPILY WENT TO BED AND PASSED THE HELL OUT.

Frankly, I was shocked. I honestly did not think it was going to work, especially that well. And they both slept all night and woke up at their regular time in the morning. And Brandon has gone to bed at around 8:15 every night since, with a little help from my new best friend melatonin.

So melatonin, I love you. Like, really, really love you. Let's do a little dance... Make a little love... Get down tonight! Get down tonight!

I might even love you more than cake. That's saying a lot.

There's also a melatonin spray, from what I understand.

Keep in mind that melatonin is a hormone and is not necessarily recommended for long-term use. Read more about it here. 

So, my friends, if you have a sleeping/bedtime problem with your kids, I suggest looking into getting some melatonin. And of course, be sure to talk to your child's doctor before giving them anything, especially on the advice of me, a stranger to most of you. No, I totally didn't talk to my kids' doctor. I just went for it. But I feel like if I'm going to be telling people to give stuff to their kids to make them pass out, I need to be responsible and put that disclaimer in there. 

AND this disclaimer: Please don't constantly dose up your kid with the melatonin to keep him/her out of your hair. It's tempting, I know, but probably not okay, on so many levels.

Aren't the moon and stars sooo comforting to see? 


Nighty-night, kiddos. Sleep well.

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