If there’s one time of day that I need to exercise my very best patience, it's bedtime. We have a friend whose baby has taken himself to bed at 7 pm since he was 18 months old, and though I’m still hopeful that one day our daughter will do the same, I’m slowly starting to realize that it’s absolutely not going to happen.

Every night when bedtime rolls around she gets a huge burst of energy starts running laps around the kitchen, and suddenly - without even realizing - we’ve missed the window of opportunity to get her asleep at a reasonable time. Bedtime has always been my job, and I dread it every night. What has really helped me is listening to 15 minutes of MamaZen hypnosis every evening. When I’m really at boiling point, these recordings help me to settle my mind, de-stress, and come to terms with the fact that tomorrow is a new day - and though it pushes all of my anger buttons, a bad bedtime really isn’t all that bad. 

But sometimes - and I stress sometimes - bedtime is nothing short of beautiful. Dinner comes and goes, a sleepy stupor hits, we have cuddles and a story in bed, and she falls asleep with zero arguments. On those nights, I creep out of her bedroom on a cloud, settle down on the sofa, and listen to MamaZen to help me prepare mentally for the next morning.

Whether or not bedtime goes well, a bedtime routine can make things feel a lot less ‘messy’ for all of us. Sometimes it can be hard to follow the usual bedtime routine, especially when dinner is a little late and you still need to have baths or showers before bed! It took me two years to realize that showers make our daughter sleepy and not energetic, and am now using that to my full advantage. So we shower, wrap up warm for a cuddle, have a story in bed, and then sing songs until one of us falls asleep - usually me, followed by our ever-energetic toddler.

A good or bad bedtime can wrap up the tone of the entire day. Whether this is good or bad, MamaZen is really the perfect way to help you wind down post-bedtime. And if you prefer to listen to your recording in the morning or afternoon, you can carry its teachings with you all through the day and reflect back on it when bedtime starts to make steam come out of your ears.

Funnily enough, I’m writing this post following our daughter’s first full night of sleep in her own bed this year. Which, as I’m sure you mummas understand, meant that I had my worst night of sleep all year! Fingers crossed for a smooth and early bedtime for all of us tonight…