How to have a positive bedtime routine for children
Why have a bedtime routine?
I found that having a bedtime routine for children helps your child fall asleep more easily and in less time, and have a good sleep.
So if you are finding it hard to put your child to sleep, or having sleep difficulties, or just looking for ideas for a new routine, keep reading!
Sleep.
Enough Sleep is one of the most important factors to stay healthy, for everybody and more so for young children.
If your child doesn’t sleep, mummy doesn’t sleep. If a child has not got much sleep and your is tired, they will get less cooperative, cry more, be very clingy, etc, then mummy can’t do anything and no one is benefiting from this. So prioritise your Child’s sleep!
So a simple bedtime routine helps to enhance a good night’s sleep for everybody!
And of course, Naps during the day plus consistent routines of active play and quiet activities will help a good night’s sleep too.
My suggestion for Naps
I know from experience that children sleep better at night if they have a nap, especially toddlers.
Naps, depending on your child’s age, should go something like:
When is a baby as many as your baby needs!
When is a toddler: a toddler usually has two naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
And from around 2-3 years old, once a day, for as long as you can! Older children, at least, should have a quiet time. This usually happens early in the afternoon. Not too late for a young child to give him enough time to be tired enough for bedtime!
Our bedtime routine:
So in this post, I will show you this simple bedtime routine for children I have been using for years. I have children of different ages, and it works well for all of them! Following advice of a lot of reading and research I did when my first children were very young, I made this predictable bedtime routine for my family. And I believe my children fall asleep in a much peaceful way. But obviously, you will have to adapt it to your own family’s needs, but hopefully at least give you some inspiration!
The most important thing is to keep it a consistent bedtime routine, do the same every night and have an early bedtime.
A consistent and predictable bedtime routine will help the child know what is coming and feel safe.
Try not to have any screen time, especially with young children and never at the end of the day, as it is known to affect children’s sleep.
Dinner
We have a light early dinner. It is better not to have dinner too close to the time we go to bed, so we try and have dinner ready around 2/3 hours before we go to bed, so around 5:30 pm.
Then we clear the dinner, and I like to leave the kitchen all nice and clean for the morning!
Quiet play
We all have quieter activities.
The younger children have a nice play followed by putting toys away, “to sleep”.
Older kids read a book, while I prepared the bath and bed clothing.
Bath Time!
My young children love bath time! I feel it relaxes them for bed. The older children have a shower.
The nightclothes of the children should ideally be made of natural materials and calm colours, no TV characters or messages! Keep it as neutral as you can.
Should babies sleep with socks? In winter, I always put socks on all my children; it keeps their body temperature even while they sleep, and if they kick the covers, it will keep them warm.
Set the mood for bed
This is especially important for young children, and for you if you want your children to go calm and in a short time to sleep.
While the children are in the bath, we turn most lights off apart from some low lights, close the blinds and/or curtains, to set the ‘mood for bed’
So when children finish their bath, brush their teeth and come out of the bathroom, the house feels “sleepy” We talk with lower voices so as not to wake the house up!
Another thing I sometimes do is put a candle diffuser with some drops of lavender oil.
Lavender oil: is calming and promotes good quality sleep
Light a candle
Before the bedtime story, I light a candle in a safe place.
I prefer Beeswax candles as they give a beautiful, warm, calm light that is magical and soothing for children!
Bed time story
The bedtime story should not be too long and not too exciting, nothing that is going to keep your child’s mind too active.
Here is a list of our favourite bedtime stories if you want some inspiration.
It is good to read the same story for as long as you can bear it; this is especially important with younger children.
And don’t forget using a different tone that you would use at other times of the day, lower your tone and don’t over dramatise it
Sing a lullaby
Again, we don’t change the lullaby too often; we sing the same lullaby every night. After a month or two, we might change it and then come back to the same one. So you don’t need to learn too many!
One that we use for many, many years is Hush Little Baby, and another one Twinkle Little Star!
Prayer
This is somewhat more personal depending on your spiritual beliefs.
It is peaceful for children to enter asleep with a nice prayer or a nice verse.
We use a book called Prayers for Parents and Children by Rudolf Steiner.
Extinguish Candle
We finish the bedtime routine by extinguishing the candle. We have a candle snuffer to turn the candle off.
The candle snuffer gently extinguishes the flame, minimising smoke.
And sweet dreams, little ones!
I stay with my children until they are sleeping, which doesn’t take very long, 10 to 15 minutes at the most! and sneak out for my quiet time!
My quiet time consists of a 1/2 hr of nice, quiet, relaxing time with no one or nothing to worry about! And have a nice cup of herbal tea before my own bedtime!
I hope I gave you some Ideas for your perfect bedtime routine!
