A healthy bedtime routine can help your child fall asleep on time, stay asleep without needing to come to you, and even ensure they feel safe and secure in their room throughout the night. And when they know there’s no monster under the bed, everything else gets easier! But how can you build a healthy bedtime routine?
It’s important to set one as soon as possible, but you can still make changes here and there as your child gets older. If something doesn’t work, you don’t have to stick with it; a routine can be flexible while still providing structure and stability! As such, let’s go through some good bedtime routine habits below.
Don’t Take Too Long
Bedtime routines feel like they can stretch on for hours at a time. But if they actually do, that’s not necessarily a great thing. This can delay your child’s sleep, and cause them to be more grumpy and restless in the morning.
So try to keep things moving at a steady pace, and try to finish it all up in about half an hour. 30 minutes is longer than you might think, and you can get pyjamas on, clean teeth, and finish a story well within this deadline.
Offer Your Kids a Choice Between a Story or Something Else
Reading to your child to help them drop off at night – it’s one of the best feelings as a parent. Knowing they feel safe with you there, and going through a story that ensures they’ll have sweet dreams instead of a nightmare, are two simple actions that form a big foundation for good parenting. But if the stories aren’t doing it anymore, you can swap them out for something else!
Give your child the choice here. Do they want to read a book, or do they want to cuddle and talk about their favorite cartoon instead? Give them the options to choose from, as they might get stressed out trying to come up with something to do themselves (and they may ask to continue playtime, which would be unsuitable for the bedtime routine!).
Make Changes One at a Time
Routine changes can’t happen all at once. Say you want to extend their bedtime by another half hour as well as stop helping them with bathtime; do this one at a time in different weeks to ensure your child doesn’t become overwhelmed.
Similarly, it’s common for children to have braces fitted, and if your child is dealing with them, focus on getting them used to sleeping with them. Purchase some custom-fitted night guards, for example, and integrate them into the routine slowly. During this time, make no other changes to ensure your child can get used to something new before moving on again – they might end up finding bedtime stressful otherwise.
A healthy bedtime routine is a little different for every child. Make sure you craft one with your kids in mind, and be as flexible as you can about it!