A bedtime routine doesn’t have to be hard- and it makes a huge difference in your little one’s sleep success at night!
Routines are so important for babies to learn how everyday processes work in their lives. With some familiarity in steps that happen in the same order every day, they begin to make connections and know what’s coming next. And the series of steps leading to bedtime is probably the most important routine for your baby to know!
The reason I say that is because babies nap a few times each day and some babies wake up once or more during the night and with all of the sleeping and waking, it can potentially be very confusing for your baby to know what’s going on!
By having a dependable set of activities in a dependable order, your baby will get clued in that bedtime is coming and their body will begin to accept it and realize it’s not time for another nap.
We have followed the advice of the Taking Cara Babies courses for sleep training and it was monumentally helpful for our whole family! Our kids sleep wonderfully and as a result they are happier kids. And believe me, the hubs and I are a lot happier and less stressed out too!
In the courses, Cara discusses how babies truly need a bedtime routine and we have kept a consistent routine for bedtime ever since. It doesn’t have to be complicated! And it shouldn’t be. Just dependable and easy.
Before I get into our daughter’s bedtime routine, I want to mention that she takes a bath every other night. It’s just what works for our family. So that means that if it’s a bath night we will get her in the bath around 7:00pm and that is the start of the bedtime routine and on the non-bath nights we start closer to 7:15pm.
Easy Bedtime Routine
Bath/Diaper Change
If it’s not a bath night then this is just a diaper change.
Put On Jammies
Even if we changed her clothes late in the afternoon we still always get her changed into jammies as a cue that we are getting ready for bed.
Feed Baby in Their Room
Now is when we walk over to my daughter’s room and this is where we will stay. I make sure to keep the lights on and keep her awake. It’s easy for your baby to want to drift off when bedtime is so close, but don’t let them! This can make them not get a full feeding but we also want to ensure that they aren’t catching a mini nap on the boob since this will greatly interfere with their sleep! So I do little annoying things like poke my daughter’s cheeks or blow on her face to keep her from drifting off.
Put Sleep Sack On
For us, this is a great step after feeding rather than before because it breaks up the feeding to sleep pattern. It’s just enough movement for her to realize that she isn’t going to sleep just yet.
Sit Down and Burp Baby
We want to get out any last burpies before she is down for the night.
Turn Sound Machine On, Turn Lights Off and Rock
This is the wind down time. It isn’t to rock her to sleep but just enough to calm her and signal to her that it’s almost time to sleep. If I think she’s getting too sleepy on my shoulder then I move to the final step before she can doze off.
Lay Baby Down and Say Goodnight
I calmly bring her to her crib, give her a few more kisses, tell her I love her, lay her down and say goodnight.
EASY!
Because of the daily repetition, even a young baby can catch on to the pattern and get into a rhythm with you.
Your bedtime routine can have other parts to it that you decide on. Some ideas of what you may want to add into your own routine can be:
- Bath every night
- Lotion and massage
- Sing a song
- Say night-night to stuffed animals
- Read a book
- Say a prayer
Do what feels right for your family! But keep it simple and your baby will do great when it’s time to say goodnight.