Bedtime routines

Establishing a good bedtime routine can be really hard to get the balance right and every child is individual so what may work for one may not work for another. It is important to establish a bedtime routine from an early age and to ensure it is a fun learning opportunity and time for you and your baby to bond. It can help your baby understand what is coming next and anticipate sleep time. Some points to consider and try to factor into your bedtime routine are..

It's never too early to introduce a story at bedtime. Whilst a young baby may not follow the story fully or understand what the story entails it starts to get them used to the concept of reading books and also creates an interest around books. Looking at the pictures and also touchy feely books are good for a sensory experience for younger children. You can start with smaller books and as they start to entertain them for longer you can switch to longer books. Listen to your child they will tell you when they are ready or not ready for longer books.

You can find projectors online fairly cheaply that use both white noise and lights. We had one from when our daughter was born and we found that our little one really enjoyed this and it helped her to self settle. After her bedtime routine we would leave this on for an hour to help her sleep. We also used this for night feeds so that she would self settle soon after feeds and didn't stay awake for long periods of time.

We don't use this at any other times of the day and believe this really helps her to associate this with bedtime and make the distinction between bedtime and day naps.

Baby massage is a lovely way for children to bond with their parents and enjoy skin to skin contact and can help to wind down after a fun filled day. There are lots of baby groups that can show you how to use baby massage and this can start from a very early age.

Unfortunately for us we were nearly four months old by the time lockdown was lifted and groups were able to open safely. We used online videos and YouTube clips to substitute participating in a class and this worked really well with our child as it became a lovely time that she really enjoyed. Again it doesn't have to be a lengthy massage if your little one is very tired, so let them tell you and inform you of how long it should be.

Something else that you may want to consider is putting your baby into a sleepsuit/baby grow only during the bedtime routine and for night sleeps and changing them out of them when they get up in the morning into an outfit for the day.

Again we found that this helped our little one to associate wearing a baby grow with bedtime she would get changed when she had gone up to bed and then got changed into a little outfit around 7.30/8.00am.

This isn't an exact science and every child and every day is different but by being consistent with routines you can help your child to start to anticipate what is coming next which helps them to get into a pattern which can support them to sleep well (at least some of the time).