Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Setting a bedtime routine (WFMW)

One of the best things that you can do for you and your toddler is to establish a bedtime routine. Having a routine that you follow nightly helps eliminate night time "I don't want to go to bed" fights. There is the occasional night when your out later than normal or your child may even be staying somewhere else for the night and that's all ok. Just remember to get back into the routine as soon as possible to avoid fighting.

Start establishing a routine beginning with dinner time. Try eating dinner at the same time each night so that it will allow your child to eat dinner and have some playtime before its time to take a bath.

Allow ample time for your toddler to play and wind down. Adults need to wind down before bed and our kiddos do too. Playtime before bed will help kids wind down and burn off that extra energy they always seem to be saving lol.

After an hour or so of playtime begin getting ready for a bath. Let your child know that in XX minutes we are going to clean up our toys so that we can take a bath. Try making bath time fun so that your child will not fight about taking a bath. Then after bath get your child ready for bed by putting on pj's and brushing teeth.

Now do something with your child ... Read a book, watch a short cartoon, sing a song. What ever works for you. Then after the short activity with mom/dad put your child to bed and say goodnight. For us Nate likes to watch tv and so we leave his tv on and he goes to sleep watching 'The Goodnight Show' which is toddler friendly. Normally within 10 minutes he's out for the night.

Have other bedtime tips ... post them in comments and share with everyone.

Check out other tips at Works for Me Wednesday!

2 comments:

Christine said...

Amen on keeping the routine. Great tips!

Overwhelmed! said...

Here's our toddler bedtime routine:

6-6:15 p.m.= sitdown dinner

6:30 p.m.= bath time, bath given by Daddy while Mommy cleans up dinner dishes.

7:00 p.m.= Mommy puts jammies on and reads bedtime story while Snuggle Bug drinks sippy cup of milk

7:15 p.m.= Mommy & Snuggle Bug brush teeth, then Mommy puts Snuggle Bug into bed, says prayer, turns on lullaby music, and we exchange kisses and say "goodnight"

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