How to fix the bedtime routine mistakes you're making EVERY DAY | Fix your child's bedtime routine - Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant and Potty Training Coach

How to fix the bedtime routine mistakes you’re making EVERY DAY | Fix your child’s bedtime routine

Your child’s bedtime routine should be calm and soothing. It should be getting your child ready for bed. If you’re rolling your eyes at the screen right now thinking, yeah, right, my kid throws a fit every single night at bedtime, then you’re doing it wrong. I’m going to tell you all about the bedtime routine mistakes to avoid.

How to fix the bedtime routine mistakes you’re making EVERY DAY | Fix your child’s bedtime routine

First, if your baby is falling asleep during their feeding and that’s the last thing you do in your child’s bedtime routine, then you’re doing it wrong, hate to say, but you should not be letting your baby fall asleep during a feeding. Also, your baby’s feeding should be more at the beginning of the bedtime routine instead of at the end of the bedtime routine. A lot of babies will wake up sooner because they didn’t fall asleep in their beds. And then they cry because if your child doesn’t have enough time to digest that food and they just go straight to sleep, it may give them a stomach ache and make them wake up more often through the night.

If you need help breaking this sleep association and you need a sleep consultant, you know who to hire. Hey, it’s me, and here’s where to set up a free call with me to see if we would be a good fit to work together, https://slumberandbloom.com/free-evaluation/ . I would love to support your family in making a better bedtime routine and having your baby sleep independently through the night.

Second, having an inconsistent routine. If you are just letting your baby or toddler or preschooler or any child at any age fall asleep downstairs in front of the tv on the couch or something similar to that you need to have the same exact routine every single night and there’s always a reason behind the madness. When you start your child’s bedtime routine, there’s more predictability and there’s more compliance. When you have a toddler or preschooler and they need to know exactly what is coming next, and if they do they’re more likely to do it without putting up a fight. Also ,when you have a consistent routine every single night, your child’s body is producing melatonin once you start the bedtime routine, as opposed to only starting to produce melatonin once they lay down in bed.

Thirdly, if you’re giving into every single request that your toddler is demanding, then you’re doing it wrong. I always feel bad saying you’re doing it wrong, but let’s just fix it. So what I want you to do is download my bedtime routine cards. They are free bedtime routine cards and you can print them, laminate them, and hang them up in your child’s bedroom at their eye level. What you want to do is let them point to what comes next. This way they always know what is happening next, and they can have control over the situation. So, if the first thing in the routine is to go to the bathroom, “which toilet do they want to use?” Let your child choose. It really has no impact on your life, so if your child can choose, let them. You’re setting these routines now to even take you through all of your children’s childhood, that feels weird to say, but you’re really setting the stage for an easier time for a very long time.

The next mistake is when you’re letting your child fall asleep either in bed or on the couch with the tv. Screen time before bed is a huge no, no. There’s a better way to get your child to stay in bed, and one of my recommendations is this children’s meditation device, Zenimal. You turn it on, you hear that ding and there’s a bunch of different meditations on there that you can choose, and turn the volume up. It really gets your child calm and soothed and ready to sleep.

Another mistake that parents are making is that the bedtime routine is too short. I completely understand that at the end of the day you are done, you’re drained, you’re exhausted and your child probably is too. But, if your bedtime routine is not at least 20 minutes long, your child is not getting calm and ready for bed. I always recommend a bedtime routine that is 20 to 30 minutes long so that your child really has time to to calm their body down, get into sleep mode, and fall asleep faster. I love having that bedtime routine where I always ask my kids what was the best part of your day today and I don’t even talk about the bad parts of their day because I don’t want them thinking about that for bed.

Don’t forget to download the bedtime routine cards, https://slumberandbloom.com/product/bedtime-routine-cards/.