How to Establish a Healthy Bedtime Routine

Calm before bedtime, bedtime rituals consistent, awareness of sleep associations and age-appropriate pull the ear all help to promote healthy sleep for children.
Whether you're a detail-oriented parent or someone who is more inclined to go to traffic, all children can benefit from a healthy ritual. Routines help children feel safe and secure because they know what is coming next. Here are some guidelines to help you establish a healthy ritual at home.

The order and coherence to work routine
When you're willing to spend time alone at bedtime, it's time to put your ritual in motion. If you choose to brush your teeth before putting on pajamas or after is not much matter, as long as you do in the same order every night. To help you and your child to remember what your bedtime rituals are performed, you can create a graphic image or list and display nearby. Older children healthy benefit from bedtime routines as much as young children do, that the appropriate age pull the ear and a good night's sleep help children pay attention in school and improve the overall behavior.

Encourage calm before bedtime
Children (and adults!) Of all ages benefit from time spent quietly relaxing before going to bed. Skip 30 minutes to one hour before sunset quietly play with toys, reading books or other quiet activities. This can be a challenge, especially for very active children or parents who spend all day at work and want to play and roughhouse with their children before going to sleep, but the reward is easier bedtime for all .

Change routines slowly
If you decide you want to change your bedtime routine, changing a part of the routine at once. Too many changes can be disorienting for children, in order not to try to wean from a bottle and move your toddler to a big bed together. Wean from the bottle first, and when it is well established, the introduction of the new bed. It may take some time to introduce new elements to a ritual, but stick to it means that the change will be accepted soon. Go back and forth between the old and new routine will extend the transition period.

Be aware of sleep associations
Sleep associations are those things that children usually while asleep, as a preferred coverage, a pacifier, or a close relative. According to Marc Weissbluth, author of Healthy sleep habits, Happy Child [Random House, 1999. ISBN - 10:0449004023], parents should avoid nursing, rocking or cuddling babies and children to sleep because they want to sleep this association repeated each time they wake in the night. Whether or not you agree with Weissbluth, awareness of sleep associations will help you develop healthy sleep habits that you and your child to benefit. Remember that even if your baby needs to be fed or rocked to sleep, sleep association which can be changed as your child grows and matures.

Like all household routines, routines to bed occasionally fall by the wayside. Holidays and birthday only a few times a year, then do not panic if you can not always stick to your usual ritual child. By being compatible with calm before bedtime, bedtime routines and sleep everyday parenting associations, the occasional disruption will not have too many effects. Have a good night, Sweet Dreams.