10 Bedtime Routines To Help Your Children Get Sound Sleep

Well for many parents, getting children to sleep seems a mighty task and almost everyone has their share of stories explaining their plight when it comes to children and their sleep patterns. But the only way to establish good bedtime routine is starting earlier. Studies have found that following consistent bedtime routine for children can make them habitual of the routine at an early age helps them in falling asleep fast. 

In fact, a study conducted on 10000 mothers in different countries found positive association of proper sleep schedule and earlier bedtimes and reduced waking in the middle of the night. Sleep experts believe that school going children specifically should follow a bedtime routine because lack of sleep can significantly affect their cognitive abilities and even make them feel exhausted with minimal physical activity. 

Their mood and behaviour too can get negatively impacted due to irregular sleep patterns. School going kids can easily get distracted during night time owing to their increasing exposure to television, mobile phones, video game consoles, etc. 

Establishing bedtime routines can help you as parents, to enjoy deeper bond with your children and help you connect to your child’s emotional needs as well.

Here are 10 bedtime routines to help your children get sound sleep, which proves a great way to imbibe good sleeping habits in your children and brings you closer to them:

1. Make Your Child’s Room Clutter Free

Put away your child’s books, toys and other stuff that keeps his mind occupied at night. Make sure his room is well organised and clutter free, which will make the room’s environment calm. Since his brain will not find anything to be busy, your child will subconsciously get ready for sleeping quietly.

2. Read A Book

Whether your child loves reading or just loves to hear you read, make a practice at an early age to either sing poems, lullabies or tell fables with happy endings. Reading a book not only helps your child to be more creative but also helps in relaxing the stress and anxiety in his mind.

3. Make Arrangements For Next Day At School

This bedtime routine for children helps in understanding the importance of getting things ready well in advance. Ask your child to pack his bags as per time table, iron his clothes and get his shoes polished. Also keep other things that would be necessary for any extracurricular activities with his bag. Doing this helps your child to know that the day is over and it is now time to rest and get set for a new day.

4. Ask Your Child To Take Bath

Apart from being a great way to educate your child about personal hygiene, taking a bath before heading to sleep can be the best way to relax muscle tension and to feel calmness from within. Children in specific, love to sleep tight after a warm bath.  

5. Play Soothing Music

Music plays a crucial role in shaping one’s mood and children in specific, respond well to music. Just some musical rhymes or lullabies or soft tunes in slow volume sends soothing waves to your child’s brain. Combined with dim light, such soft music helps your child feel relaxed and sleepy.

6. Keep The Lights Dim

You create the perfect ambience for your child’s sleep when you just dim the lights a bit. The dim light automatically creates a relaxing mood and helps your baby’s active brain to be calm.

7. Tuck Your Child In Blanket With His / Her Favourite Stuffed Toy

Children feel relaxed and comfortable once they feels safe and secure. In addition to the comfort of their room, children feel secure when they are close their favourite stuffed toy. Just tuck your child and his favourite toy inside a cosy blanket and kiss your baby goodnight.

8. Do Relaxation Exercises

Make this a collective activity for the whole family. Ask your child to stretch his hands and legs by doing some simple muscle relaxing exercises and such full body stretching movements can improve body’s flexibility making it stress free and your child will feel easier to fall asleep.

9. Stress Exhaling Technique

Too many activities at school, coaching centre, home and sport clubs can make your children prone to stress and anxiety. This is why this relaxation technique at night works like magic. Just ask your child to lie down on the bed and take a deep breath and tell him to imagine that his body is getting heavier and heavier that it has started to sink into the mattress. Then gently prompt him to breath out slowly and relax while concentrating on every part of the body that is feeling lighter. This way your child will understand the importance of de-stressing the body to enjoy a sound sleep.

10. Say A Prayer

Last but not the least, teach your child to pray each night before heading to bed so that he not only thanks God for all that has been given to him but this also helps in unwinding the mind. This kind of bedtime routine for children helps them get sound sleep as their mind feels least occupied.