Bedtime routine work is best if you reserve the hour before bedtime for quiet play. This will lower your children’s activity level and prepare their nervous system for relaxation. Running, playing tickling games, and even watching action-packed TV shows or videos make peaceful transition to sleep especially difficult.
Fathers should engage in beneficial bedtime routines that will work for them and their children. They should set a specific time and stick to it. Your children’s body clock will adjust much more quickly to the routine if the routine follows a natural and consistent pattern.
Give a warning. Just before bedtime, give your child advance notice that the day is winding down. Your child may be too young to judge time yet, so saying something like “five more minutes” is not likely to be understood. Instead teach your child by association.
Offer a snack. A light snack that includes both protein and carbohydrates will induce sleep and help your children stay asleep through the night. The carbohydrates will make them sleepy, and the protein will help keep their blood sugar level on an even keel until breakfast.
Get your children dressed for bed. Choose comfortable, non-binding pyjamas that are neither too warm nor too light. Set the mood also to make them sleep well. Aim for low lighting and soft sounds. If your child needs music to sleep, go with music only.
To make their children sleep well at night, fathers need to unplug and wind down. Long before their children’s heads hit their beds, they will need to start the process of winding down their bodies and brains.
Keep last “goodnights” brief. Say “goodnight” when it’s time for you to leave the room and try not to come back if your child calls for you. This sounds harsh, but if you keep coming into the room you will have taught your child that “If I call to Daddy, she’ll come back.” Kids learn how to “condition” parents very quickly.
Any hesitations on your part may be picked up by your children as an indication that maybe you really aren’t serious about this bedtime business and if they yell loudly enough, you will come back and play some more with them.
Stick with your chosen bedtime routine for your children. Following the same routine nightly actually makes it physically easier for your children to fall asleep by giving their bodies cues to secrete hormones that induce sleep. And if your children know you are a stickler for the rules, they are less likely to stall and delay, making bedtime smoother and more pleasant all around.
There’s no one-size-fits-all bedtime routine but you have to do what’s best for your children when it comes to making their sleep time comfortable and restful.
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