Shannon Glenn is the owner and founder of Sleep Well Children Consulting and a Certified Pediatric Sleep Specialist. She is dedicated to helping parents assist their children and babies in developing healthy sleep habits. With a B.A. in Psychology, Shannon has worked extensively with children and their families for over 15 years in a variety of settings. She has been offering sleep solutions for over six years.
The bedtime routine is so important!
I want to talk a bit about the bedtime routine. Now, if you go to any baby site on the Web, search “my baby won’t sleep,” or whatever you’re looking for in regards to sleep, almost every single site will tell you about the importance of a bedtime routine. So will I.
Even adults have routines. We all do things in a very similar order before bed every night. Without them, we would feel a little anxious or out of sorts, and it would be harder to sleep. So it definitely is important, but there is one mistake that parents make, most of the time people skip right over that. “Oh bedtime routine, right, next,” because we have heard it so much about having one, but really we don’t always understand why the bedtime routine’s purpose.
The purpose of the bedtime routine is to help teach your baby that it’s time to make the transition from day to night. It creates predictability and a set of cues for your child so he can develop his strategy for sleep. Bedtime is also the first place that most babies and children will learn independent sleeping skills and it is totally based upon the consistency of bedtime routine.
A great bedtime routine for a baby would be would be a bath, get on pajamas, feeding, read a book or two, sing a song, into the crib. A great routine for a child would be a bath, go potty, brush teeth, get on pajamas, into bed, read a book or two, tuck in, good night.
The bedtime routine is crucial! Its the first step to healthy sleep habits. So if you don’t have a bedtime routine, make one, and if you already have a routine for your child, have a look at it and see if there are changes you need to make to it to help your child sleep more consistently.
Why didn’t we try this sooner?! As we speak he is sound asleep in his crib – and has been since 7:15 pm.
Karianne Wanggaard
Sleep Well Sleep Specialists
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Working with Shannon, I went from 2-3 wake ups every night to 1 or 0. She aligned the plan with my preferred sleep cycle. She was always coaching, never judging. Shannon was great, I have referred MANY people to her! That's the best testament to her work that I can give.
Laura