A bedtime routine is so important for children to have a good nights sleep

When I found out I was pregnant with Alby I knew I needed to get Ava’s sleeping sorted . The only way she would sleep the whole night was if she was in bed with me and Jordan . Which to start with was fine . I really enjoyed co-sleeping . Then she started to wriggle more in bed . Which meant I either ended up with her foot in my ribs or an arm on my face . Being pregnant I needed my sleep more than ever. So we made it our mission to get a good bedtime routine.

We have always done bath, bottle bed since Ava was a baby . So we needed to either add something to our routine or take something away it just wasn’t working.

We tried numerous of different things from calming bath bubbles and snuggles . To leaving her to cry and try to sort herself out . This did break my heart a little bit and we didn’t stick at it for long . Which most nights resulted in her coming downstairs with us and us not having a moment of peace.

After all the different things we tired the best thing we found was . To make sure we stuck to a timed routine and not to deviate from it. We did add in watching CBeebies bedtime story. Ava’s not really at the age yet to want to sit and listen to me read her a story so this was a good alternative.

So our nights go like this

• 5.45-6.30 is tea time . I know for a lot of people their kids eat a lot earlier than this . For us though this works it means we can all eat together as a family . Which is something I think is really important.
• 6.30-6.45 is bath time . Now this doesn’t happen every night . As I have found if she has a bath every night it makes her skin dry no mater what bath time stuff we use. Our bath time go to products at the moment are by Earth friendly baby . I find the lavender and camomile products really do chill the kids out.

• 6.50 bedtime story . We all snuggle up in our bed and watch this together. It’s a great opportunity to wind down before she goes to bed.

• 7.00 bedtime . I’m now able to take Ava to her bed room . She puts her music on and gets into bed . We have a hug and a kiss and I leave the room. She normally tells me she loves me and says night night ( now this melts my heart every night !)

We are now at the point where Ava goes from 7pm – 7/8am .Which is amazing and something I thought would never happen. I saw the change in how she slept from the moment we implemented the above bedtime routine . I make a conscious effort to make sure from the time we start the bedtime routine to the moment she goes to bed is calm . It’s relaxed and not rushed we make sure we have enough time to do it all .

Since having Alby this routine hasn’t changed. If anything he has slipped into the routine perfectly. Alby too goes to bed at 7.00pm and I don’t hear from him until anytime between 4.00am and 6.00am the next day. Which isn’t bad for a 4 month old.

Having a solid bedtime routine doesn’t just benefit the kids it benefits me also. I have a few hours before I go to bed to myself . This is when I normally do my blogging work. Or get the washing done or do any jobs I need to do. Or just binge watch the soaps !

Even if on the rare occasion we go out past bedtime. When we come back we still do the snuggle in bed and watch a story . So they know what’s going on . It’s not stressful they know this routine and they know what happens next.

Is bedtime not going how you want it too in your house . Does your little one night sleep ? Do you think there is something you need to change about your bedtime routine ?