How to Simplify Your Toddler’s Bedtime Routine

How to Simplify Your Toddler’s Bedtime Routine

Creating a bedtime routine is a great way to bond with your child. Children thrive with consistency and (reasonable) parameters. In order to simplify your child’s bedtime routine, it is important to get rid of all of the extras. More on that below. For now, let’s start with the benefits of a bedtime routine.

Benefits of a Bedtime Routine

It Sets Expectations

Bedtime is a daily event that can teach your child expectations. They’ll learn what to expect each night from you, and carve out their own role in the routine. They can also learn what is expected of them, which can give a sense of security in knowing what to expect. 

It Allows for Bonding

Whether you tell a story or your husband sings a song with your little one, the bedtime routine is great for creating memories and lifelong bonds with your child.

It Creates Healthy Habits

Part of our bedtime routine (you can check out the rest below) is flossing and brushing teeth. This is teaching our son about good oral hygiene. We use these flossers, and they have been so helpful in making sure his teeth are clean!

Getting to bed at a reasonable hour is also a part of healthy living, and we will explain that more in depth when he is a little older. For now, we just make sure he is getting adequate, quality sleep. 

Our Bedtime Routine

We try to stick to the same routine no matter where we are. At home, our son has access to all of his toys, so cleaning that stays consistent each night, unless we have been out of the house all day and there are no toys to clean up. But that just means more time for playing!

If we are traveling, the routine mostly stays the same, except he usually does not have many toys to clean up. PS: if you are traveling with a little one, I highly recommend this playard. We’ve been using it for two years and it bundles up so small!

Our bedtime routine is 

• Potty
• Flossing & Brushing
• Bath
• Pajamas
• Clean up Toys
• One Bedtime Toy OR a Book
• Turning on Nightlights
• Hugs & Kisses
• Bedtime

This bedtime routine is pretty self explanatory, but here the rundown: Potty time, flossing, brushing and bath all take place in his bathroom. Then he gets dressed in his bedroom and cleans up any toys he got out during the day. Check out my guide to getting your toddler to clean up for some inspiration. Once all of the toys are cleaned up, he is allowed to get one toy to play with. More on that below. 

After playing or reading, he loves to turn on his lamp. We bring his Hatch Lamp whenever we travel, and it is THE BEST. I love it so much, I recommend it to anyone with a baby. He also likes turning off the overhead light because #toddlers. We give him quick hugs and kisses and then lay him down for the night. 

How to Simplify Your Routine

Whatever you decide to incorporate into your kiddo’s bedtime routine, the goal here is to simplify. Keep in mind these tips:

Have One Focal Point 

Instead of playing a game and reading and singing a song and calling grandma all before bed, choose one activity for the evening. This means that you have a ten minute window, and your child can either read a book OR play with dad before bed. Keep in mind that your toddler cannot tell time yet, so it is up to you to make sure the playing and/or bonding doesn’t turn into staying up too late.

Keep Toys to a Minimum 

It is easy to get overstimulated before bed if your child has access to all of her toys. To avoid this right before bed, we clean everything up. This removed visual clutter and let’s your child’ brain settle down.

We allow our son to have one toy after he cleans up. Usually he grabs a football and has a mini ‘rugby match’ with dad. That means that he’s not also getting out trucks or a second ball or musical instruments. Once everything is cleaned up, it stays that way for the night. 

Give them Some Authority 

This doesn’t mean let them run wild and never settle down, but give them the chance to make decisions. This could mean choosing between two or three books, or deciding what pajamas they want to wear. 

This also means that if he wants the privilege of picking out a toy or turning off his lamp, he has to listen to mommy and daddy when we ask him to clean up or get dressed. We give him the authority to make decisions (even bad ones) so that he can learn and grow.

Stay Consistent

Your child should be able to know (within reason) what happens each night. So if you decide your kiddo’s bedtime routine is bath, pajamas, saying goodnight to the cat, and reading a book, it should be that way a majority of the time.

 If you want to incorporate a bedtime story into your child’s bedtime routine, this is something that should not only happen when you feel like it, but continuously and consistently. 

Does your child have a bedtime routine? Is it simple or complex? Consistent or ever-changing? Head on over to Instagram and let me know!