Sleeping Babies Turn into Sleeping Children

There is and always has been, major controversy on what is the proper bedtime for children. Experts suggest a variety of different bedtimes, but I wholeheartedly believe that 8 pm is the perfect bedtime for small children.

When I was pregnant for my oldest child, I decided before she was even born, that bedtime would be 8 pm. From the day she came home from the hospital, we started her bedtime ritual around 7 pm, with a warm bottle first, then a bath, and finally around 8, we laid her down in her bassinet with soft classical music playing in the background and said goodnight. Well, of course it didn't work that way, she didn't agree. It wasn't time for sleeping as far as she was concerned and we faced this night after night for the first week.

However, we diligently performed the same routine night after night, until at last she was actually going to sleep when we laid her down. No more fussing!

Throughout the years, we have continued the same ritual with her and with our younger daughter. Of course there have been a few alterations, like for example it's no longer classical music they listen to before bed, but country and they often prefer showers over baths now.

My oldest is in school now and each night around seven pm she starts to complain about being tired and performs her bedtime ritual, mostly on her own and then tells us it's time for bed. My youngest does the same. Very seldom have I ever had to tell them it was bed time, most of the time it's them telling me and I have had very few problems with them not sleeping through the night.

It really doesn't matter what your ritual is, as long as you have one. You can't expect to tell a three year old child, go to bed when it's only seven o'clock and last night you let him stay up until ten watching cartoons.

When you start a baby on a proper sleep schedule from day one, you can rest assured that you won't have a child that is up all hours of the night. Start them out right, show them that there is a proper time for sleep and a proper time for play. Don't alter your ritual for anything! Keep it up night after night of their infancy and before you know it they will be telling you it's time for bed!