With two little kids, it’s important to have a good bedtime routine. This is our simple routine we follow and ask our baby sitters to follow as well. It has developed from a much simpler routine into this one.
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Bedtime Routine
Begin at 6:20/6:25
Bed Time Routine For My Daughter
- Change diaper to night time diaper
- Put her in pajamas (all pajamas behind bathroom door)
- Get my son ready for bed
Bed Time Routine For My Son
- Tell Him it’s time to go to bed
- Put Him in a night time diaper
- Put Him in pajamas
- Ask him if he wants socks
- Brush his teeth (he can try first then you can go over it better)
Bedtime For Both
- Read my son and daughter 2 stories (allowing one more isn’t the end of the world)(if it’s too hard to hold both we let my daughter move around and look at her own books while reading to my son)
- Take kids to the bedroom (my son may indicate that a stuffy was left in the other room)
- Say “Alexa bed time” (white noise and the night light will turn on)
- Press middle button on white noise machine on shelf
- Pray with them (My son may run around the room during this)
- Give goodnight kisses & hugs all around (my son likes to fist bump and high five as well)
- Lay or set my daughter on her bed
- My son likes to close the door himself right now
- Say goodnight to both (I like to tell them I love them, will see them in the morning, that I see and hear them)
- Leave
General Sleep Info
- They should be in bed between 6:45 and 7 at the latest
- My daughter will probably fall asleep within 10-15 minutes and my son by 8 pm.
- My daughter has 6 stuffies and they both know which ones are hers
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Nap routines
Our nap routine is just a shortened version of our bedtime routine
Nap Time Routine For My Daughter
- Change diaper to night time diaper
- Put her in socks
- Put her in pajamas
- Say goodnight to Brother
- Bring to bedroom
- Say “Alexa sleep” (white noise and light will turn on)
- Set her on her bed
- Say goodnight
- Leave her
- Wake her up at 10:30 am or 3 pm
Nap Time Routine For My Son
- Put him into his diaper
- Ask him if he wants socks on
- Bring him into his room
- Give kisses and hugs
- Leave him
- Do not go in until he has had least 1.5 hours of a nap
- Wake him up if it’s past 3 pm
Nap Time Info
- My sons nap typically last at least 1.5 hours but can last up to 2.5 hours
- My daughters naps are between 1-2 hours
- Let them cry for 2-3 minutes if they haven’t been asleep long
If One Kid Is Tired
If my daughter had a particularly short nap or seems very tired earlier, we will have her go down earlier, usually around 6 and then keep my son up until 7. That routine looks like this:
Bed Time Routine For My Daughter
- Change diaper to night time diaper
- Put her in socks
- Put her in pajamas(all pajamas behind bathroom door)
- Give hugs and kisses & say goodnight to brother
- Take her to the bedroom and say “Alexa bedtime”
- Press middle button on white noise machine on shelf
- Pray with her
- Set her down in her bed
- Say goodnight
- Leave
Bed Time Routine For My Son
- Tell Him it’s time to go to bed
- Put Him in a night time diaper
- Put Him in pajamas
- Brush his teeth (he can try first then you can go over it better)
- Read him 2 books
- Pray with him outside of his room
- Give hugs and kisses outside of his room
- Remind him that sister is sleeping so he needs to be quiet.
- Take him into his room
- Say goodnight
- Leave
Other Things To Put Your Kids To Sleep
All of these ideas are great to help get your toddlers to go to sleep. You can keep it simple and only do 2-3 of these.
- Bath
- Sing
- Stretch
- Turn on a fan
- Use essential oils
- Massage
- Cuddle
- Talk about their day
- Night time snack (oatmeal, no sugar added yogurt, bananas, and chamomile tea are great options that promote sleep)
Other Things To Keep In Mind
- Keep it short
- Be consistent
- Don’t give in to extra requests
