From working with hundreds of families now, one thing we notice is that often the hour before bed isn’t working great in terms of helping babies’ night time sleep. Here’s how we recommend to spend the last hour before bed:
One Hour Before...
A warm bath around an hour before bed is the best time to do your baby’s bath. This is down to body temperature influencing the regulation of our babies’ sleep/wake cycles. A warm bath increases blood flow, which is known to aid the natural circadian process, which helps babies fall asleep quicker and for longer.
45 Minutes Before...
Baby should be dry and dressed in their bedtime gear, then straight onto the bedtime feed. We have a good 30-40 minutes built in here for a really good feed. This is what we want – for our little ones to “tank up” before bed so that we can reasonably expect some long stretches of sleep at night. If your baby is prone to falling asleep whilst feeding, do this one in a light, bright room in the house.
25 Minutes Before...
Family time and gentle play time. Also burping time for younger babies. Older toddlers who aren’t having a bedtime feed anymore will generally love a bit of roughhousing around this time too. Jago’s favourite thing to do at the moment is “hide from daddy” then pelting him with throw cushions once we’re found!
20 Minutes Before...
Brushing teeth for those babies that have them followed by a story in the bedroom, cuddles and kisses, then a lullaby as you put your little one into their sleeping bag in the cot
15 Minutes Before...
Your little one should be in their sleeping bag in their cot at this time. We ideally want to put our little ones down around 15 mins before the time we want them to sleep at bedtime. So if you want bedtime at 7pm, they should be in the cot at 6.45pm.
0 Minutes Before...
Asleep!