Bedtime Programming Guide: A set of procedures to help children transition from "running wild with blood" to "falling asleep automatically"

Why do other people's homes look like they're hanging up? Before going to bed, your child may be chasing, bargaining, thirsty, going to the bathroom, and then thirsty again. Two hours later, if the child is still awake, you will collapse first. Before going to bed at other people's homes, they take a shower, read a picture book, turn off the lights, and fall asleep for ten minutes. The difference often lies not in the child, but in the design and execution of bedtime routines. A set of fixed procedures can help children's bodies learn to 'sleep next'.

A complete bedtime routine usually lasts for thirty to forty minutes. Start with a warm bath for about ten minutes. A warm bath itself helps to fall asleep and also tells children that today is entering the final stage. After taking a shower, return to the room, dim the headlights of the whole house, close the curtains, and spend about five minutes creating a night mode. A dim environment helps with melatonin secretion, gradually preparing the body for sleep.

Then arrange the last meal of milk, about five minutes. After drinking milk, brush your teeth for two minutes without hesitation. This habit is best established from the first tooth. Next is picture book time, read one to two books for about ten minutes. Lower your voice, slow down your pace, choose books with quiet themes, and avoid reading exciting content such as monster hunting and adventure before bedtime. Finally, there is a farewell ceremony, two minutes. Kiss me, say a fixed sentence, such as "Goodnight, Mom loves you", turn on the night light, and then close the door. The key to the entire process is a fixed sequence and time, the same every night, and the error should be controlled within fifteen minutes as much as possible. Repetition itself has hypnotic power.

There are still a few details that determine success or failure during execution. One hour before bedtime, the screen and intense games should be turned off. If the child enters the bedtime program with full blood, the previous arrangements will be in vain. Provide sufficient satisfaction for children in each stage: read the picture book, hold it, and finish the conversation. Children's needs need to be filled in the process, so there is no need to procrastinate. The final step is to wake up and let the child lie awake on the small bed, completing the final step of falling asleep on their own. The sleep association principle behind this is closely related to the issue of night waking.

If a child engages in activities midway, such as feeling thirsty, going to the bathroom, or asking for another book, common needs can be pre stuffed into the process. Before bidding farewell, ask, 'Is there anything else you need to do? Water, toilet, hug?' After completing the three item set, only respond after closing the door and no new items will be added. Provide sufficient satisfaction within the process, and do not speak outside the process.

The essence of the bedtime routine is to transform sleep from a daily negotiation into a fixed routine. If you persist for two weeks, you may be surprised to find that it's not that the child is difficult to coax, but rather that the previous process was too random.