“Dinner, bath, books, bed.” That was my mantra when my kids
were little. They knew the routine once I started getting dinner ready. The
moment the dishes were in the dishwasher I would bring them straight upstairs
to get ready for bath time, and to pick out a book. Once the story was read, it
was time to hop into bed. It helped ME to keep them in this routine. (After
all, a mom needs to be off-duty, too!) And now, new research has shown that it
helps KIDS to have a consistent bedtime routine, as well.
In a multinational study, mothers of 10,085 children (from
infants to age 5) in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India,
Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, United Kingdom and
the United States were surveyed about their children’s sleep habits – both
daytime naps and nighttime. They completed a questionnaire which was then
analyzed by the researchers.
The results?
The children who had a consistent bedtime routine slept
better, longer, and woke up less during the night. They also fell asleep sooner
than those who did not have a consistent routine. Parents reported fewer
behavior problems the next day in the kids that had a consistent bedtime
routine. (I know that if I have not had a decent night’s sleep, I can be
grouchy and irritable the next day. It seems reasonable that the same would be
true for our kids.) It is interesting that the results were consistent across
many different countries. Kids are kids, no matter where they live. They all
need good, solid, restorative sleep. These data suggest that a bedtime routine
can be key in helping your child sleep well every night.