I have four children and the oldest is 6 years old and the youngest is 9 months old. My husband and I have sleep trained all of my children so that makes our bedtime so much better but sleep training all comes down to consistency and making sure that you stay on a routine that works for your family. Since we have four children there is no way that we would be able to go through the headache of falling asleep with each of our children or cuddling them to sleep. Not only is that just impossible, but we are also just so tired by the end of the day we are excited to get the kids to sleep so we can have some time by ourselves. I would love to share with other people our bedtime routine so that maybe I can help other parents get their toddlers to stay in their beds.

Steps To Sleep-Training Your Baby

Every night my four kids are in bed by 8:30 (ish). Sometimes we run a little bit behind if we are at grandma and grandpa's house. But they are never up past 9:00. We don't have to fall asleep next to any of them, they don't get out and ask us for a million things and it is amazing. Of course, my kids come out every once in a while (mainly our oldest who is six) but our toddler goes to sleep in his big kid bed and he doesn't get out. I promise if you get your kids on a schedule at night that you will have much more quality of life.

For my family, we take baths on 2-3 times a week. If it is bath night they take a bath and then we take each kid out and put them in their pajamas. My older kids go to the bathroom, wash their hands, and then wait in line to be brushed. We brush their teeth and then they floss their teeth. We get my toddler brushing his teeth (which he screams ever night) and then we floss his teeth a couple of times a week. We get the baby in her pajamas. I nurse her while my husband helps the older kids. The toddler sits in with his older brothers while they read books, watch a story on dad's phone, sing songs, and then they say a pray. Sometimes dad switches things up and he tells a story to the kids using his imagination. I then put the baby down in her crib. We get all of their kids their blankets, their special stuff animal cuddle, give them one last drink of water, kiss them good night and then close the door. We never see our toddler until the morning time. He sleeps in a big kid bed, with the door closed a just a little nightlight.

Here are the best tips in creating your OWN bedtime routine

  • Consistency: Whatever routine you decide you need to make sure that you are being consistent. My life is one big hot mess. I don't have anything together and I am always forgetting things and I don't know how to manage things sometimes. I fall asleep every night thinking, "what the heck just happened?" Although my life is kind of a huge mess, I know that my bedtime routine with my kids is on point. Toddlers need consistency. Develop something that they expect. My toddler doesn't fight any part of our bedtime routine (except sometimes brushing his teeth) because he knows that is what we do every single night. If you are not consistent and then want to throw curveballs into their routine then there are likely to be a lot more fights and hiccups.
  • Don't Rush: There are times that it might be very tempting to just rush through the routine. You might be still doing the same routine but you are trying to go through it quickly so that you can just be done for the day, in my experience, this does not go over very well. This goes back to consistency, when you are going fast they will feel like they missed out on important parts of the routine even if you did everything you usually do. They might feel like they were cheated out of a full story, or they didn't like how you didn't sing them a song, or whatever it may be that you skipped or sped through.
  • Don't Cave: It may seem easy to cave every once in a while when you just don't want to fight something you just cave and say, "whatever." That is probably the worst thing you can when it comes to trying to start a routine, once again, consistancy. Your toddler will not understand, "just for tonight" or "just this once " because they will just ask that again. Since you already let them do it once they know that you might cave again. Toddlers are much smarter than you give them credit for and they know it is easy to manipulate because you love them so much!
  • Give them choices: Nobody likes being told what to do! Being a toddler would be really difficult because people are always telling them what to do. They feel out of control and they don't understand why they are not allowed to do some of the things that they want. I know I don't like people making decisions for me and so that would frustrate me too! Give your toddlers many times to make their own decisions. My husband gives the kids choices on which books they read, or which songs they get to sing that night. Our boys get to even decide which pajamas they are going to wear. It is important for toddlers to feel like they are in control. You will have much more success if you allow them to feel like they aren't just being bossed around.
  • Ask them what they need: Make sure that before you put them to sleep that you make sure that there isn't anything else that they need. And make sure that they know that they shouldn't be leaving their room. After you leave their room then they are not allowed to get out of bed and ask you for something else.

Starting a routine can be very difficult, especially if you don't really have a routine right now. Make sure that you start the routine slowly and explain exactly what you will be doing and why because then they will be able to understand the routine more fully. Be patient and don't give up! Good luck my fellow parents!

Everything You Need To Know About Sleep Training