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Some background, my wife and I have a preschooler and a seventeen month old. We ended up transitioning our eldest out of a crib and into a bed around the time our youngest was born. We did this before he was born to minimize disruption, but over the next several months it was still a bit rocky. Since that time, things run pretty smoothly at bedtime, but he gets down pretty late. Around 9:30 PM on nap days.

But we're now in a situation where our youngest is still in a crib, and we have more opportunity to mold his bedtime how we want to. We understand the standard best practices - keep the starting time consistent, go through the same comforting routine, minimize stimulating stuff like TV.

But what I'm interested in understanding is how to approach bedtime so we can keep it consistently early and at a consistent time. With our eldest we gave him a good degree of freedom, would it be a matter of not giving our youngest as much leeway, and starting young?

Cdn_Dev
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  • Oh, I must have read the post too quickly, sorry. Yes, totally doable and easy to boot. I think the trouble will come when the youngest realizes the discrepancy between their bedtime and their sibling's. – anongoodnurse Sep 18 '23 at 14:04
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    @anongoodnurse I'll take it if it goes the same way - both of them begging for book after book. There are worse problems to have ; - ) – Cdn_Dev Sep 19 '23 at 14:58

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We understand the standard best practices - keep the starting time consistent, go through the same comforting routine, minimize stimulating stuff like TV.

One thing that would have to be introduced into the life of a child (sooner or later) is rules: "At such a such time you have to be in bed". Since the child at this age still has a vague concept of time, this would be likely associated with the normal routine, like: "We dine, play a little, brush our teeth, put on the pyjama, read a book and the you sleep (alone.)"

The child is likely to object and some firmness is needed - within reasonable limits (a bit of crying is sometimes a necessity to express emotions, but as a parent you know when it is too much and you need to interfere.) Another option is staying in the room with the child, but assuring that they fall asleep - e.g., by turning off the light and threatening to leave, if the child continues talking/playing. Teaching to count sheeps, recalling together the events of the day, discussing the preferred dream to watch this night is also useful.

Another thing that may help is getting the child tired before the evening routine - by taking them to a park, doing a bit of cycling with them, other physical exercise.

Roger V.
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