Today I read this article today, talking about research findings that state children with irregular bedtimes had more behavior issues than children with the same bedtime every night.
When Annabelle was a baby, we would take two long naps a day so she could be awake to see Daddy when he came home from work at 9pm. Her normal bedtime was 11pm! When I finally decided to move her bedtime to a normal time for a young child, I cut out the later nap, but it took a few days to “set” her circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythm is a biological process taking place over 24 hours that lets organisms know when it’s time to sleep. It is set by external cues like daylight. When I decided to re-set Annabelle’s circadian rhythm, I started by dimming the lights a half hour before I put her to bed. Even if she was playing and active, this gave her body an external cue that sleeptime was approaching. I then created a pre-bedtime ritual that I would repeat every evening, giving her more cues that it was time to quiet down and head towards bedtime. I chose to give her a warm bath each night, followed by a few stories in bed and singing lullabies softly to her. It took about 3 days to move her bedtime to 7pm. By the time Henry came along, I was a firm believer in the importance of an early regular bedtime for young children. There was one summer he went to bed at 5pm! The next summer, 6pm! It interfered with our beachtime, and we had to have dinner ridiculously early, but it worked for us, creating a positive family environment.
Now that the kids are older, both go to bed around 8 and they’re happy and healthy.
