How Long Should Night Time Routine Take for 2 1/2 Yr Old?

My best advice that I have about working with children is to do whatever works for the two of you. Personally, I don't have that long of a routine. My son does get a bath every night just to calm him down. I try to keep him calm and away from anything stimulating. I then put on his jammies and go downstairs to brush his teeth and read a story. I just keep reminding him the whole time that he needs to pick up the pace so we can read a longer book. He likes to talk and procrastinate the whole time.

I have a boy who just turned three. This is our routine...

Bath (20 min)
Jammies (10 min)
Brush Teeth (3 min)
Pick toy to sleep with (2 min)
Choose three books (3 min)
Read three books (20 min)
Tuck in, kisses, hugs (2 min)

This usually takes us about an hour. Sometimes a little longer if we let him play longer in the tub...or if he has to stop for a #2 bathroom break, which occasionally happens around bathtime. :o)

It does seem like a long time some days, but my husband and I always split up bedtime duty....one will bathe, dress, and brush teeth...the other will read books and tuck in. That way it's about a 1/2 hour for each of us.

Our son doesn't stall too much because it is the same routine every day and we keep it moving... If he is not following directions or is taking too long with something, he knows he is using up possible reading time..which he LOVES. There have been just a couple of times when he is having a rough time listening or not picking up toys before bath, etc and has only gotten 1 book or no reading time beacause of it. He is not happy then, but knows that is the consequence.

Hi K.. I have 4 kids (ages 5,3, and twins that are 22months) I am scheduled and routined and our bedtime/bath routine takes 45-hour depending on how long they play in the tub. Now that is is lighter later and the kids want to play outside after dinner we have been coming in from outside at 6:45-7pm and everyone is bathed, teethbrushed, pottied, tv time or books and in bed by 7:45. I also read that one Mom suggested that you stop the tv time at night. All 4 of mine watch a program together on my bed after getting in their jammies and have never had a problem falling asleep or staying asleep. For my children it is what allows them to unwind and shut off their brain for the night. I think if your routine works for you that it is exactly what you should be doing. Good luck.

My 25 month old's bedtime routine takes 10-20 minutes. Of course we don't do a bath. She usually has a bath every day too, because she likes to rub dirt on herself and food in her hair. We do our bath earlier, though, so I feel like she can take her time playing in the tub.

Bedtime routine consists of going to the potty, putting on diaper and jammies, brushing teeth, read a story (or three), sing a song while I rock her in my arms, lay her down, give her her lovey, say a prayer, blow a kiss, lights out.

It's short, sweet, and to the point.

Our bathtime routine usually takes 30 minutes or longer. I let her play for quite a while. Then when it's time to soap up I have her hair and body washed and rinsed in about one or two minutes. She hates that part, so I really speed through it. By then the water has rinsed off most of the grodiness anyway, so it's not too hard to get the rest. Then it takes me about five minutes to get her dressed and brush her hair afterwards. Again, I'm quick because she is usually anxious to get up and play.

Your routine does sound long, but if you're enjoying your one-on-one time, then just focus on that.

I know it might feel excessive when you're in the middle of it all, but for the list of things you do to get ready for bed, an hour and a half sounds about right. My 8 and 4-y.o. take about that long, too, on bath nights. If you need to streamline, cut the TV - research-based evidence points to TV acting like a stimulant.

What a blessed little girl to have such a responsive, attentive mom!
I think your routine sounds wonderful. If you want to shave it down time-wise, you could consoidate and minimize some of the componants.
You could simply sing a couple songs with her while you comb out her hair (and leave the TV off for less screen time and less fiddling), perhaps substitute a shower for a bath (that goes faster for my kids on nights we need to hurry; sometimes my husband or I will have them shower with one of us after we've all been working in the yard and need a quick hose-off, just for efficiency), perhaps brush teeth in the tub or shower, or read books while she is in bed, or maybe read only two books but offer her an audio book to listen to in the dark after she's tucked in. My kids love audio books for a last goodnight story in the dark, and I've had good luck at the library and on eBay getting them.
You can trade off what you do so the routine varies slightly but is always about the same length--sometimes more singing, sometimes more stories, sometimes more chatting, but never the maximum amount of all routine componants, or you'd never get to bed!
You will always be glad for the time you spent being together without distractions. You might like the book "Hold on To Your Kids" by Gordon Neufeld. It talks about the importance of maintaining healthy attachment with children even as they outgrow infancy. Best wishes.

I save baths for the weekend, showers for the rest of the week. We do potty, shower, dry off, lotion-up, jammies, braid hair, brush teeth, read book, say prayers and hugs & kiss good night. I put on her music in her room and she is then tucked in. She plays or sings for a few minutes then the monitor goes silent (with the exception of the music) in about 10 minutes. All done in about 30 minutes. Good luck!

I think it is important to teach kids the habit of winding down at night, to start that process an hour or 2 before they actually go to bed--I never had a bedtime routine as a kid, and I have insomnia, have for years and years. I don't want my daughter to go through that. I don't want her lying in bed waiting and waiting for sleep to come. We made a bedtime book that has the schedule done in pictures. the first is of the timer set for 15 min. then of her cleaning up her toys, then of her jammies, then boowah and koala which is an online thing for little kids with songs, then after that a pic of tooth brush and tooth paste, then story books, and then a pic of her in her bed with me singing and then one of her sleeping.
our routine does take some time, but it is geared to teach her that sleep comes in stages, that you need to be aware of time, and have a routine that slowly winds down to when you climb in bed, ready to sleep.

The bedtime routine here takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 1+ hours, depending on what is going on. When it includes a bath (with playing)it's the 1+ hours day, when it includes a bath (no playing) it's a less than an hour day & when there is no bath I can usually get it don in a half hour. This is also with 4 kids. Good luck!

Have a GREAT day!

S.

For our 2+ year old daughter, we only do bath about 2 times a week (and do a sink "bath" to get off sunscreen or dirt other nights if needed) and with pjs, a book or 2, potty time, brushing teeth & cuddles, it takes around 45-1 hour. Could you brush hair & teeth during story time? We used to have her watch 10 minutes of the old-fashioned Winnie the Pooh video, but found we could totally cut this out & she didn't miss it. We start between 6:30 & 7 so that she can be in bed by 7:45. I think you can cut back a little, but nighttime is a good chance to spend time with her. Make sure your husband gets some good daddy time during those hours! Good luck!

Nix the T.V. before bedtime. Completely - it should go off at least 30 minutes before you start the bedtime routine. Watching t.v actually wires kids and makes it harder for them to go to sleep, and may make it less likely for them to stay asleep through the night. I'd say bath, put on pj's (she can help), brush teeth, comb hair (you can put on a c.d. with quiet music if it helps, instead of t.v.) then read a short book, go potty, snuggle for a few minutes, then tuck her in.

Really, if she's settling in and going to sleep well after you tuck her in, it may be worth the 45 min to an hour to get her there. Try to avoid the chattiness if you can. But there are a lot of moms who do a short routine and end up spending most of an hour putting their 2 1/2 year old BACK in bed over and over. So I'd say you're doing ok, especially if it's low stress. Just get rid of the t.v. and it may help settle a bit better (possibly even less chatting)

To be honest, that sounds about right.... My daughter is exactly the same way and is now 4. However, I have been changing the routine a bit... on days that she really is not dirty or muddy. I wash her face hands, brush teeth, let her choose which jammies etc... cut out the bath and let her have one the next morning or just wait until earlier the next evening. I start the process earlier if she is having a bath that night. both my kids were the same way. It will not harm them to take a bath every other day.... This way their "fun" bath time does not get cut short and tears are not created by rushing to get them to bed. Just Enjoy your evenings with her... is the key because it does go by fast. My son is now going on 17 and I'm lucky if he even wants a hug good night these days :)(Though I still get a "Love you too..." as he slips into bed after a long night of homework and sports).

Well, we don't usually do baths. Not every night, but twice a week. They love to play in the tub, so it's usually an hour-long affair!
Jammie-time is at 8. Then we might have dessert (it's an incentive to get them to change, which they often resist). At 8:45 we'll go up and brush teeth, then often read ONE book with both boys, sometimes each boy gets their own story. I have to snuggle with my just-turned 3 yr old to help him hold still and realize he's tired. That takes about 8-10 minutes. Then I go tuck in my older son who's been waiting in his bed. He used to need a song to relax, but now he just wants to talk for a minute, hug and a kiss, and that's it.
When I can get my husband to help, he takes one of the kids and does it his own way. I love it when he helps because it only takes us about 15 minutes to put both to bed.
I used to read more than one book, and multiple songs and lots of snuggling, etc. But when I was pregnant with #2, I would nearly fall asleep during the 45-minute routine. I scaled way back and my son didn't really resist when I told him up front he'd only get one book and one song that night.
It's been a HUGE relief to cut down the routine. Give it a try!

Hi K., We have a little boy who will be 3 in July. Our night time routine takes about 30 to 40 minutes. We don't always take a bath, but when we do our routine takes an hour and that is with 15/20 minutes playing in the tub.
A bath night looks like this:
6:45 Bath
7:00 potty, brush teeth, and brush hair
7:05 pj's
7:10 books and I sing 1 song
7:30 bed
If we don't take a bath, we take a little bit longer washing up at 7:00.
Our son is also learning to go potty several times during this process and tries to draw it out, but I am also very scheduled. Hope this helps

We are done in about 10 minutes for our 2 1/2, year old; 25 minutes if he also needs a bath - usually every other night. I just put him in his jammies, bring him down to the living room where he sits on my or my husband's lap and watches tv with us for a few minutes, then upstairs, sing a few songs, and that's it!

I have a routine that takes a long time (60-90 minutes usually) which I use to think was painfully long but now I think is a wonderful opportunity to nurture my 26mth old son. I don't know what changed my outlook but what a difference it made.
We start at 7:30 if there is a bath (we often have baths/showers during the day instead). 30 minutes.
We start at 8 if there is no bath.
Pre-bedtime routine: Between 8 and 8:30ish we brush teeth, get on PJs, pick out and read as many books as we have time for, chat, play with quiet toys, etc (all in his room). This is family time in our house and we usually have both parents participation.
Bedtime routine: 8:30 - 9ish. Say goodnight to one parent (we take turns), turn on the night light, lay down together while my son re-counts the events of the day or tells us about the books he has read while he falls asleep.
That's our routine and it works for us. I hope you find what you are looking for in the responses from other moms.

For what you do an hour 1/2 does seem long, but if you enjoy it and it works then stick with it. Maybe you guys just work at a slower pace.

If you need to cut it down I would say no TV while the jammies and hair are getting taken care of, cut the books down to 1, and perhaps even brush teeth while in the bath?

It grosses me out to hear people say they don't bath their kids nightly, but that is a personal choice. My 1 year old gets one each night even though it may be short. If you want to keep up the baths or at least getting clean at night, then just make those a true quick dip or switch to a fast rince in the shower....

Good luck...

I agree with the other poster, for my four year old we are done in 10 minutes! I do a shower earlier, especially if they are dirty I don't wait until bedtime I do it when he comes inside for the day, then the jammies are already on early and they are clean for dinner.

Then we brush teeth, go snuggle up and read a book or two and done. Have her put on her own jammies too, at her age she should be able to do that just fine and will empower her. Have them laid out already and after bath get dressed in them.

Kids do not need to do baths nightly, for girls it isn't good for their private area to be sitting in dirty water(maybe try a shower which lasts like 5 minutes) not to mention if you live in a dry climate it is hard on their skin, unless of course she is muddy every day. I know we do rinse off showers nightly now as they have sunscreen on every day. It takes me 8 minutes start to finish for the showers, lotion and jammies on.
I started showers last summer, much faster for them,you use less water, they get clean and it isn't drawn out playing in the bathtub. Only on occassion does my son play in a bubble bath.

They suggest two minutes to brush teeth and brushing hair for my seven year old takes maybe one minute.
Why a movie story or song on TV?
I think you should eliminate the movie story or TV as that wires them before bedtime. My suggestion is you either start earlier or trim down some of the things. That sounds like a lot to overstimulate a child before bed.

For a two and a half year old 30 minutes is about the average or so I would think. That is me.

Hi K.,
Generally if all goes as planned we can get our 3 and 4 year old bathed/showered, teeth brushed, jammies on and a story read in about an hour. We make sure the kids have pottied before bath. We don't do the t.v thing in our home but they could read books forever so we usually read two books, one that each has picked out. They always clean up their toys etc before heading off to be tucked in. Be aware of how easily distracted your little lady can get and also watch for stall tactics. Sounds like you are blessed, L.