Your child’s bedtime routine

A regular, predictable bedtime routine can help children get enough sleep. Try to plan this around an appropriate bedtime.

ake the bedroom a safe, relaxing space free of clutter. A blackout blind can be helpful to keep out sunlight. Some children may find a night light soothing.

For babies, keep the room temperature between 16 and 20°C. The Lullaby Trust has more information on how to get the right temperature for babies. 

Older children can kick off or move sheets as they need to.

You can teach your child from a young age the things we need to do before going to bed. Let your child know what’s next in the routine, so they understand what you expect them to do.

Help younger children get in the habit of brushing their teeth before bed.

Change their nappy or encourage them to use the toilet, then help them get dressed for bed.

The light from TVs, tablets and phones is stimulating, so turn them off an hour before bed.

It’s a good idea to keep screens out of the bedroom at night altogether. Older children may want to stay up late on social media, or check their phones in the morning. Try storing or charging phones in another room.

Chat together. Share how your day went, and how it made you feel. If your child is old enough, encourage them to join in.

Ask your child to think about what went well today. This could be remembering kind words, a moment of joy, or how they helped someone else. It might be smaller things, like getting up on time or tidying up after themselves. They might like to write this down.

If they’re worried about anything, ask them to note this down too. Ask them to consider what they might do about the worries they can act on and see if they can let the others go.

They might like to write a “to do” list for the next day to organise their thoughts.

Encourage your child to say to themselves: “I don’t need to worry about that now – I can let it go”.

After they’ve let their worries go, try a calming activity to relax before bed.

In the hour before bed, find activities that help calm your child. This could be:

• taking a bath
• colouring in
• reading
• listening to relaxing music

Tell a story or read a book. Younger children often like to hear their favourites again and again. Older children might like to read a book by themselves or even read aloud to their parents.

When your child is young, you might sing a lullaby as they settle down to sleep. Then say goodnight. If they don’t want you to go, tell them you’ll be back to check on them in five minutes – and keep your word. You can keep repeating this if they’re still awake.

Once you’ve found a routine that works for your child, try to keep it the same each night.

Page last reviewed: January 2026
Next review due: January 2029