The survey was done in the United Kingdom, the regions mentioned are in reference to Great Britain (Scotland, England, Wales) and Northern Ireland, the countries which make up the UK. The South East is the area just north of, and south of London all the way to the English Channel. Sometimes, London is listed seperately in this sort of thing, but it appears to include London this time.

Otherwise, our bedtime routine usually includes a potty time and a last drink of water, prayers, and a song. We have said the same prayer for months at bedtime and he has it memorized, as well as several songs. If we don’t sing Jesus Loves me or Jesus loves the little children he will burst into song on his own. I guess we are big singers in our house too b/c my son can sing dozens of songs from memory.

My baby goes to sleep at 7. We don’t read to him as part of his bedtime routine but we do read. My older son (almost 4) does get 2 books as part of his bedtime routine, and we often do a board game before that. I do try to limit TV before bed (usually we don’t watch after dinner and beyond), but he does watch TV during the day. I don’t have a strict limit on it but sometimes I decide he has had enough for the day. :)

The older one is hyperactive and wouldn’t even sit still for a book until he was about 2 1/2. I had so many visions of reading with my baby and that went out the window…he wasn’t even cuddly as a newborn! I thought he hated me! He does love books now and retells the stories in his own way as he pretends to ‘read” them back to me. I love it!

My son is 2 1/2 and his routine is pick-up toys, bath, brush teeth, 2-4 books of his choosing, and the cuddling/rocking. He sleeps great with the exception of rolling off his twin mattress on the floor every once in a while and we have very little bedtime resistance. His language is also pretty advanced for his age – he’s been using 4-5 word sentences from about 20 months and now tells stories and uses words like “probably” and “frustrated” to name a few in the appropriate contexts. Whether that’s just him or due to all the reading we do I can’t say.

Bedtime routines are important for children to develop self-regulatory sleep patterns and also are a huge time for parent-child bonding. Book reading at bedtime is not a must (but daily exposure to books is and bedtime is a good time to work this in). Consistency and parent involvement is actually the most important part of a bedtime routine.

I think she likes delving into fantasy land before sleeping.

I think that having a good, regular routine is important. My son has developed a bit of obsessive compulsive habits – kind of. Other than regular routine, he must keep things in their place and in certain order. If it isn’t in the right place, or done the right way, he gets upset. This is partly why we keep our regular routine with him. Also, it is great bonding time, especially on days where I work and haven’t seen him all day.

Consistent, regular routine has been key to getting good sleep for both our son and for me and my husband. I am very happy that our son doesn’t attempt to sleep in our bed, although, if we’re sleeping in, he’ll come to our bed when he wakes and lay with us for a bit. I agree with Jenn that without a regular routine and an appropriate bedtime, a child will be difficult to put down, wake up more at night, have a higher chance of wanting to be in mommy and daddy’s bed, and may be more irritable.