You couldn't resist your little one's pleas for "just ten more minutes" of his favorite show, and now bedtime has come and gone. You turn off the tube, break out the jammies and whisk him upstairs. No time to read or wind down. But he's tired, so he'll sleep, right?
Not exactly. "Everyone needs a series of predictable steps that they take every night to help them sleep," says Jill Spivack, a sleep specialist and co-creator of the Sleepeasy Solution. In other words, whisking him from playtime to bedtime might actually be depriving your child of the very cues he needs to make it smoothly into slumber. The good news: a solid routine can make evenings less stressful and far more fun -- for everyone.
Here are 4 tips from our experts on making better bedtime routines:
