🧸 Setting up a bedtime routine

What you'll need

• An optional dim nightlight.
• A short story or lullaby in a familiar language.
• Light sleep clothing or a correctly fitted sleep sack suitable for the room temperature.
• Baby's own cot or bassinet with a firm, flat mattress and fitted sheet.

What to do

1. 1. Choose a simple sequence

   Try a nappy change, feed if hungry, cuddle and song. Repeat a familiar order while adjusting the timing to your baby's cues.

2. 2. Make the room comfortable

   Dim lights and reduce noise. In warm or air-conditioned rooms, adjust clothing to avoid overheating rather than adding loose bedding. Keep hats off indoors.

3. 3. Offer responsive settling

   You can try putting your baby down calm and awake, but needing feeding, rocking or reassurance is not a failure. Respond to hunger and distress.

4. 4. Finish in a safe sleep space

   Place baby on their back in their own firm, flat, clear cot or bassinet. Share your room for at least the first 6 months. Keep pillows, blankets, bumpers and toys out; adult beds and sofas are not safe alternatives.

5. 5. Share the routine

   Agree on a manageable sequence with your partner or other caregiver. If you might doze while holding baby, put them in their cot and ask another awake adult to take over.

Classic mistakes

• ❌ Watching the clock instead of your baby There is no universal routine-length cutoff. Keep it manageable and shorten it when your baby is already tired.
• ❌ Treating changes as failure Illness, travel and changing feeding needs can disrupt routines. Return to familiar cues when practical without withholding needed comfort.

Same topic

• 😴 Safer sleep for baby: reducing SIDS risk
• 🥱 Spotting your baby's tired cues
• 🌧️ Using white noise for baby sleep
• 🌙 Dressing baby for sleep: the TOG guide