A good bedtime routine for young children takes 20 to 30 minutes and follows the same steps every night: bath, pajamas and teeth, a story, a short prayer, then lights out. The prayer grows with your child, from a one-line thank-you at two to a decade of the Rosary at six.
Sleep they need: 11 to 14 hours a day, including naps · About 20 minutes
Sleep they need: 10 to 13 hours a day, including naps · About 25 minutes
Sleep they need: 10 to 13 hours a day, including naps · About 25 minutes
Sleep they need: 10 to 13 hours a day · About 30 minutes
Sleep they need: 9 to 12 hours a day · About 30 minutes
Sleep hours: American Academy of Sleep Medicine consensus (2016), endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
About 20 to 30 minutes, with the same steps in the same order every night. What matters most is that it’s calm and predictable, not how long it is.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, with the American Academy of Pediatrics, recommends 11 to 14 hours a day for ages 1 to 2, 10 to 13 hours for ages 3 to 5, and 9 to 12 hours for ages 6 to 12, counting naps.
At the end, after the story and before the light goes out. It becomes the signal that the day is over, and children fall asleep with God as their last thought.
Bedtime prayers for kids→Sleep meditations for kids→