What Is My Baby’s Bedtime Routine Missing?

A lot of parents have routines for their babies — bath, bottle, lullaby — but recent research shows that small gaps in timing, consistency, environmental factors, or emotional cues can make a big difference in how deeply and how long babies sleep. Here are evidence-based insights and statistics on what might be missing from typical bedtime routines, plus what you can add to improve sleep outcomes.¹

1. Consistency in timing and nightly structure
One study of 320 six-month-olds found that when a bedtime routine starts after 9 PM, infants tend to sleep significantly less at night. Also, routines implemented fewer than 3-4 nights per week were linked to more variability in night-time sleep than routines used 5-6 nights or every night.² Missing: early enough bedtime and high regularity.

2. Dose and frequency
A large multinational study of over 10,000 children aged 0-5 showed that children who had a bedtime routine every night slept on average over an hour longer per night than children who never had one. The more regularly a routine is followed, the greater the benefit: earlier bedtime, fewer night wakings, shorter time to fall asleep.³ If your routine isn’t done nightly or is very abbreviated, that lower “dose” may be what's missing.

3. Adaptive, calming activities
Reading a book, cuddling, saying goodnight are examples of “adaptive bedtime activities.” Research from the STRONG Kids 2 birth cohort shows these items matter: babies and toddlers who have more adaptive activities in their pre-sleep routine have longer nighttime sleep and fewer sleep problems.⁴ If your routine is mostly about feeding or diapering, adding soothing interaction or quieter transition activities can help.

4. Environmental cues & light exposure
While not all studies explicitly isolate this, work on circadian rhythm and sleep modeling shows that exposure to bright light too close to bedtime, or very low daytime light, can disrupt sleep and increase night wakings.⁵ A routine may be missing proper dimming of lights, limiting screen exposure, or arranging for bright daylight early in day and dim lighting in evening.

5. Early start (age-appropriate routine) and building from infancy
Even in the first few weeks of life, over 60% of parents in one study reported starting a bedtime routine, with many starting before 4 weeks. Babies with routines had longer overnight sleep stretches and fewer total awake minutes overnight.⁶ If your baby doesn’t yet have any bedtime ritual, or one that begins too late in the evening or in infancy, that’s a gap.

6. Emotional connection & caregiver presence
Routines aren’t just logistics. Caregivers who included loving elements — hugs, kisses, saying “goodnight,” quiet story time — saw better outcomes for infant sleep. Also, parents report bonding as a major benefit.⁷ If your routine is mostly task-oriented (feed, change, nurse, put down) without emotional warmth, that may reduce the effectiveness of the ritual.

What to Inspect in Your Routine

• Bedtime: Is it before about 9 PM for infants/toddlers? Are there large fluctuations in the time?
  
  

• Frequency: Are you doing the full routine every night, or skipping parts on some nights?
  
  

• Activities: Are there calm, soothing, interactive components (reading, cuddling)?
  
  

• Environment: Is the lighting low? Are screens shut off? Is the room quiet, comfortable, and dark enough?
  
  

• Emotional cueing: Are there loving transitions, predictable cues your baby comes to recognize?
  
  

Baby Still Not Sleeping Consistently?

If you utilize a consistent, comprehensive bedtime routine but your baby is still not sleeping through the night consistently, first consult your pediatrician for any health-related factors. Then, seek the guidance of a baby sleep consultant or baby sleep program to make sure all your baby’s sleep needs are being adequately met.

Footnotes

1. Bedtime routines for young infants and parents’ sleep outcomes (newborns, 1-15 weeks) showing only ~62% had bedtime routines. (PubMed)
   
   

2. Actigraphy study: 6-month infants, starting routine after 9 PM or using it <3-4 nights/week → shorter or more variable sleep. (PubMed)
   
   

3. Multinational study of 10,085 children: more consistent bedtime routines led to longer sleep, fewer wakings, etc. (PubMed)
   
   

4. STRONG Kids 2 cohort: adaptive bedtime activities (e.g. reading, saying goodnight) predicted better sleep over first 2 years. (OUP Academic)
   
   

5. Modeling studies on light exposure and circadian rhythms in early childhood showing effects on night waking. (arXiv)
   
   

6. Prevalence of bedtime routines starting early (before 4 weeks) and associations with longer overnight stretches in newborns. (OUP Academic)
   
   

7. Emotional connection: bonding, parent-infant interactions in bedtime routines correlated with improved sleep consolidation. (PubMed)
   
   

8. Study “Implementation of a nightly bedtime routine”: introducing consistent routine (bath + massage + quiet activities) produced measurable improvements in wake after sleep onset, latency, etc., often within just a few nights. (PubMed)