Spit-up On My Shoulder

An interesting article came out earlier this week on the importance of bedtime routines for both infants and toddlers. I strongly encourage you to establish a bedtime routine with your baby as soon as possible. Some options to include in the bedtime routine (pick as few or as many as you like, as long as you’re consistent): bath, reading the same story, infant massage, music, rocking, or prayers.

Babies like routine and they will learn that a certain sequence of events, that only occur in the evening, means it’s time to settle down for a longer sleep. The link to the recent sleep article is here.

Although I liked the article’s ideas on establishing a routine, it bothered me that no dads were profiled. Here is a bit from the article:

“A 2005-06 study of 58 infants age 7 months to 18 months suggested that babies who have consistent bedtime routines fall asleep faster, sleep for longer stretches and awaken less often at night. Mothers in the study, funded by Johnson & Johnson, followed a three-step routine with their little ones — a bath, a massage with baby lotion, and a quiet activity such as reading — for two weeks. In addition to better sleep for their babies, the moms reported a reduction in their own anxiety and fatigue.”

Didn’t any of the 58 babies have fathers who participated in the bedtime routine? The study implies that moms have all the responsibility for managing bedtime. I find this view often in articles and studies about parenting.

What happened to sharing the bedtime routine with dad? It’s also not fair to the dads who are there to help, to assume that they don’t put their kids to bed. Both men and women are parents – quit laying all the parenting responsibilities on the mom! Share the work and be better, happier parents for it.