Recommended age for technique:
Three months and older.

Description of technique:
Bedtime rituals are a great way to allow both you and your child to relax after a busy day. Although babies younger than three months easily fall asleep after a feeding, as your child gets older, a soothing ritual can help ease your baby into a sleepy state. However you choose to introduce this quiet period, consistency will help your child to recognize that it's time for her to prepare for sleep. Babies as well as toddlers thrive on routines, so it won't take long for your child to recognize this time as marking the end of the day. This can be an extremely rewarding and intimate time that you spend with your child. Many parents and children grow to love this one-on-one time together.

Other comments or suggestions:
Beginning at about three months, my husband and I began to introduce what we called the "four b's" to our daughter at bedtime. The "four b's" stand for a bath, a short book, the breast or bottle, and bed. We found this routine helped calm her at the end of each day, and we found ourselves looking forward to this quiet time with our daughter. Of course, a bedtime ritual should be adapted to your child's age. As our daughter gets older, we plan to incorporate more time into the routine for reading. Remember though that you won't want to implement too elaborate a ritual, or you may very well find yourself taking an unreasonable amount of time to prepare your child for bed, especially as she grows older and tries to avoid bedtime by stretching out the established routine. Most parents find it helpful to avoid a sleep ritual at naptime so that you do not find yourself taking too much time getting your child to sleep.