Soothing Bedtime Routine and Rituals for Your Newborn

Even more so than the rest of us, newborn babies thrive on a daily sequence of events. Offering them a routine in the form of a special night time ritual will not only relax and promote better sleep for your baby, it also honours the bond between the two of you. The mild and natural formula featured in our Tiny Rituals collection is designed to nourish and protect the most delicate of skin and is the perfect complement to a bedtime ritual.

Get the most out of baby’s bath time

One of the best ways to calm a fussy baby is to adopt a bath ritual. When you do it every night at the same time, your baby will associate this activity with bedtime. A warm bath is soothing, and when you use a cleanser with a relaxing scent, this only adds to the calming atmosphere.

There’s even some solid science behind it. According to Tiffany Field, a developmental psychologist and director of the Touch Research Institute in the US, bath time is also a time for touch, which plays a huge role in your newborn’s cognitive and emotional development. By stimulating the baby’s vagus nerve, you are triggering a relaxation response which slows down his blood pressure and heart rate.

Fill a bath with warm water and test it with your elbow, to ensure it’s the right temperature for your baby. Once in the water, you can massage the Tiny Rituals baby bath oil into your baby’s skin, gently washing from head to toe. Featuring sweet almond oil and soothing rice milk, the extra mild formula does not sting the eyes and rinses out easily. Because it’s made from the most natural and organic ingredients, the hair & body wash leaves your newborn’s skin incredibly soft and protected.

Once out of the bath, wrap your infant in a soft towel and gently pat his skin dry. It’s important that you keep your baby warm at all times, because cold tends to have a stimulating effect rather than a relaxing one.

Baby massage: good for you and your little one

There’s nothing quite like massage to unwind your mind and body—and the same thing goes for your little one. Most babies will find massage extremely soothing, and you will enjoy how this little ritual makes you feel even more connected. In fact, studies have shown that giving your baby a massage can actually help alleviate symptoms of postnatal anxiety or depression.

The length of the massage is completely up to you: as long as you are extremely gentle and it’s not making your baby more active (flailing arms and legs indicate your baby is irritated and/or too stimulated before bedtime), you can perform the following steps for up to 15 minutes. 

1. Lay him comfortably on his stomach, with his head turned to one side.

2. Pump a few drops of the Tiny Rituals baby massage oil into your hands and rub them together to warm it up. The mild formula is an organic mixture, including sweet almond, avocado and jojoba oils, which is not greasy and easily absorbed by the skin.

3. Start at the forehead and stroke along the top of your baby’s head, followed by the nape of the neck.

4. Massage across each shoulder starting at the centre of the neck and extending outwards towards the arms, one side at time. Gently massage each finger at the end of each stroke.

5. From the top of the back, massage downwards towards the hips with both hands, being careful to avoid the spine.

6. Run your fingertips down the back of both your baby’s legs, then go back up again. Repeat this along the backs of your baby’s arms.

7. Gently turn your baby over onto his back. Repeat the down and up strokes on his chest and along the front of his arms and legs.

After the massage, your baby will not only feel extremely relaxed, his skin will also be nourished, supple and soft thanks to the specially designed oil.

Scent and sweet dreams

The last step in your baby’s nighttime ritual is making sure his bedroom is in the perfect condition to promote sleep. Again, just as it does with the rest of us, a relaxing scent can have a tremendously positive effect on your baby and if you do this every night, it can really help prepare your little one for sleep.

Spray a bit of Tiny Rituals baby room & linen mist around the room. One or two spritzes is plenty. Mild and alcohol-free, the mist is based on a cotton-like white musk with floral elements and creates an instant clean and calming atmosphere.