Bedtime rountines

[byjove]

Describe your bed time routine. Please and thank you

[gdaisy09]

I try to keep our end of the day routine basically the same every day.
5:30 solids
6:00 Bathtime if needed
by 6:30 I try to have her in her night time diaper and PJs then if she isn't ready to nurse yet she gets some time to zoom around her room, we might FaceTime Grandma
6:45 read a book or two if she hasn't gone into melt-down mode
then I put her in a sleep sack, close the curtains, dim the lights, and turn the speed on the airfilter up, she nurses (this nursing session generally lasts 30mins++) then she goes in her crib, usually drowsy but awake (but occasionally she passes out on the boob) I turn her gentle giraffe on sleep mode, kick the cat out of her room, turn the lights off and close the door.

If she was awake she'll often fuss for a minute or two, but 95% of the time rolls over and puts herself to sleep after a minute or two of fussing. If she was a sleep she'll often wake up 20-30 minutes later, fuss for a little bit, but then roll over and go back to sleep.

[obscurereference]

Just the baby's routine?

[byjove]

Oct 14, 2016 9:09:02 GMT -5 obscurereference said:

Just the baby's routine?

 

[kida]

Between 7 and 7:30 I feed her dinner
Then around 8 she gets a bath
After bath we do a story book
Then while feeding her a bottle sing a few lullabies
Then good night prayers and say goodnight and lay her down
97% of the time she rolls over and goes to sleep
Sometimes we have to tell her goodnight and cover her up a few extra times if she's fussy.

[obscurereference]

Our routine is the same every night but the time is pretty flexible because she's all over the place with naps right now.
5:00 she gets her dinner bottle
5:30 everyone eats dinner and she gets solids
After dinner, everyone goes upstairs and we play, dance, wrestle, rough house, and give any number of baths depending on what day it is/who needs one.
7:00 music off and lights off/dimmed. Encourage calmer activities like puzzles. Baby is still usually crawling around doing whatever at this point.
7:15 start wrangling/pleading/bribing the older two to brush their teeth and put nighttime diapers and pjs on.
Older two pick books for me to read, H brushes baby's teeth and gets her into her pjs. Read one final book with baby.
Then we let the older two pick two books to read in bed by themselves and get them in bed.
Put baby in her sleepsack, turn on white noise, say goodnight and plop in crib. Majority of the time she'll entertain herself briefly and then go to sleep looking adoringly at her extra paci in the crib. She sleeps with two pacis and a stuffed duck that we retrieve before we go to bed for the night.
Sometimes she will cry when we shut the door behind us so I usually do a slow count to ten to make sure it's not a separation cry and she'll usually have settled by then. If not, we take turns soothing briefly: rubbing her back, patting her butt, singing, and rocking as a last resort.

I thought adding the other kids in might be helpful since you have two and the routine can't really be separated out. At least ours can't!

[byjove]

obscurereference, do your kids share a room? We are hoping to have Margs and Clara share, but right now Margs wants to be asleep by 7 and Clara's bed time doesn't usually start until 8...


So I pose this to all, help me with our bed time routine. I am ready to make changes.

5:45pm- we all get home #shitshow
6-6:15pm- dinner is on the table and we eat
6:05-6:20- ha! Clara is done with dinner
6:30-6:40- Margs is done with dinner (she takes a long time to self feed)
6:45- DH takes Clara to the playground and I change Margs into pajama. By this time she is usually melt downing and wanting to nurse
6:50 I take Margs upstairs. She nurses. Sometimes it's for a while, sometimes it is not. Sometimes she passes out, sometimes she does not.
7- DH and Clara get back. Clara takes a shower when needed, has a snack, and gets a little tv.
Somewhere between 7 and 7:30 (usually) Margs is a asleep. DH will take over most nights if she isn't asleep yet. A lot of the time she tosses and rolls and flops around our bed sucking a paci to fall asleep. The world is ending if we attempt this in her crib.
7:45 Clara goes upstairs to brush teeth and read books. I try to have lights out by 8:30. Hopefully asleep 8:45-9pm. Clara is a good sleeper and wakes up at 8 am usually.
9 pm- Margs is awake for the first time lol. I usually nurse her and then pass out.

[Unknown]

byjove, I feel you for the shitshow after work.

5:40pm- Get home
6:15pm- Start dinner
7:00pm- Give both kids bath, big goes downstairs to watch a show. (If baby doesn't get a bath I do dishes until next step).
7:30pm- Change, rock and nurse (sometimes to sleep sometimes not, but either way into crib when we are done)
8:15pm- Big goes pee pee potty, reads a book (or 2) with mama, and we rock (she has been wanting rocked since sister was born
9:15pm- Big finally falls asleep after an hour of singing and playing in bed

[COCO]

I SAH and try to have kids fed by 6. DH usually gets home around then. He'll eat quickly.
6-7 DH plays with kids while I clean up.
7 both kids take a shower and get in pjs.
7:15-7:30 I read to DS in his bedroom. DH gives DD a bottle in dark living room.
7:30 DS in bed asleep. DD in crib asleep.

DD is very easy going and doesn't require a crazy night time routine like DS did.

[RoLoMa]

So, I know you are mostly over seeing other people's routines but I will share anyway in case some part of it might help.

5:50pm - Get home and have #shitshow while I am trying to put milk away and rinse cups, etc. from daycare unless I distract with cheerios
6:00pm - Nurse for usually 15-20 mins sometimes 30 if he is really crabby
6:20pm or so - dinner at the table (usually something pre-made so I just have to heat it up a bit)
6:45pm - clean up from dinner and play
7:00pm - back into kitchen to mix vitamins (vitamins mixed with 15mL BM) and heat water for warming
7:05pm - change into jammies (#shitshow number 2/evening melt down)
7:10pm - go to couch to take vitamins and nurse for usually 10 minutes or so
Here is where he used to peacefully drift off to sleep so I could just deposit him in his crib with no worries. Ha!
7:30pm - put in crib while singing stupid night night song I make up as I go along
7:30.5pm - child standing in crib and shouting at me as I close the door
7:31pm - pour giant glass of wine and watch kid on monitor crawl around crib, shouting and standing up/sitting down repeatedly until he gets tired and falls asleep

He is usually asleep by 7:45pm, sometimes earlier. If he is being a jerk after nursing and not calming down I sometimes put him in his crib earlier and he is out by 7:30pm. He has his nights were he acts like I cut his arm off when I put him in his crib, sobbing and yelling. If he lasts longer than about 12 minutes doing that I go in, lay him down, and pat his back but only stay a few minutes before leaving again. (so, yes, we CIO when needed)

On bath nights we somehow cram that in after food and before vitamins.

[thatgirlrachel]

Oct 14, 2016 13:18:59 GMT -5 RoLoMa said:

*snip*

7:31pm - pour giant glass of wine and watch kid on monitor crawl around crib, shouting and standing up/sitting down repeatedly until he gets tired and falls asleep

*snip*

Oh I see we are occasional life twins!

[obscurereference]

byjove my kids all have their own rooms. When we found out #3 was a girl we decided to move the office into our bedroom because DD1 is just a terrible sleeper and I couldn't fathom her sharing a room. I know people make it work all the time!

What are you trying to change exactly? It seems like you have a pretty solid routine. I'm also pretty sure every kid on the planet is in shitshow mode from dinner to bed!

[obscurereference]

Lol RoLoMa. That is totally my kid. Stand up, sit down, shout, crawl around ridiculously hindered by sleep sack, and sometimes toss paci out for good measure. And then give up and go to sleep.

[byjove]

RoLoMa, no, I want to see all the bed time routines! I am very interested.

[thatgirlrachel]

I have mentioned that we have a later bedtime than most, but I will share anyway.

6:00 - get home
6:30-7:00 - eating. EG eats supper the same time we do.
7:00-8:00 - playtime with the baby (me and/or H) and/or cleaning up from supper
8:00 - bath time for EG - I think we are one of the few that does a bath every single night. It's been part of her routine since 4 weeks old so I don't rock the boat.
8:30 - H gives the bedtime bottle right after bath. She used to pass out during this bottle, but lately only momma can put her to sleep.
9:00 - see RoLoMa 's post re: big glass of adult beverage.

EG has always had a "later" bedtime. She would laugh at me if I try to put her down before it was dark out. Her meltdown time is around 7:45-8:00, then it's bath time and the world is a better place again.

Edit: I should add that EG takes 2 naps. 1 mid-morning and another around 3:30pm. Then she is up from 4:30-8:30. MIL recently moved her afternoon nap from 2ish to 3ish and it has been a blessing.

[obscurereference]

thatgirlrachel Sounds like she's trying to drop a nap!

[expatmama11]

530/6ish eat dinner

630/645ish gets a bottle

700 bath, book, bed

*usually in bed around 715. After I read him a book or two, I sing him a song, turn on white noise, and lay him in his crib awake. He will almost always fall asleep within a few minutes.

*trying to move away from bottle being part of bedtime routine which is why he gets it downstairs now before bath.

[RoLoMa]

Oct 14, 2016 13:43:13 GMT -5 obscurereference said:

Lol RoLoMa . That is totally my kid. Stand up, sit down, shout, crawl around ridiculously hindered by sleep sack, and sometimes toss paci out for good measure. And then give up and go to sleep.

We dropped the sleep sack last weekend when he finally figured out he could stand up in his crib.  After watching him step on the sack and trip himself I decided we would get rid of it.  He has been doing great in just footie pajamas.  I did cave and give him a little lovey to sleep with.  He just looked so lonely in there once the sleep sack was gone.

[gdaisy09]

Oct 14, 2016 15:59:57 GMT -5 RoLoMa said:

Oct 14, 2016 13:43:13 GMT -5 obscurereference said:

Lol RoLoMa . That is totally my kid. Stand up, sit down, shout, crawl around ridiculously hindered by sleep sack, and sometimes toss paci out for good measure. And then give up and go to sleep.

We dropped the sleep sack last weekend when he finally figured out he could stand up in his crib.  After watching him step on the sack and trip himself I decided we would get rid of it.  He has been doing great in just footie pajamas.  I did cave and give him a little lovey to sleep with.  He just looked so lonely in there once the sleep sack was gone.

Iz is another fit thrower, screams as soon as she's near the crib, stand up, sit down, crawls everywhere, I still put her in the sleep sack, sometimes I think the extra annoyance of all that fabric getting in her way makes her lie down and succumb to sleep sooner

[baylorbear]

5:45-H gets home and plays with the kids
6:30-dinner, We all sit down and eat, both girls get whatever we are eating
7:00-7:30 we make our way upstairs, do baths and get pjs on (girls take a bath together). If it's not a bath night, we play in the playroom.
7:30- depending on what time LO woke up from her nap, we sometimes do bottle now. She takes her bottle and used to fall asleep but fights it sometimes. It usually takes a lot of rocking to put her to sleep.

If she doesn't fall asleep at 7:30, she goes into her sister's room and they sit and read a few books with Daddy. Both girls will go to sleep at 8:00 then. DD1 doesn't usually fall asleep until 8:45-9:15 but is still in her crib and has to stay in her crib. We usually have to give her a book or stuffed animal or whatever else she tries to distract herself with.

[physiomeg]

Oct 14, 2016 14:28:50 GMT -5 expatmama11 said:

530/6ish eat dinner

630/645ish gets a bottle

700 bath, book, bed

*usually in bed around 715. After I read him a book or two, I sing him a song, turn on white noise, and lay him in his crib awake. He will almost always fall asleep within a few minutes.

*trying to move away from bottle being part of bedtime routine which is why he gets it downstairs now before bath.

This. A usually fusses/cries for a couple minutes before falling asleep, but the routine is almost exactly this.

[evenkeeled]

Okay I will post ours:

5:30 dinner for Emma and us, sometimes with milk to wash down.
6:00 more milk (we are trying to move her calories to day so pushing it in the evening.)
6:30 upstairs for bath
6:50 bottle and usually fighting to get down and crawl around lately.
7:00 stories
7:15 lights out with overhead star lights on, laying on mattress and discussing stars to unwind.
7:25 bottle and rocking
7:45 rocked or swung to sleep and placed in crib. We have never tried to put her down awake awake. We are trying to do drowsy but awake which takes a few tries.

8:00 asleep and clock starts ticking.

9-10pm first awakening and the sh@tshow begins.

[evenkeeled]

For those that go in to comfort them, how long do you let them fuss before going in after they have been asleep? Or what actions prompt you to go in there? We are trying to let her fuss, and some crying, for a couple minutes before going in there.

Also try and pat her but doesn't do much good usually. Have to take out and swing her or feed her. Sometimes she will go back to sleep but after 11pm, if she cries out it is bloody murder and even laying with her isn't calming her down for long but try to just be there to rub her even if can't make her stop crying. She is the most restless from 11-3, sleeps the best from 4-7.

[expatmama11]

evenkeeled Post sleep training we have a 10 minute rule. This can change if I can hear a difference in his crying.

During our sleep training it was honestly all over the place the first few nights.

[evenkeeled]

Oct 15, 2016 14:11:40 GMT -5 expatmama11 said:

evenkeeled Post sleep training we have a 10 minute rule. This can change if I can hear a difference in his crying.

During our sleep training it was honestly all over the place the first few nights.

Gracias! 😊

[spidermonkeymama]

5-530: realize I need to feed my family
530-6: prep dinner
6-630: try to get them to eat dinner
630-7: meltdowns
7: big kid does her poop/ shower/ pjs while little kid steals her towel and tries to crawl into her room and destroy all the toys. Technically, i do her meds (reflux & inhaler), brush teeth and change her while big kid is in the shower. Then we sometimes read a book and nurse and throw her in the crib by 730. She always lies down like she's going to sleep and then the moment I'm out the door she screams. Sometimes she falls asleep. But then she wakes up like two hours later.

[geners]

Our routine is a little different right now because we are in the middle of sleep training C to go down drowsy but awake in the hopes he learns to settle himself back to sleep MOTN. I'll note what's different below.

6:50 bath (Sun/Weds/Fri only)

7:00 nurse C in my room with the lights on (this is a new step to make sure he doesn't fall asleep before his belly is full)

7:15 playtime in nursery
7:25 playtime in crib (a new step meant to get him more comfortable with being in the crib)
7:30 epic battle ensues to change into nighttime diaper, pajamas
7:35 book & medicine in rocking chair
7:40 put on sleep sack, turn light off, white noise on
7:45 nurse C until drowsy (used to nurse to sleep then wait 10+ min before moving to crib and praying that he stayed asleep when I set him down)
If the drowsy transfer doesn't work and he sits right up, I rub his back & soothe him in the crib for a few min then pick him back up and nurse him fully to sleep. Hoping to eliminate this last step soon - right now the drowsy transfer works about half the time.

[gdaisy09]

evenkeeled, like expatmama, we go with about 10 minutes, unless the cry is clearly one of distress. She often wakes an hour or so after she goes down, but she almost always fusses for 5-6min and goes back down. Using the video monitor helps me decide if I'm going in or not, if she's already stood up then is back to sitting or laying down that generally means the she's putting herself to sleep and I'll delay going in.

[evenkeeled]

Oct 16, 2016 19:44:53 GMT -5 gdaisy09 said:

evenkeeled, like expatmama, we go with about 10 minutes, unless the cry is clearly one of distress. She often wakes an hour or so after she goes down, but she almost always fusses for 5-6min and goes back down. Using the video monitor helps me decide if I'm going in or not, if she's already stood up then is back to sitting or laying down that generally means the she's putting herself to sleep and I'll delay going in.

We have played with waiting during a nap but hardly at all at night. I think we live in fear of her waking up fully and being up for an hour or two.

Thank you. 😊

[carsaidyes]

R has been sleeped trained since 4 months and the routine will vary about 15 min either way depending on his last nap. But it looks something like this.

4:30-wake up from last nap
4:30-5- usually a bottle that I have to force feed. Because his last bottle was at noon and he's not being a good bottle taker these days.
6-solids
6:30-bath
7- 4-5oz
7:15-7:30 bed. He'll lay down and rotate and roll for a few min. He has a glow worm and 3 pacis. It's the only time we let him have pacis, unless he's napping in the car or not feeling well and cranky. Then we'll wake up at 7 or 8 the next day and do it all over again.