Can we talk about evenings?

[cougarette]

Now that our babies are getting bigger and getting some routines (ha, that was a good one, right?) I'm wondering what time your LOs are going to bed.

Currently we start the routine around 8 and he's down between 8:30-9, but that seems late. He'll also start to melt down sometimes, depending on when his last nap at daycare ends.

Here's my concern: I get home around 6. I feed him at that time and then start cooking supper. We eat around 7-7:30. I'd really like DS to hang with us while we eat, especially as he starts eating solids. But right now he's either fitting in one last nap or starting to melt down.

What do you all do regarding your dinner time and nightly routine?

[cougarette]

Sorry, this is a post and run because my lunch break just ended.

[nbad311]

Following! Curious to see what everyone else does, because I feel this is us sometimes too.

We also start bedtime stuff around 8, but I'm always checking his daycare sheet to see when his last nap was, as it does seem to factor into evening fussiness and when he's really ready for bed.

I work 7:30-4:30 because I want to get home at a decent time for reasons like this (being able to make dinner, prepping some food for LO, having some family time at dinner).  Usually I can have everyone eating by 6pm, unless I leave work late ( ).  It's working pretty well, but on the flip side........... in order to keep the earlier hours, I'm having to get up around 5:30am to start the day and I fucking.hateit.  I am so tired most mornings.  I don't know why I just can't with the early wake-up time.  I've been having sleep issues (even with DS STTN) which I know doesn't help.

[elsmom]

We are on the early side too. I work 7-4 on the days I work so I do have some time with her in the evenings before bed. But we usually feed her solids around 5:30ish, then bath, a little play/story time, final bottle between 6:30-7 and bed by 7:15 (but some days as early as 6:45). This set bedtime happened kind of naturally once we did sleep training with her (only on the 2nd week but it's definitely helped). Some nights it's hard to keep her up until 6:45 though, depending on naps.

[GeekBeagle]

We're late, too. Bedtime is usually around 8:30-9 as well. DH doesn't get home from work until 8:15 and he wants to see DS before he goes to bed, so there's really not much else we can do. It has been working out for us pretty well so far. *Knock on wood.* On days I work, I don't pick DS up until 6. He will often take a catnap on the way home. We're not even a week into solids, but I've been feeding him them around 6:30-7. His last bottle is usually around 8.

As for our own dinner, I'm usually horrible about making anything, especially on days I work. If I do have something ready, we eat right when DH gets home at 8:15. But, more often than not, dinner is not even made until after DS goes to bed, so we eat at like 9 or 9:30. We eat at a more reasonable hour on the weekends, though.

[elsmom]

Oh yeah and we eat dinner after she's in bed most nights.

[seamonster]

He gets up between 5 and 630 with 530 being the most common time. We leave for work at 7 and while we're supposed to be done at 430 it's been more like 5 and home at 530. Nurse DS, let him play for a few minutes and start bedtime at 6 (630 at the latest if I'm getting work calls). First asleep by 7 and we struggle getting him to stay asleep. Really asleep by 8. On a good night he's really asleep by 7.

His naps are terrible during the day and he crashes to and from home in the car. I'm switching giraffes with daycare to see if the one he cuddles with me at home with might help him sleep there (mom smell hypothesis).

Dinner for me after he's asleep or while DH is trying to soothe him. I cook on the weekends since DH handles the week.

[mishka29]

We all eat dinner at 5/5:30 then start bedtime at 6:30ish. The craziness ends around 7:15 after DD1 takes 2-3 fake potty trips.

[Deleted]

We go off of DD, who tends to be ready for bed around 6:30-7. Depending on naps she sometimes is ready at 6, sometimes as late as 7:30-8. The later nights rarely work out as well though; her sleep is more fitful I think.

We make and eat dinner after she goes to sleep. I'd like to start all eating together since she's doing solids now, but it's much too early for us.

I'm at home with DD during the day though, and DH works from home most days too, so we get plenty of time with her. I feel I'd have to force some timing change if our jobs were not so flexible. It's definitely a difficult schedule you are working with.

[michelle142]

Dinner around 6.
Bath between 630 & 7.
Get ready for bed at 730.
She's usually passed out by 745.

[cloe111479]

Dh works from home and picks up dd around 4. I work 7:30-4/4:30 so I get home around 5. We play for a while then do solids around 5:30/6. She does a bottle either before or after that. She's plays. We eat. Then if she's getting a bath it's at 7-7:30. Then last bottle after her bath and pjs. She usually falls asleep with that last bottle at right before 8. She sleeps until 5:30-6 am most morning.

[kartish]

We don't really have any routine. If V is awake when dinner is done, which is most nights, he eats with us. That is anywhere between 6 and 730. If on the early side, he eats and then plays, if on the later side it can run right into his bedtime. I haven't noticed eating late disturbing his sleep, but he wakes up so much anyway.

He bedtime uses to be 830 but lately he moved it up to 8.

[mommadozer]

DS is a night owl like his mother... He is wide awake until 8pm. That's when we start bath time. He's normally asleep around 8:45pm. It seems really late to me but, i am affraid if we put him down any earlier, he will wake up earlier. Right now, I'm able to get ready for work and he wakes up right around the time both of us are ready to go to work.

[taberbtb]

Our routine is almost identical to elsmom. It means DH doesn't get to see B at night but it's what works best for her.

It also meant DH would get up with her MOTN before she started STTN. He actually wanted to so he would get to see her, and I didn't mind at all

[maryxc1]

We do dinner at 6-6:30 and DD heads up to bed at 7:00-7:15. She is asleep be 7:45. When DS was little, DH didn't get home until about 7:00 so we ate dinner after he was in bed for a while. There was at least one day week where DH didn't get to see DH because bedtime was before he got home from work.

[PikoPiko]

LO goes to bed at 6.30-7pm, depends on when his last nap is. I plan on grabbing him from daycare 4.30-5pm, feed him milk when we get home, solids at 6, he goes to bed after a small top up bottle. I make dinner after he's in bed. DH will get home too late to play with the baby, but baby wakes at 7-8am in the morning, DS takes care of the baby in the morning and takes him to daycare at 9.30ish.

Realistically, his bed time might shift to later. We're starting daycare full time this week. I bet he'd be dead tired by the time I pick him up and would instantly need a nap when we're home. Assuming he'd wake at 6.30, then he wouldn't be tired enough turn in for the night at 7pm, that would shift his bed time to 8-8.30pm.

[flyster]

Ours is similar to other daycare folks. I get DS from daycare around 5:45-6. His last nap at daycare ends around 3 most days and he either passes out in the 2 minute ride home, or after I nurse him when we get home. Sleeps for 30-40 minutes, then we play until about 8. He's usually asleep by 8:30, but tends to wake at least once before really settling for the night. He's still waking up usually about 2 times in the night, and I usually nurse him both times. Then awake between 6 and 7. Sometimes we have to wake him around 6:45/7 to eat and get ready.

I'm thinking about adding in some solids at night. He's getting some most days at day care, so that would be 2x per day. How many times per day are people doing solids now?

[emilyz320]

We are on the super early side. Dd just dropped her third nap so she is pooped by 5/6. I pick her up at 4 and play until 4:45/5 . I feed her dinner and give her a bath. She gets her last bottle in the rocker in her room. She is asleep by 6. I'm hoping that her body will get the hint that she has dropped her last nap and she will wake up from her second nap later, so she can stay up later. Dh doesn't get to see her most nights during the week and we cook/eat after she goes to bed.

[johanna]

DD probably wouldn't take a 3rd nap and her bedtime subsequently would be really early but we usually take a walk/nap at 5pm and she gets a 45 min nap. Then we do dinner around 630pm. We play for a bit and start the night time routine (bath, read, bottle) anytime after 730 (whenever she seems like she is winding down). She is asleep by 830.

H isn't home until 630 at the earliest so we all eat together as soon as he is home. On the days when I work evening shift, the babysitter feeds DD at 6 before H gets home and then he picks up the routine from there.

For those of you who do a bedtime before 7, do your LO wake early?

[seamonster]

flyster DS gets solids 3x a day. Breakfast with us and 2 meals at daycare

johanna He's usually up at 530 am so really I should be aiming for asleep by 630pm. I was trying to get him to wake up at 6 am but he's usually up before then.

[emilyz320]

johanna the earliest she wakes is 5, for a bottle, and goes back to sleep. Sometimes until 6, sometimes as late as 8. If she wakes up after 6 she will stay up. Typically she wakes up around 6:30 for the day.

[mrsclark731]

I'm team early bed time.

I'm a SAHM while running my etsy store and H works from home 3-4 days a week.

We are in a really good 2 nap groove. She takes her last bottle in the rocker in her room and is passed out by 6:15 6:30 at the latest. She wakes 4-5 am to take a bottle, then falls back asleep until 7 am. She has a morning and afternoon nap and together combine for 3 hours of napping a day (minimum).

She fell into this routine naturally and it works for us right now. I know she'll grow into longer naps and later bed times eventually.

[cougarette]

Thanks everyone! I could try to shift my work schedule up to 8-5 so that I'm getting home around 5:30, and we could maybe eat earlier.

BUT I'm also not a morning person and can barely get out the door to get in at 8:30 as it is.

Maybe I could work through my lunch break and leave at 4:30? But I need that break from the computer.

I always feel so crazed in the evenings, ugh.

It also doesn't help that DH's job sucks and he's working on the computer in the evening. It'd be nice if he could cook while I do the bedtime stuff. Then we wouldn't have to consider eating at 9 or so.

This is hard, yo!

[osumegs]

DH gets home around 6pm.

I try to do solids around 5:45 or 6. He then play with her until 6:25 or so. I use that time to start dinner if I haven't already.

6:30- bath time (around 10 min, alternate days wash hair)
6:40ish - I pop bottle in the warmer and my husband starts reading two books. First one changes, second one is Goodnight Moon
6:45- I feed bottle
6:50ish - I dress for bed, put nighttime diaper on her, then DH takes up to bed. Usually she fusses for a few minutes and is asleep by 7

[cougarette]

I think something else that bothers me is I'd like to do blw, but there's no way he can eat what we're eating with our current schedule. By time dinner is ready around 7-7:30 he's either napping or whining. And now that I'm considering having him in bed for the night at that time, we really couldn't do it. Bleh.

[cougarette]

Sept 14, 2015 19:41:37 GMT -5 badw0lf said:

Sept 14, 2015 19:38:00 GMT -5 cougarette said:

I think something else that bothers me is I'd like to do blw, but there's no way he can eat what we're eating with our current schedule. By time dinner is ready around 7-7:30 he's either napping or whining. And now that I'm considering having him in bed for the night at that time, we really couldn't do it. Bleh.

This was one of the reasons we have stuck with purees.

Yeah, maybe we can do finger foods at lunchtime on the weekends. :/

[junebugjam]

My LO is in daycare or with my in-laws roughly 7:45 am - 4:15 pm. If I'm lucky he'll have woken up from his last nap around 3 or 3:30, but he doesn't really have a good nap routine away from home. If he isn't crazy tired, we'll play at home for awhile and I try to do solids around 5:15 or so. My H gets home by 6 most days and then we start bedtime routine at 6:15. He's in bed by 6:45 and usually asleep by 7 (although now that he's figured out how to sort-of crawl, it's making it harder for him to fall asleep because he just tries to crawl around his crib).

If his last nap at daycare ended around 2ish then he'll often take a 30-45 minute nap when we get home and stay up a little later, but even with that extra nap he's still ready for bed around his normal time. He might get to 7:30 once in awhile but it's rare.

[toadandbuggie]

Twinning with mrsclark731. DS takes two naps: one in the morning and one in the afternoon and only slightly changed depending on what time he woke up for the day. He still wakes 1-2 times a night to eat but generally is 6pm/6am.

He gets his own dinner around 5-530. But he's more interested in finger painting or playing with his spoon. *sigh* I'm waiting for the day he wants to gobble something, anything up. Only bananas have gone over smoothly so far.

[lilyelayne]

DS takes 3 naps if we're home all day. He is willing to skip the evening nap if we're out and doing interesting things. Last nap ends somewhere between 430 & 6pm. Dinner is hopefully between 6-645. Bath after this if he got really messy at dinner, otherwise he'll get one in the AM. Around 8 DH takes DS into the nursery for daddy time & bedtime diaper & pjs. Then he nurses for 30-60 minutes. If he nurses himself to sleep, great. If not, I sing his lullaby and into the crib. Asleep by 9 most nights. If he nurses 60 minutes, he sorta asleep during? But always drinking.

The past 2-3 weeks he stopped STTN.

The past 2 nights he's been ready to start bedtime routine at 730 so we have.

DH gets home 5 & 530 most days.

[lilyelayne]

If I were working, I'm pretty sure all my cooking would either be done Sunday evening or in the crock pot.