Bedtime routine?

Venti29

We bath, swaddle, bottle and in bed by 8.

What does your night look like?

Venti29

I asked because we skipped the bath tonight and both are not having it.

Also, I think eight is too late. I'd like to bump it up so I'm wondering what you guys do.

Ewenice83

She gets a clean diaper, pjs, sleep sack, night night kisses from dad, nurse on both sides, and then put in her bassinet. She's usually in bed between 9-930. Bedtime routine starts around 830.

botanicalbliss

We have no routine!  He's always tired by 8, but he usually cat naps then is up until 10.  I wish he would go to bed earlier, but he just won't.  I don't know how to change it!

alexisanna44

Ours is pretty much the same. After dinner we play for a little bit then we bathe (on bath days), night time diaper and jammies, then play a little more if she's not too sleepy, then sippy with milk (she drinks what she wants) and bed. She lays right down with her blankie and puts herself to sleep.

BackseatDriver

We start at 6:30 with a bath then pjs, book, nurse to music, rock to his bedtime song and finally bed with head petting for a minute.

carcrashheart

530/6pm: eating (if dad is going to be home to eat dinner, we do LO's foods at 530, break from the high chair, then back in to eat dinner with us at 6)

630: bathtime

naked time & play time in his room, then diaper and pj's

715ish: bottle downstairs

730ish: bedtime, where he will play, crawl and roll around for 10-30 minutes before crashing.

this varies, depending on his mood and what time he woke up from his nap. some nights he is asleep at 645. other nights it's closer to 8. he refuses to snuggle so reading to him has never worked out. he won't sit still, won't snuggle and all he wants is to eat the book then gets mad when you take it from him. evenings are centered around DH spending quality time with the baby since time is limited. i usually sit in the glider and watch and laugh while the two of them play in the bedroom after bath. 

however, there was no routine until around 6ish months, and even then it was just starting to become a routine. prior to that it was much more spotty and bath time was more like every few days and sometimes done before DH got home from work. 

bobcee

botanicalbliss said:

We have no routine!  He's always tired by 8, but he usually cat naps then is up until 10.  I wish he would go to bed earlier, but he just won't.  I don't know how to change it!

He's still really young. Don't worry it will work itself out eventually. DD used to go to bed after 11 at that age. Then once she started sleeping for longer and longer stretches she would just fall asleep earlier. Then we purposely would try to start a routine about a half hour earlier at a time. Now we start at 7:30 with brushing teeth, potty, read, and then lay down with her a bit.

For DS right now we don't even bother trying to start at a certain time since he's not even a month, but the routine is the same. Diaper, swaddle, nurse, rock, and lay him in his crib.

gatorwife

We start around 8:15-8:30.  Our routine is bottle, diaper change, pjs, finish bottle, down in bassinet.  I rock her sometimes if she is not tired after she finishes her bottle.  I also play lullabies from my phone to help her fall asleep.  She's down by 9 and is asleep within 10-15 minutes. 

MRads

We have a routine of shower (about four nights a week), lotion, vitamin D drops, bicycle, diaper, swaddle and nurse to sleep. It doesn't seem to matter when we start the routine. The past two weeks he falls asleep at 9:15/9:30. No earlier, even though he's exhausted.

pb&fluff

We didn't start a routine until about 3.5 months. Right now we do quiet time upstairs on the bed, read a book and play with a few toys, starting around 6 (all depends on mood and when he got home from daycare). Bath, then get dressed, then go into his bedroom to feed him and put him to bed. Most days he's in bed by 7:00 or 7:30 at the latest.

I did skip bath one night at the beach and that was a bad, bad night.

wiggyslilsis

It is a little different now because we have a toddler. DD has always gone to bed between 630 and 830. She set herself a routine almost immediately and we just made sure to do our routine to her liking. We only bathed every other night. So it was either bath or no bath, diaper, jammies, swaddle, dim the lights and turn down the TV and either rock or bounce her with a bottle until asleep and then place her in her bassinett/crib.

Now she gets a bath whenever and it isn't really a calming thing anymore. She gets a milk sippy an hour before bed. Then she gets a diaper change, jammies, brush teeth. Then she gets a blankie and a plug and sits with Daddy. She either falls asleep with Daddy or he passes off to me and I finish the job. We set her room up with her lullabies, bedtime blankies and an extra plug. We put her in her bed (toddler bed) asleep or mostly asleep if she won't stop squirming.

Venti29

Pb, we skipped bath last night and the whole night was a mess. Worst night in a long time. To top it off, both up at 4 with no desire to go back to sleep.

We will not get lazy again! Bath on, bath ON!

wiggyslilsis

Yeah babies do not let you be lazy that is for sure. I have been trying to stress this to BIL and SIL that slacking on stuff leads to consequences. Like letting baby get over tired or too hungry. They don't get it. They are just like oh my gosh why is our kid being so awful today. I just want to shake them...come on people your actions directly affect your child! I stopped trying to tell themthough. II don't want to be that obnoxious person giving unwanted advice.

tdmd09

Bedtime is around 7-7:30. We only do baths 3 nights a week. So if it's bath night we do bath, lotion, PJs, sleep sack, bottle, brush teeth, bed. If it's not bath night it's just everything after. I'd love to read at bedtime but right now he's more preoccupied with trying to close and/or eat the book so it's not a relaxing activity.

wiggyslilsis

I definitely understand the reading thing! I want to incorporate it into a bedtime routine but it just doesn't work yet. Sometimes we will read as a wind down before we start bed time.

Venti29

Tdm, 7 is when I'd like to push it up to, but starting at 6 seems do early!