What bedtime routine do you use?

[happy-chick]

Was wondering what everyone does to relax baby, wind them down and get them ready for bedtime... How does it work for you & is it successful? Could you also put what time you do each thing and the time they normally go to bed to give me an idea of that too.

Thank u

 

[mrs_tommo22]

No problem chick, yoiu trying to get ideas?

Imogen:

5.00 - meal
6.00 - bathtime (though not every night)
7.00 - bottle thrn
7.30 - bedtime.

Sometimes if shes knackered we can put her straight to bed if shes unsettled we put her in her gro bag and pop her in her bouncer and she is bounced to sleep. We pick her up and put her to bed and sually not a peep for the rest of the night.

 

[Snuggle]

Hiya Jo

This is the bedtime routine I've had with Maddison since 10 weeks:-

6:15pm - bath (usually with Daddy playing with toys)
6:45pm - bedtime story/cuddles
7pm - bottle in nursery then straight in to cot and she nods off within minutes

 

[Fiona]

5 pm Tea
5.45 pm Bath
6.00 pm Story Time
6.30 Milk
6.45 Bed...

Grace gets put into her cot awake. We have a kiss goodnight and then turn the lights out......... usually don't hear a peep until 6.30 am ish

 

[Sage]

i soooo wanted to get Kyran in a routine as soon as possible at bedtime but uuuh its not that easy when they're so young so i gave up trying.

Id say 2 weeks ago he just slightly started showing signs of a routine such as always being really really tired around 8pm and wanting a bottle then.

What i do is whenever he wakes closest to 8 i play with him for a bit till he gets bored (which isnt long! say 15/20mins) then he has a bath (ive got one of those bath seats so i dont have to hold him so we spend quiet a while soaking mummy in the bathroom! I get him in his jammies then and by that time hes usually a bit sleepy and hungry so i wrap him really snug in a blanket and give him his bottle. By this time its usually anywhere between half 7 and half 9. Depends on his sleep pattern through the day. after he's finished it hes usually half asleep so it doesnt take long for him to drop off but if not i turn the lights off lie down on the sofa and really snuggle him into me always drops off then till about 3am where i get him a bottle no fuss or noise or speaking to him and he goes back down till 6am. Then that little built in alarm clock in his head tells him that theres no way he should go back to sleep! he usually has another nap between 8am til 9 then he sort of does his own thing in the day, nothing set in stone routine wise there yet.

I think you just have to be patient and wait for signs of a routine appearing then try and enforce that if that makes sense.

 

[happy-chick]

Yeah its to see what we can try. As Ellie has colic we're struggling to get her to sleep before 12am - 2am, she's still pretty unsettled before that time but once she properly goes to sleep shes a brill sleeper. She will go to sleep on average at 1am until 7am, wake for a feed then go back to sleep until about 10am. It would just be ideal if we could get her going to sleep earlier and getting up earlier really.

To be honest we do have a routine at the moment but the colic interupts it and therefore it all goes outta the window, I think we're just going to have to wait until the colic passes and I dont think we'll have a problem getting her to sleep earlier... What dya think?

 

[Sage]

Yeh i agree with you. Kyran suffers with colic buts its definately starting to get better. Id love to have him bathed and in bed by 7 like the rest of these lucky ladies but i think our LO's are still a bit young for that. I think we just have to wait and hope it gets better each week!

Id say about a month ago we'd be up every night till 1am with him screaming but hes made a big improvement so im hoping it will be even better in another months time!

 

[Becky&Willow]

Heres willows rountine

5pm -Dinner
6pm - jammies on
6-7 cbeebies on in background while willow plays with toys
7pm- bottle
7:15pm bed

I generally give willow her bath in the afternoon, and she also goes to bed awake and usually very alert but within 5 mins she is sound asleep bless her she gets so excited about going to bed (must get that from me) also if we divirt from the routine like we are out then willow just gets her bottle then bed and it doesent affect her.

 

[LilysMummy]

Glad Im not the only one who hasnt got a routine as yet

 

[Kylie1007]

We never really had much of a routine until Finn turned 3 months and wasn't sleeping as much during the day. We then realised that he needed a bedtime as he was getting really grouchy and so now around 6ish I bath him, put his pyjamas and sleeping bag on and feed him - he's normally asleep by 7 (although tonight was )

 

[leckershell]

used to be...

6pm bath
630 reading a book while bottle warms up
645ish bottle
715ish bed


but we don't do bath and book anymore...

630 dinner
645 brush teeth
645 bottle
7 bed (hopefully) or if the bottle's not knocked him out, he'll sit downstairs with us with dummy in until he rubs his eyes, then about 730/745 bed.

we've never let him stay up that late, always had it about 7pm ish.

 

[SarahH]

Ours is:

5.30 Dinner
6.15 Bath
6.30 Watches Bear in the Big Blue House on Playhouse Disney & has a yoghurt
7.00 bed
7.10 Mummy collapses on the sofa

 

[Emmylou]

Libby's routine when she was Ellie age was:

Starting the routine at 10.30pm, then moving it forward half an hour each week until we got to 7pm:

Bath or top & tail - always hair wash (with just water) over the sink, this I used as an indicator that it is bedtime!
Baby Massage
Feed (in darkened bedroom - after this point she wouldn't be taken out of the bedroom until morning, so that she understood darkened room = bedtime = sleep)
Cuddle
Into Bed

Now her routine is:

5pm - Dinner
6pm - Mummy & Daddy home from work = PLAYTIME!!
7pm - Into the bath (I always give her her bath)
7.15pm - Into Jammies and Daddy gives her her bottle in a darkened nursery, and she goes into her bed to sleep (9 times out of 10 )

She'll sleep till about 4am, wakes, has a bottle, then sleeps until 8am

 

[Squiglet]

7:30 Bath and massage
80 night time boob
8:30/90 into bed
95 return to bed room to make shooshing sounds to crying baby and put hand on chest
9:20 after screams start hurting ears, give in and stick boob back in head
9:45 after baby has played/knawed on the nipple for a while, pick baby up and wind her
100 try the winnie the poo mobile
10:20 walk out on baby still screaming
10:25 feel guilty, go in and check nappy, change nappy
10:30 give boob
10:45 put baby to bed
10:50 turn off baby monitor because its too loud with screaming
10:55 shooooosh baby
11:15 get hacked off and promise to be stronger and walk out on screaming baby saying, I'll just let her cry
11:30 give up and go to bed early with baby stuck to boob..

Think that's about it...

 

[smile]

Bedtime – start 1845 – aim to have in crib by 1930
1) bath, nappy, massage, pyjamas, sit and watch musical mobile/lights few minutes ( can have dummy if needed)
2) swaddle, put dummy away and restart mobile.
3) feed EBM with gaviscon and colief - offer breast top up , Burp and turn music off on mobile – keep lights going until first put in crib then allow to stop.
4) 10 minutes upright for reflux – sleepy but awake
5) into crib sleepy but awake. Stroke hair, kiss goodnight. “night night, see you for cuddles when it’s time to get up”