What do you do for a bedtime routine and at what age did you start it?
Thanks for the detailed answers!! One difficulty is daddy gets home later and to get some time with him we go to bed much later than these responses (only 6 months old so no school) and compensate by getting up later. People seem shocked when I say so, but is there a real reason this is not a good idea? He is getting the recommended amount of sleep per day for his age, at night and 2 naps.
My kids are grown now but we always had a bedtime routine. After dinner we had bathtime, a story, with snuggletime and hugs and kisses, then tucked them in. I never had much of an issue getting them to go to bed at night. They always knew what to expect and bedtime was a part of the routine.
Not sure how old he was when we started, and it has evolved quite a bit, but my son is 3.5..... I brush his teeth, then I pick him up for "up hugs", which means I hold him while he leans over and hugs his dad, sister, and brother one at a time. Then I put him down and he gets himself a sip of water from our water cooloer. Then he goes pee. Then he gets in bed and we talk for a couple of minutes (like what we did that day and what we'll be doing the next day as something to look forward to) and I sing a 5 verse version of itsy-bitsy spider that we made up together. Then I hug him and leave, but he knows I'll be coming right back in a few minutes so he doesn't fuss that I'm leaving. After a few minutes, I go back in and give him one more hug and then leave.
My first son, we started about 10-12 months, but learned lots and now we do the same with the new baby who is only 6 months old, but started at about 4 months old.
I never had the time to do a bath nightly (so kudos to you moms who do!) but if we do a shower or bath, it is first and we start at about 7:30 then!
So our routine is at 8:00:
1. Potty (for the 2 year old) and diaper change for the baby
2. Take medicine and vitamins (for the 2 year old)
3. Get into PJs (for both boys)
4. Kisses for daddy and brother and blow a kiss to the doggie
5. Find blanket
6. Sit on the bed and read 2 stories (usually nurse the baby some point here)
7. Call daddy in for prayers
8. Kisses for mommy and tucked into bed
9. Lights out, music on (we have a CD player that plays his favorite Imagination Movers CD), blanket and whatever animals need to be in bed that night (no real permanent lovies...just whatever suits his fancy for that night), gate up at door.
10. Kiddos asleep
In reality, our bedtime routine takes only about 15 minutes normally! We don't wait for the boys to go to sleep before we leave the room and both of our boys, thankfully, go to sleep without much issue...we just put them down sleepy and leave (waiting until 10-12 months, yes, we had to do the cry-it-out method with our older son...however, like I said, we learned lots from him and now with our 6-month-old, we have never had a cry-it-out night yet!!!). If we have issues with playing or getting out of bed with the 2-year-old, we just pick him back up, tell him that it is time for sleep and put him back in bed and leave...if it goes on, we usually turn off the music or have "his friends" come out to the couch with us for a few minutes (which causes tears and a fit) and once we return them to him telling him that his friends are tired and ready for sleeping, that usually takes care of the problem.
After dinner [usually round 5:30pm] my son plays by himself with his toys for a little while, then I play with him too [toys, play-doh,coloring], then he jumps on his trampoline, we watch a 30-minute video together, read books [10 board books each night], brush our teeth, I change his diaper one last time and get him in his pj's, he gives goodnight kisses to everyone, we walk upstairs, I rock him for 5-10 minutes, put him in bed while he is still awake, he gives me a hug and kiss, I cover him up, say goodnight and walk out of his room by 7:30 or 8pm. We do that every single night. This didn't start until he was almost 2 [he is now 27 months] because before I just hadn't established a routine [he had his own routine going to a certain extent, but -I- didn't always stick with it]. When they are babies, every night can be different and it doesn't matter all that much as long as they get enough sleep. But when they are a year and a half or older, they really do need a routine and a predictable day. Now if something is out of my son's routine, like visiting someone and staying late at their house, there is no question that he is upset by it and he shows it through acting out, being mroe sensitive in general, and being a little more "crazy" than he usually is energy-wise and he may even cry in the car on the way home. Also, if he stays up late, he still wakes up at 7am no matter what, and does not take a longer mid-day nap, so for my son it is very important to stick with the routine. When they are babies, they are more likely to sleep in, or you can add an extra nap in at some point in the day. I don't think you have to worry about it at 6 months of age. You do what works best for the family. If your son is having a hard time with it, you'll know. He'll get into his own routine for YOU to follow eventually!
Bath, books, boob... Haha. That's what my husband calls it. I started about two months (not sure that it mattered much at that point - I don't know - but she did sleep through the night (9-10 hours) at 9 weeks). We still do this, but now we usually incorporate a snack in there at some point, sometimes while we read. So, it's usually bath, books and snack, brush teeth, sometimes nurse, sing songs with quack quack (her lovey), hugs, kisses and night night cuddles with quack quack - it sounds long and exhausting, but it's not too bad. Good luck!
I start at birth as much as you can. Try to set a regular time each night for bath, get into pjs and eat nurse before bed as soon as I can. And stick to it. My babies loveed having a warm bath, followed by a massage and pjs then cuddle with Mom. Did this with all 5 of my kids. My 7 month old girl is asleep in daddies arms w/in 10 minutes of her routine. We added a warm bowl of cereal to her routine and she sleeps all night and has been since 1 month old. My 2 year old is ready the minute we say ready for bed? He get a shower, pjs vitamin and brush teeth. Then its off to bed after story. We have a ritual of turning on night light, music box, drink and kiss then goodnight and he is asleep w/in 5 min.
We've had the same one almost since birth (with a few modifications like cutting out bottles when it was time, inserting brushing teeth, etc) and our daughter is almost 3 years old.
We tell her when its about 5 mins before bedtime so we don't 'spring' it on her. Then we go upstairs, get her into her jammies, turn on her lullabye CD, read her a story in our rocker, then tuck her into bed and mommy sings her a couple of lullabyes. Then its lights out and good night.
(Oh we start this about 7:30 so in bed with lights out at 8:00)
= )
8:15pm play some games to wear the little one out. Give them a drink and a snack.
At about 9:00pm have them get in their P.j.'s and brush their teeth and go pee.
Then turn down the lights a bit and lay next to them in their bed and read to them and softly talk to them. At about 9:30pm to 9:45pm leave the room.
Give lots of huges and kisses.
Ahhh, sweetdreams.
Oh and if you pray, don't forget that.
God Bless and take care.
The best advice I got was to put your baby down awake. Night time routine for me is bath, jammies, book, prayers, (bottle when they are little) and off to bed. All three of my kids (14, 11 and 1) have been put to bed when they are tired but still awake. I do NOT envy the parents who are stuck rocking their baby to sleep every night. There are plenty of hours in the day for those snuggles.
