Twin bedtime routine

hockeyfan18

Hi ladies! I have almost 12 week b/g twins (born at 35w5d) and trying to come up with a bedtime routine. We also have a 3yo DS which complicates things a bit. Right now I am doing a combo of breast and bottle feeding at each feeding due to low supply. I'd love to hear how bedtime goes at your house especially those with other children.

Thanks!

ksgsmu

My twins are 13 weeks and this is what we do every night. We only do baths 2-3 x a week so this routine would start after baths if it was on that night.

1. Change diaper
2. Change into pajamas (I use gowns)
3. My husband and I sit in gliders in very dim room and feed them bottles while singing soft songs and talking softly
4. In the room we have this light machine that projects soft colors on the ceiling. It's on a timer for 15 minutes.
5. We feed them and burp them then have them gently propped up in our arms for ten minutes. During this time we massage their feet (they love it) and I sing a certain lullaby.
6. Quietly get up and place put them in their cribs and swaddle them with the light off ( we use a small nightlight we turn off)
7. White noise machine is already on
8. We turn on the shusher which we have used since birth which is on a timer (babyshusher.com)
9. We leave the room without talking

- we are super consistent with the routine and it takes about 45 minutes to do it all. Bath time adds 15-20 minutes. They have been sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks. The key is putting them down drowsy. I just ordered some essential oils I will use in the massage part of the routine when they come in so they associate he smell with bedtime.

chickaboo1974

Our bed routine has always been as simple as possible- so that one person could do it on their own if need be.  At that age- it was change diaper, into night clothes, bottle, and then bed- we always put them down drowsy and not asleep.  In their room there is a very dim nightlight and a sound machine.

I have never given baths before bed- baths tend to wake my boys up and I usually only gave baths at that age 1-2 times a week.  No need to dry out their skin.

basil2

I think somewhere around that time was when we figured out we needed to separate the routine for the babies from the 3 year old (I'd been trying to read a story to everyone at the same time- it just wasn't working- the babies had no attention span and our older child wasn't getting the attention he needed).

I manage the bedtime process for the babies.  Sometimes baths (we do 2 nights a week right now).  Diaper change- nurse- read a board book- sleep sacks and into bed.

Our 3 year old has a more variable bedtime- sometimes his routine starts at the same time, sometimes later.  My husband gets him ready for bed (bath/ teeth etc- change into PJ's) and then reads him a story.  I then go up (by that time I'm done with the babies) and read to him.  It was really nice to add the reading time with me/him at the end of the routine since he and I weren't getting a lot of one on one time.

Right now the routine with babies is pretty simple.  It did get a bit out of control between 3 and 5 months and we had to sleep train (bedtime only) at 5 months.  (Basically I'd put them down, one would wake up, I'd nurse him put him back down, the other would wake up- some nights it's was easy- other nights I'd be up there for hours nursing one or the other.)

Good luck!

hockeyfan18

Thanks ladies!

amh0411712

Our bedtime routine was this:

We followed the EASY routine, so no food right before bedtime.

Feed a bottle around 6, play time and then some naked time where they would play diaper free. Followed by bathtime, lotion, pajamas and then in their crib for bed. We didn't rock to sleep, they've always just put themselves to sleep. We still follow a very similar routine now at 2.5

I'm interested to see the dynamic change when our lo3 comes.

DivaMom22

Our twins are 7 months (born at 32 weeks). We have bath night on Fri, Sun and Tues or Wed depending on schedule. Either way we have play time/reading before hand then if a bath that's next otherwise it's straight into jammys. We feed them their night time bottle which and they are usually asleep within minutes. We hold them in our room with the lights off until they are asleep. We both work full time And don't get home until 6:30p so this is our cuddle time. I will say this makes it difficult for one person. And if you can put them in the crib partially asleep so they can put themselves to bed it will be better in the long run. But I don't mind our routine.

WillyBean

We used to do bath, bottle, bed at night. And then for some reason kiddos were always wound up and couldn't get to sleep/relax. I finally realized all day long they were going: bottle, play, nap... Bottle, play, nap... Duh! So we swapped it and do bottle first, then bath, and then bed. Ding ding ding!! We have a winner!! We cuddle them for a few minutes and then it's down for the count! Whatever works for you is great! Just might take a little trial and error.