Bedtime Routine w/out bath

juliec79

I;m trying to establish a bedtime routine.  It's easy on the nights we give LO a bath.  As of right now he gets a bath every other night.  What is the routine on nights without the bath.  Also I am having a hard time with a routine since I don't know what to do when DS isn't ready to go to sleep at the normal time.  We try to start the bed time process at 7 but sometimes he wants to stay up and play more.  Is that a sign it is still early for a routine?

desmerelda317

We don't bathe DS every night because he likes his bath, but the second we take him out of it he starts crying and screaming - not exactly soothing. ?So we do baths well ahead of bedtime. ?Anyway, our routine: 7:15 we change DS into his bedtime diaper and pjs, then we rock him in the glider and read him a chapter of a story (we're currently working through the Harry Potter series), then I nurse him, then he goes in his crib.

blendedfammama

We usually start around 8.  Bath every other day at 7.  At 8 we get him changed, read a story, rock & sing then lights out at 9.  MOST of the time it works.

TimsMayBride

We just started a bedtime routine, but not on a schedule if that makes any sense.  His times are still all over the place so I can figure a very wide ball park estimate of what time he will go down but it's so variable day to day.  Nevertheless, whenever we think he's ready, we will try to do the same routine.  We bathe every 2-3 days, too, so the days he doesn't get a bath we may just to a quick wipe with a warm washcloth.  Here's what we're trying: walk, bath/wipe, massage, jammies, bottle, story, swaddle, rocking, sleep.

risysmama

DD gets about 10-15 minutes of extra "play time" if we don't do a bath.  So instead of starting at 6:30, we just skip the bath and start changing her and storytime at 6:45.