Tell me your bedtime routine

ejgballerina

I'm worried I'm creating a very bad habit.  DS will NOT fall asleep unless I BF him and let him comfort suck for a bit and then I have to rock him until he falls asleep.  If I lay him down before he is passed out on my shoulder, he cries.  We do a bedtime routine: bath, book, BF, but it seriously takes about two hours to get him wound down.  He is super fussy when it comes time to BF in our routine and I know it's because he's just exhausted and fighting sleep with all that is in him. Any tips?  And do you think this is a bad habit that I'm letting him fall asleep in my arms every night versus getting him to fall asleep when he is put to bed? TIA!

DavezWife

best thing I ever did, sleep wise, hands down, was follow the advice - "put them to sleep drowsy but awake"...  man, that has made a huge difference to us. Ava actually did better with an earlier bedtime (7:30'ish) and with LESS of a production than I thought she needed. We really didn't go thru all the hoops. And once it was time, she was laid down and said her goodnights, and that was it. She squacked sometimes, fussed a bit, but honestly, she rarely threw a total fit. If she did, it was short in duration.

For me, that bedtime "she's down for the night" was heaven sent, and worth it to get it that way. Now to this day, once she's down, she's usually down. It feels great.

Now, is every kid this way? no way. but for us, it worked. and I do attribute most of our success to the fact that once she's down, she's NOT picked up, just soothed and patted, but she pretty knew from an early age that once it's bedtime, she's not getting much from mom except a soothing voice and a pat on the back. I think these kids are VERY smart - if they know they'll get something, they'll play you for it. even as infants, I think.  I make exceptions when she's sick, etc. but I'm pretty tough and she knows it.

Drowsy but awake.   Try it ;-)

skoorbnibor

at 2 months, no, you are not creating a problem.... but soon, I would start trying to use the sleepy but awake concept.

For us, it is pjs, bottle, play a bit with quiet toys, upstairs, 3 books, ending with goodnight moon, we say goodnight to all his animals, goodnight to the hall light, then finally GoodNight Ethan's light and I put him in his bed awake. He goes right to sleep. It took til he was 4 months old to get to this point, using the pick up put down method. 

ejgballerina

Awesome advice, ladies.  Thank you!