Routine when it's not bath night

DublinMama

I'm looking for ideas on what to do for a bed time routine on nights we don't give DS a bath. That night is easy. Whenever he wakes up from his evening nap, we eat and I prepare two more ounces for after.  Then he has a bath, massage with lotion, I give him the second bottle if he wants it, swaddle, snuggles, and bed time.  But I'm sort of at a loss of what to do when it's not bath night, because he won't be ready for bed right after he wakes up from his evening nap and eats.  The bath night routine will carry us anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes from when he last woke, so he's ready for bed by the time everything is done. What could I do for those nights when bathing isn't part of the gig that will carry us until he is ready to fall asleep again? TIA!

linzeek44

Is bath time quiet for him or active for him? I'd try to match activity level on nights when you aren't bathing. If bath time is active, I'd do active play time. If it is quiet, I might take a quiet walk or read books and listen to quiet music.

Diver10

What about play, massage with lotion, offer second bottle, etc? Just do most of what you normally do and substitute bath with something else.

DublinMama

Bath time is relaxing for him. He settles down and so I stay quiet and just let him enjoy having the warm water poured over him and the sound of the running water.  I was thinking of just taking a warm wash cloth and doing a warm wipe down on his

linzeek44

I think a quiet wipe down and massage sounds like a great alternative. Calming just like a bath would be.  

ta78

Could you give him a bath w out soap if that is why you don't want to bathe every night? Is there another reason you do every other?

We don't have a good routine, but I think reading a couple books or maybe some soft music would be good. We liste

DublinMama

Well, tonight was not a bath night, and I'll share what I ended up doing because it was met with great success! 

-He woke up at 7:30ish from his evening nap. He ate four oz. and that brought us to 8:00.

-He hung out with his dad quiet

ta78

That sounds great! We definitely need to get a good routine down for both of our kids. I haven't tried massage yet.

saturdaynightdoubletree

Read!