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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
mm&es
member
Help me change my bedtime routines
mm&es
member
Help! I am in the process of weaning, but unfortunately, nursing is an integral part of both bedtime and naptime routines.
At night, we give DD a bath, then DH gets her changed and reads her some books, then we both say goodnight to all of her stuffed animals, then I nurse her while rocking until she is drowsy. Then DH comes in, we brush her teeth (very poorly--if she is very drowsy it just lasts a second), then DH puts her down and rubs her back. If she is very drowsy, she'll fall right to sleep. If not, we have to let her cry for 5 minutes, then I'll go back in and rub her back and she'll usually fall asleep.
For naps, I don't have much of a routine. I'll wait until she's tired, then nurse her while rocking. Most of the time I nurse her to sleep, although I'm trying to break that habit and put her down drowsy. If I do that, I usually have to let her cry for 5 minutes before going back in and rubbing her back until she falls asleep.
How do I change my routines? Did you go cold turkey and eliminate the nursing session all together, or did you just change it to be earlier in the routine? How do you get your LO drowsy? Nursing seems to be the only way we know how. If I just rock her, she'll go crazy wanting to nurse. I guess DH could rock her, but I'm afraid she'll put up a huge fight. I also need to change her teeth brushing habits, since they are pretty minimal. When/how do you brush your LO's teeth?
And I have no clue about naptimes, since I'm by myself. DD has never been a fan of a bottle or drinking from a sippy cup, so I can't just rock her and give her one of those. We have had such a rough history with her sleeping, I guess I'm just afraid to change it now that we have her routines down. Any suggestions?
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Re: Help me change my bedtime routines
I would try nursing before the bath/books/etc. That way you know LO is well-fed. Does she have a lovie/comfort item? For DD, I feed her, bathe her, read, and then we rock. She is addicted to her seahorse though, so we have that with us when we rock. She gets sleepy, but won't fall asleep until in her crib, so I rock her as long as she'll let me, then put her down.
Maybe try it out for naps first, then move on to the nighttime routine? Good luck!