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Cincinnati Babies
JLPT830
member
Jennie
preschooler bedtime routine
JLPT830
member
DS's bedtime routine has been pretty much the same for awhile and he's always done pretty well with it and with going to bed in general. Bath, PJs, brush teeth, book, prayers, songs, sleep. Well lately every.single.part is a major battle. And then he lays in bed and whines for a drink, a snack, us to lay with him, etc,etc. And it's sometimes an hour after he's "gone to bed" that he actually falls asleep even though I know he's tired. I'm sure part of it is his age and part of it is the addition of DD, but it's wearing DH and I down. We've been trying to come up with ways to make it better and are stumped. DS usually responds well to reward/sticker charts, but I can't think of a concrete, way to measure his good behavior in complying with the bedtime routine. I can't just say, "You'll get a sticker if you're good." KWIM? Any thoughts or ideas on that route?
We also think part of the problem is that he is playing pretty hard right up until the bedtime routine starts. We are thinking of trying to enforce a time when quiet play time starts (board game, story, etc) and also the addition of a bedtime snack. Do you think that will help?
The only other thing I can think of is his nap. With me he's typically napping by 2pm. With my mom sometimes it's later (2:30 at the latest) because they go to tumbling class and storytime which pushes lunch back closer to 1pm. He normally sleeps 1.5-2.5 hours. Could this be messing with bedtime? We've been starting bedtime routine at 8pm with the intent of him in bed with lights out by 8:30.
Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. TIA.....sorry this got so long!!!
Jennie
This discussion has been closed.
Re: preschooler bedtime routine
We had to refuse laying with DS at night. It's so tempting b/c it's sweet, but it just kept getting longer and longer and longer. We've found that if we don't lay with him, he's out within 5 minutes of us shutting the door. We always reassure him that he's ok and tell him who will be home in the morning.
Our nighttime routine is similar... bath every other night, brush teeth, brush hair, wash hands (if not bath), PJs, 2 books, "tackles" (he basically runs and hugs us), a song or two, turn music on, turn light out, and he climbs into bed.
I think helping him wind down is a good idea, we actually do this at night to cue B that bedtime is coming. It used to be watch Wheel of Fortune followed by bedtime. Now bedtime is a little later, so we just clean up the toys downstairs before we go up. I know B's daycare uses a winding down routine for naptime. If you do a snack during this time, I'd keep it something really small. The other thing we do is let him have a sippy cup of water by his bed at night. That avoids the drink requests to help stall bedtime. Honestly, he rarely drinks much of it, but if he doesn't have it he asks and then bedtime is delayed. While you could do a sticker chart for the prebedtime stuff (maybe kind of like a checklist- clean up toys, put dinner plate in kitchen), I think just being consistent in what you do each night start at like 7:30 is enough.
One other thing that I thought about is my nephew when he was about Caleb's age used to get really really wound up before bedtime too. I've found that when their really wound up at night (B or my nephew), it's actually a sign that they're overtired. And the more overtired they are, the harder time they have actually falling asleep. So maybe his bedtime needs to be earlier by just a little? Just a thought... Hope that helps... We're not completely there yet, but this is what I've found works for us. GL.
ITA with the above!! I've been trying to explain that to DH for weeks now. Alex has been staying up until around 10 b/c he's been pushing his bedtime back. I'm feeding and putting Cameron down around his usual time and DH just keeps saying how Alex is too wound up to sleep and I keep telling him he is overtired....so then I get stuck with the "Lay with me" sob fest. It is soooo draining!
I think on my part, being consistent with the time, 8pm not 9ish like DH does, is going to help us as well as not allowing myself to be guilted into laying with him. I kinda thought it was b/c he was jealous of Cameron, but now I think he is just overtired and acting out that way.
As it turns out...DH is working until 9:30 tonight and both boys are asleep in bed! Score for me!!