Realistic Bedtime Routine?

HKDO08 · June 2011

I read all over the posts about bedtime routines. But a lot of these just seem so unrealistic for a 7 week old such as baths (really? bathe baby every night? I thought that can cause more drying to the skin, etc.), read bed time stories (my baby would not even care/pay attention, would only demand more boob, or get restless). For those of you with the ~2 month old babies, what routines do you have?

riverbed · June 2011

We start with a walk around 7:30 or 8, calms him down, gets me out of the house. Then every other night it's bath, or just lotion with a massage- if he cooperates. Diaper change, then I nurse him. I read to him while I am nursing, sing a few lullabys and rock a bit, all with him nursing. When he is down I either put him in the crib if he is already asleep or if not I rock until he is drowsy and lay him down.

he gets swaddled after the bath, but I saw your other post, saying that your LOhayes it,so I left it out. GL!

sarahdee678 · June 2011

You would probably deem our bedtime routine as unrealistic, but sometimes her "bath" is just sitting in a tub of warm water. She likes to splash around and stare out the kitchen window. Also, it's kind of a cue that it's time to start winding down for bed. She only gets bathed with soap every 3rd night unless she was outside and got really sweaty.

We also do a massage with lotion every night, read a book (again, even though LO doesn't really know what you're doing, hearing your voice is soothing and acts as a cue to let them know it's time to settle down), sing a song, swaddle, and put her down with her seahorse.

Doing any of these things is totally up to you. The important thing is that you choose a series of events and stick to it.

helenejr · June 2011

we nurse one side at 5:30pm - bath at 6pm - massage for 15 minutes, nurse the other side, swaddle and put down to sleep. sometimes he grizzles a bit but usually by 7pm he is sound asleep. Its the same every night - the time may vary slightly but the routine is always the same.

oooCarrieB · June 2011

We only give a bath every other night. I had to switch baths to night because I'm going back to work and it would be crazy to try to do them at any other time.

Our routine is bath, then pjs (or a onesie), then a little playtime, then DH reads while I nurse. It really is never to early to start reading. It doesn't matter if she can't understand. He actually has been reading more stuff that we want to listen to right now. Then I rock her for a little bit and put her down when she is almost asleep. She's usually asleep around 8pm, but we adjust the time if we need to.

nikkilynn1985 · June 2011

We do a bath every night ( i feel he needs one being at daycare all day) no later than 8:30 with the bedtime bath body wash....change into a onesie or just diaper because he is a very warm blooded baby and does not like to be hot so depending how hot it is in our room.......then he has a bottle, if he doesn't fall asleep after getting burped in my arms then i lay him in his bouncy seat and he will pass right out being bounced and he usually is asleep no later than 10! I have really been trying to stay on this schedule ever since i went back to work so i still get an hour to myself and in bed before he wakes to eat again

MaybeBaby2 · June 2011

We do baths every other night. Bedtime is wake to eat, feed (FF), pajamas, swaddle, rock until drowsy then in the crib.

mizzmeg · June 2011

LO gets a bath on most nights because she had sunscreen or bug wipes on her. She usually spits up all day so she smells horrible.

We go for a walk around the block. She goes in her Bjorn and it calms her down. She gets a bath and relaxes in the warm water. Next, she gets a diaper and a lavender lotion massage (if she's in a decent mood) to help her gas come out. She gets dressed, swaddled, and lights go out. I like playing Jewel Lullaby CD and her soothing sound giraffe. She'll nurse until she falls asleep.

Most nights this only takes about 1 hour. When she is in a horrible mood and doesn't want to sleep, it takes about 1.5 hours.

jerol · June 2011

I have always been one to have a very short bedtime routine. And now that she's my third its even shorter! I do baths during the day because nighttime gets so crazy here. Baths have never soothed my girls- always made them more awake so I got out of bathtime as part of bedtime.

So, my routine right now for LO is bring her to the nursery, change to pjs, bottle in the rocker, and lay her down. She usually falls asleep in about 10 minutes. Bedtime is between 8 and 8:30.

ETA: I usually start books between 3-4 months as part of their routine.

kewltif · June 2011

I bathe her every night. It only takes like 5 minutes and she loves it.

ManiacMcGee · June 2011

We start around 7-8, whenever he gives us a sign that he's tired and ready. We bathe him everynight b/c he loves it and it keeps him awake and happy for a little extra time. We haven't noticed it to be drying, of course, we only use soap every other day or less and we use California Baby which is sensitive.

Then, if he cooperates, we have a few minutes of soothing interaction (book, chatting, etc). Diaper, jammies, swaddling his legs, nurse to sleep.

queensteph17 · June 2011

We do either a bath or a walk...so every other night. We would probably do a walk every night but it seems by the time DH gets home, we eat, ect. there's just not time!

Then we diaper, swaddle, and I feed in the rocker and either listen to Baby Beethoven or sing lullabys. Once she's done eating I burp and put her to bed. She usually fusses for 15min-1/2 hour before falling asleep. I comfort her and put her right back.

busygourmet · June 2011

Reading most of everyone's posts, do you NOT wake them up again to eat around 10:00 p.m or so? My LO eats around 5:30-6:00 and then passes out. I have been waking him around 9-10 to eat before I go to bed. But then he usually is a mess from then on, with spitting up, hiccups, etc and cries for the next couple hours. Should we stop waking him or wake him sooner?

skio · June 2011

My kid is over 3 months, but FWIW, I started her routine at 3 weeks and it has been the same every night since - bath, lotion massage, PJ's & swaddle, nurse. Water doesn't dry out their skin, soap does. I rinse her every night but only use soap every 2-3 days. It's quite "realistic" considering she's been STTN since 4w.

atkinson4545 · June 2011

busygourmet:
Reading most of everyone's posts, do you NOT wake them up again to eat around 10:00 p.m or so? My LO eats around 5:30-6:00 and then passes out. I have been waking him around 9-10 to eat before I go to bed. But then he usually is a mess from then on, with spitting up, hiccups, etc and cries for the next couple hours. Should we stop waking him or wake him sooner?

Have you tried dream feeding instead of waking him totally up for his last feeding at 9? That really helped my LO, he has her last bottle at 6:30-7 then I dream feed her at 10-10:30 before I got to bed and she sleeps until 6:30am.

sarahdee678 · June 2011

atkinson4545:

busygourmet:
Reading most of everyone's posts, do you NOT wake them up again to eat around 10:00 p.m or so? My LO eats around 5:30-6:00 and then passes out. I have been waking him around 9-10 to eat before I go to bed. But then he usually is a mess from then on, with spitting up, hiccups, etc and cries for the next couple hours. Should we stop waking him or wake him sooner?

Have you tried dream feeding instead of waking him totally up for his last feeding at 9? That really helped my LO, he has her last bottle at 6:30-7 then I dream feed her at 10-10:30 before I got to bed and she sleeps until 6:30am.

This is what I was going to suggest. This will help you implement it if that's what you want to do. https://www.easybabylife.com/dreamfeed.html

Mrs.Saxy · June 2011

feed him, change his diaper, put him in a sleeper onesie

Zeedling · June 2011

L&K508:
We start with a walk around 7:30 or 8, calms him down, gets me out of the house. Then every other night it's bath, or just lotion with a massage- if he cooperates. Diaper change, then I nurse him. I read to him while I am nursing, sing a few lullabys and rock a bit, all with him nursing. When he is down I either put him in the crib if he is already asleep or if not I rock until he is drowsy and lay him down.

he gets swaddled after the bath, but I saw your other post, saying that your LOhayes it,so I left it out. GL!

This! We do the same thing - walk every night, bath every other night, but during nursing my DH reads him a story. If he wont fall asleep in the crib after that, I try the swing until he gets tired and then lay him in the crib

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