What is your bedtime routine these days?

nittanyllama · November 2012

Just wondering what you are all doing with your LO's at bedtime these days. I know some people are still giving a bottle or nursing. We went to sippy cups a while ago and WCM and had been giving a cup of milk in the glider after the rest of the bedtime routine (bath if it's bath night, lotion, pj's, book). I feel like we should get out of the habit of giving a cup of milk in the dark and rocking him to sleep. We've been TRYING the past few nights to just let him drink his milk in his room with the lights on and then put him in his crib, turn the lights out, tell him goodnight, and let him fuss til he puts himself to sleep. He doesn't seem to want to drink the milk though unless we hold and rock him. How are you handling bedtime - specifically your kid's last cup of milk?

anasazi17 · November 2012

DD drinks her last cup of milk at dinner (6pm). Depending if it's bath night or not we start bedtime at 7:30-7:45. Bath, PJ's, book or two and then night night.

Edited to add: We dropped the before bed bottle at the same time as we switched to the sippy w/WCM at meals.

Ms.Jade · November 2012

5:00 Dinner. I set up her room and bath while she finished in the high chair. I warm up her room, turn down the lights, get her pajamas and a fresh diaper out, make sure she has milk, and a bedtime story.

5:15 Bath. I usually let her play until about 5:45

5:45 Lotion, pajamas, brush teeth

6:00 Stories (we usually do 2-3), milk (still gets a bottle at bedtime only), rocking

6:05 ish Put her down drowsy

I swear when she enters her warm, dim room her eyes start to droop.

This has been getting later and later and now we're at bedtime around 6:30 - 7:00.

KrisM86 · November 2012

I was nursing DD to sleep until about a month ago.
Now I nurse DD shortly after dinner around 6:30pm. I nurse her downstairs and then either DH or I take her upstairs and we do bath, pajamas, brush teeth, story and put her in her crib by 7:30. Nine times out of ten she goes to sleep on her own with no fussing.

DH did the entire bedtime routine every night for the first 2 weeks or so because she put up more of a fight and wanted to nurse when I did it. Now either of us can do it with no real issues.

cantalopes24 · November 2012

I didn't read all the responses but you should be giving the last bottle/sippy/whatever before you clean their teeth.

lkm2006 · November 2012

wishful thinkin:
S gets washed up around 7:30 and then I give him a snack [cookies with milk or a yogurt]. Around 8:30 I take him in his room we listen to the precious moment prayer and he drinks about 3 oz of his 8 oz bottle ..I rock him to sleep and then give him his left over bottle. Bed time can be total hell or could be a breeze. I stir rock him for naps too. I think I created a monster and it's just going to get harder when the other baby comes.

You and me both. A has always been a horrible sleeper.. not so much at sleeping but getting to sleep. I'm *very* embarrassed to say that I still held him for his nap up until two weeks ago because that was the only way I could get him to stay asleep. He finally takes naps in his crib but I am still rocking to sleep. I tried literally everything in the world and he does.not.fall.asleep on his own. Even after days of being consistent it doesn't even make a dent in him.

The one good thing is, he falls asleep very quickly so I can have him rocked and in his bed all within ten minutes.. hopefully the new baby will give me that long!

As for bedtime, DH actually handles most of the routine. He gets bath, pajamas then bottle while being rocked.

missyishere · November 2012

Depending on her afternoon nap:

5:30-6 is dinner with a sippy cup of milk

play time and finishes up sippy

6:30-7 bath time every couple of nights

7:30-8 read a few books, cuddle time, and down for the night

Scramblersmom · November 2012

We change DS's diaper downstairs and put him in his PJs. We take him upstairs, put him in a sleep sack, give him his bottle of WCM, turn on the sound machine and say good night. About 20 mins later I go in to retrieve the bottle in case he didn't finish it all so he won't wake up in the middle of the night and try to drink it. That is it....he sleeps from approx 9:15 PM to 7:00 AM.

Elsa1984 · November 2012

Gator goes down anytime between 7 and 11 depending on the day. Diaper, pj's, bottle, noise machine, goodnight to daddy, goodnight to dog, in bed, I gave her a kiss, shut the door.

MrsTBird · November 2012

R gets his last cup of WCM at dinner (5). If he doesn't finish it all I'll let him take it into the living room to drink while he plays. If it's a bath night, then our routine starts at 7:30ish. I brush his teeth, get him in his pajamas and a clean diaper, he'll say good night to DH. I take him to his room, read him a story, cuddle for a bit, turn on his lullabies, lay him down and shut the door.

stardust317 · November 2012

Bath time around 7:30. After bath, we do pajamas, etc. Then if DD is super wired, we let her play for 10-15 minutes and sometimes she has a 1/2 cup of milk, sometimes not. We start talking about "night night" and usually she'll say it when she's ready. We brush her teeth, read her a story, and say good night. She's a champion sleeper.

Chunstad · November 2012

We take him upstairs, PJs, sleepsack, read books with Daddy and I rock and nurse him in a dark room Surprise

I lay him down awake, and he's out within 5-10 minutes.

blu-eyedwife · November 2012

DH gives him a bath, then puts him in pjs and reads him a story.

Lately, he tends to get really sleepy during the story and falls asleep before milk.

If I'm home and he's awake, I nurse him before bed, after the story. Usually he either falls asleep then, or finishes nursing and goes to bed.

If I'm not home and he's awake, DH usually uses that time as cuddle time with LBB until LBB falls asleep.

Nita2603 · November 2012

We are still doing the bottle. So our routine is bath time, diaper and stuff meds, cream, pjs, sleepsack, bottle kisses and brief snuggles, done.

mamaZbo · November 2012

We've cut out all food and drink after dinner. She gets her last sippy of milk at 4pm and has water with dinner. After dinner we play for 15 min or so, take a bath, brush teeth, get on pjs, read a couple of books, rock and sing a song or two and then in the bed she goes. Some nights she rolls right over and goes to sleep, others she stands and cries. I sometimes will go back in a rock her and she goes right out after a couple minutes.

CMonkey515 · November 2012

Dinner is at 5:30 or 6. He has water with meals. Bath around 7, then some naked time for a few minutes before pajamas, quiet play, and then a book or two. He gets a bottle of WCM before bed. I dim the lights and we snuggle on the couch in the living room while he drinks it. He used to want to nurse a bit after that, but he decided to stop that this week, so I guess were done nursing. After his milk he says goodnight to DH if he's not at work, I carry him to his room, give hugs and kisses and lay him down. This is between 8 and 8:30. He usually goes right to sleep, and sleeps through till 7:30. Right now his first tooth is just through the surface so we don't brush teeth yet. Once it's through more I will have to work a tooth brushing in after his milk each night.

amyc216 · November 2012

Ours hasn't changed much. I put him in sleep sack. Turn off the lights and turn on the nightlight and little lamp. I read him a few books (for about the past week, he has been crying during the books, pushing them away, trying to get off my lap- not sure what's up with that-- so I usually stop the reading early), then I turn off the lamp, turn on a relaxing CD and I give him a bottle of milk. Then I hold him for a few minutes rocking and then put him in his crib. Sometimes he is already asleep, sometimes he is awake, but he will fall asleep pretty quickly.

btsrc5 · November 2012

DD has milk with dinner.

We do bath time and then story time. During story time she gets a sippy of water to drink as much as she wants. After story time, she gives us her sippy and then we turn off the lights and turn on her music. I cuddle her for about a minute and then put her down in her crib. She usually goes to sleep on her own within a few minutes. Every once in a while we have a night where she talks to herself and plays for a while before going to bed.

BeesMomma00 · November 2012

amyc216:
Ours hasn't changed much. I put him in sleep sack. Turn off the lights and turn on the nightlight and little lamp. I read him a few books (for about the past week, he has been crying during the books, pushing them away, trying to get off my lap- not sure what's up with that-- so I usually stop the reading early), then I turn off the lamp, turn on a relaxing CD and I give him a bottle of milk. Then I hold him for a few minutes rocking and then put him in his crib. Sometimes he is already asleep, sometimes he is awake, but he will fall asleep pretty quickly.

The only difference for us is that I give B her bottle with the light on. When she's done, we turn the light off, rock a bit, then I put her down. I rock to relax her when necessary. Most times, she falls right to sleep.

wilsontl19191 · November 2012

amyc216:
Ours hasn't changed much. I put him in sleep sack. Turn off the lights and turn on the nightlight and little lamp. I read him a few books (for about the past week, he has been crying during the books, pushing them away, trying to get off my lap- not sure what's up with that-- so I usually stop the reading early), then I turn off the lamp, turn on a relaxing CD and I give him a bottle of milk. Then I hold him for a few minutes rocking and then put him in his crib. Sometimes he is already asleep, sometimes he is awake, but he will fall asleep pretty quickly.

This is similar to what we do. After dinner, bath, pj's and a book/playtime we turn off the lights, turn on his sound machine and then I give him his bottle in the glider. Once he is done, we snuggle for a few minutes and I lay him in his crib. Most of the time he is still awake. I rub his butt a few times and leave the room. He is in bed most nights by 7pm.

wilsontl19191 · November 2012

cantalopes24:
I didn't read all the responses but you should be giving the last bottle/sippy/whatever before you clean their teeth.

I suppose we should, be we clean his teeth before his bottle. I'm lucky if I get to clean them at all!

101Mims · November 2012

DH gives him his bath, then thru to the nursery, and puts his pjs on.

Then, with the light turned low, we sit together on the sofa and DS gets his last bottle on DH?s lap.

Then into his crib. Glow turtle on and light off. Leave the room and close the door. It?s usually about 11pm.

He?s normally asleep within 5 mins and sleeps thru without waking till he starts to stir at about 10:30am.

nittanyllama · November 2012

Thanks for all the responses, they helped. I gave him a sippy of WCM on the couch with me tonight around 7:30, took him upstairs for his normal bedtime around 8, did the rest of the normal bedtime stuff which means I brushed his teeth after the milk for once. We read books, turned out the lights, put him in the crib and told him goodnight. He cried for about 4 or 5 minutes and went to sleep.

I have to add in case anybody reads this -- we have read him the book "Goodnight Owl" at bedtime every night for many months now. Tonight when he brought us the book he said "whooo" for the first time! And on every page when I asked him "what does the owl say?" he said "whooo". I was grinning and so excited I could barely read the book. It may not seem like much but I don't have a talker so it was awesome!

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