Evening Routine?

Mmm79 · November 2013

I'm interested to hear what the evening routine is like for moms (and dads) who work outside the house? What time do you get home? What time does LO go to bed? When do you start bedtime routine? Baths, eating, play, etc?

I changed my job a month and a half ago, and one of the deciding factors was being able to be home by 5:30 on weeknights (as opposed to 6:30 in my old job). So now that we are home earlier, and A is eating solids, I am trying to figure out how to manage our evenings. I think my problem is that I feel like I am stuffing A with food/milk in the last few hours before bed. He gets a bottle at daycare at around 4:15, then I pick him up at 5 and we're in our house by 5:30. I try to feed him then, but by 6:45 we are starting bedtime routine and nursing and he doesn't seem to be taking in much. I know that breast milk still provides more nutrients/fat/calories than the purees he's eating, so I want to be sure he gets that in. But it all seems so compressed in the evenings. How do you all do it?

ProfessorPedals825 · November 2013

I'm trying to work on a new routine too because our current situation doesn't seem to be working anymore. DH is usually still at school in the evenings, so it's just me and her. Here's what we used to do and how I wished it still worked.

Pick her up from daycare at 5, home by 5:15, strap her in the Bjorn and we walk the dog. Back in the house by 5:45 and immediately go to the high chair. She gets one puree or oatmeal, then by 6:15 we sit in living room with a small bottle for a quick nap in my arms while I watch a bit of tv. She's awake again by 6:45, then we play on the floor until 7:30. We then get in the bath, then do lotion and jammies, and start our evening bottle by 8:15 and she's asleep by 8:30-8:45.

Lately though the short 30 min nap has really thrown her off and now she's not ready for bed by 8:30 and we've been struggling with getting her relaxed and ready for bed. It usually ends in tears and she's so tired that she'll finally fall asleep. Last night was 9:45, and we just can't keep that up anymore. I'm thinking we need to cut that nap and get to bed earlier. I'd like to do "dinner" at 5:45, play on the floor from 6-6:30, then start our bath by 6:45 and do the evening bottle at 7:15.

Mmm79 · November 2013

andreahshields said:

Lately though the short 30 min nap has really thrown her off and now she's not ready for bed by 8:30 and we've been struggling with getting her relaxed and ready for bed. It usually ends in tears and she's so tired that she'll finally fall asleep. Last night was 9:45, and we just can't keep that up anymore. I'm thinking we need to cut that nap and get to bed earlier. I'd like to do "dinner" at 5:45, play on the floor from 6-6:30, then start our bath by 6:45 and do the evening bottle at 7:15.

Doesn't it throw you off when your old routine suddenly no longer works? What's funny is that in 8 months, I feel like that's already happened four or five times.

We used to start bedtime routine at 7 or 7:15, but then A started to exhibit the tired signals earlier, so we now start at 6:45 (6:30 on the nights he gets a bath).

MickeyM04 · November 2013

I'm not the hugest fan of our routine right now because of when DH gets home. We both commute and even though I leave the office at 4:45, I'm not home until 6:00 on the dot. DH doesn't get home until about 6:45 and I don't like making DS wait that late to eat dinner, so I feed him at about 6:15, then we play and DH gets home and we re-heat our dinner (we cook in advance) and eat at 7:00 while DS (not so patiently) sits in his highchair and plays with crayons or measuring cups or whatever will keep him happy. Lately I've been resorting to cookies to keep him happy.

Then at about 7:40 he gets in the bath, and I'm in his rocking chair giving him his sippy of milk (he still makes me hold it for him, the little stinker) by about 7:55, and he's down by 8:00. I just wish we could get our dinner time coordinated to all eat together.

Mmm79 · November 2013

mkc5869 said:

We are on about the same schedule as you. We get home about 5:30 and DH and I play with her while getting dinner ready. Then she gets her dinner at about 6. She is a pretty quick eater so she is usually done by 6:15. Then it's a bath and pajamas. We let her play until about 6:45 and then it's off to bed. I nurse her one last time and put her down at 7.

At least that's how it worked before the time change. Yesterday she was a hot mess by the time I got her home so it was dinner and straight to bed. I didn't know what to do with my extra 45 minutes because she was asleep by 6:15!

That was A on Sunday night- lights out by 6:15.

How does nursing go since it's so close to when she had "dinner"? Maybe I just keep doing it and A's appetite will adjust?

orangegoggles · November 2013

I usually get home around 4 ish. We play until 5 and then feed DS dinner while I make dinner for DH and I. He loves eating and loves to feed himself so I usually have enough to get dinner situated for us and eat while he's still eating. 5:45-6:30 playtime again. 6:30-6:45, bath & pajamas. 6:45 good night book and bottle, asleep usually by 7. We clean and prep for the next day after he goes down.

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