Nighttime routines

[Turtle Monkey]

Luckily, we got a good ritual going before I went back to work that has been great at getting them both asleep by 8:00 so I can relax and watch some TV.
Kat, you wrote this earlier. You went back to work at 6 weeks, right? How how how, did you get Allison to go to bed at 8pm? And by herself? I am freaking. That seems insane to me.

We have enver had a routine, maybe that's why I can't comprehend this. Amelia falls alseep on the couch and then we move her to her bed. And Gavin just nurses all evening and all night so, I have no idea how I would put him down.

Help girls!!!!! I want a routine. Johnny would LOVE to be able to put the kids down at a certain time every night.

[Yummy!]

I have absoutely no routine. I keep dd up as late as possible every night because I get bored with nobody to play with :) She naps during the day and also sleeps late.

This was very beneficial to me when I started grabbing some night work at a friend's bar. That way, my friend who stays with dd keeps her up late, and when I get home at 3 or 4 I can still sleep in until 11 some days, and take a nap with dd.

We have been known to saddle up and get ice cream after midnight.

[BadWorkingMom]

We definitely have a routine at my house. I would go insane without one. My three year old and 9 year old are in bed by 8:30 at the latest during the week. I put the baby in bed at about 9:00 and I try to go to bed by 9:30. I have to get up at 5:00am to get everyone ready in the morning so that I can be at work by 8:00.

[Buffy]

A routine is necessary in our house or my son would never go to sleep. He is usually in bed by 8:00pm except for the last few days. He has needed some Mommy cuddling time before bed, and that has made bedtime a bit later.

[Hugh G Recshun]

We've had a night time routine forever! I think it's been pretty much the same too. Anyway, we give the girl a bath, give her some "dessert", read some books, brush teeth, do prayers and put her to bed. She usually plays with her "friends" in her bed for about a half an hour before drifting off, but I think she actually looks forward to it.

[Hugh G Recshun]

I forgot to mention, we put her in bed between 8 and 8:30.

[delibean]

Clara is just into a schedual...
bed at 8-830
we brush her teeth, read her books (2 times)
say the eyes, ears, nose thing about 5 times then she will say "kiss" and I will kiss her of DH ( depends on who puts her down) then she just rolls over and goes to sleep :)

she is now getting up at about 2 am for a nursing then will wake up at about 6-7 am sometimes 5- 5:30 :(

[Revvie]

Sorry Steph, my little ones always stayed up til 10 or 11 when they were eensy teensy. Usually straight awake, too, no naps in the evenings. :eek

[mimah]

Steph, it may be a bad time to try to get into a routine right now. Amelia is still getting used to sharing you with Gavin, and it doesn't sound like Gavin will go for it yet.

Maybe you can start to lay the ground work with Amelia now. You can tell her what your plans are and ask what she would like? Ease her into it.

[MonsterAteMy]

We have a very loose routine. :) DS (he's 7 months) usually cluster-feeds in the evening between 8 and 9pm. We then take him upstairs (awake) to his cradle next to our bed and sing to him until he falls asleep (or is almost asleep), which usually takes 10-15 minutes.

[Kat]

First, Eric thrives on a routine. Once we got it started, it only took a few days to really get him into it.

I also have Allison sleeping with me, so I lay in bed and watch TV, but she does fall asleep by 8-8:30 and I can lay her down next to me and relax. By that time, I'm so exhausted, that sleep sounds good to me, too. If I want to get up and do something, I prop a small pillow next to her (to mimic me laying next to her) and that usually works wonders.

We got our routine set before I went back to work so it wasn't a major hassle when I did. Plus, I had Eric still going to daycare while I was on maternity leave, so it didn't mess with his routine.

As far as our routine, it is always the same - even on the weekends. We go upstairs and either take a bath or shower at 7-7:30. After the bath, it's brushing teeth time, then in his room to get his pj's on, read a story, then tuck him into bed. I'm usually in bed nursing Allison to sleep by 8:00. She tends to nurse quite a bit before going to sleep for the night, so sometimes she's on the boob until 9:00. But then I'm blessed with her only getting up once or twice in the middle of the night to nurse.

What has saved us is sticking to the routine no matter what, even on the weekends. Sometimes we'll stretch it out until 8-8:30 on the weekends, but no later than that.

[Manic]

Routine city here. Kids eat at 5:00, ice cream afterwards, then its on to the tub. We do teeth ONLY in the tub now, my youngest scraped the back of her throat twice fooling around in the bathroom with her big sister. Talk about scary, nothing like having a two year old (at that time) crying her eyes out, open her mouth, and foam mixed with blood. Iv heard stories of kids puncturing the back of thier throats, shivers. Anyways, on to bed and every other night I sing songs to them, daddy the other night. Actually daddy taught them thier ABC's and both dd's count to 50 already thanks to daddies little nightly routine. He may be a lousy dh most the time, but damn he's a good father. lol.

I will say though, I am SO damn jealouse of a cousin of mine. She sings her kid ONE freaking song, and thats it, he is happy. She walks out and you dont hear anouther peep from him. Im sure that wont last forever, but shit, how lucky can you get??

[Manic]

Routine city here. Kids eat at 5:00, ice cream afterwards, then its on to the tub. We do teeth ONLY in the tub now, my youngest scraped the back of her throat twice fooling around in the bathroom with her big sister. Talk about scary, nothing like having a two year old (at that time) crying her eyes out, open her mouth, and foam mixed with blood. Iv heard stories of kids puncturing the back of thier throats, shivers. Anyways, on to bed and every other night I sing songs to them, daddy the other night. Actually daddy taught them thier ABC's and both dd's count to 50 already thanks to daddies little nightly routine. He may be a lousy dh most the time, but damn he's a good father. lol.

I will say though, I am SO damn jealouse of a cousin of mine. She sings her kid ONE freaking song, and thats it, he is happy. She walks out and you dont hear anouther peep from him. Im sure that wont last forever, but shit, how lucky can you get??

[Warm&Sweet]

We have a loose routine here. I really need to get them on a better one. Ryan has always been easy. We go upstairs, brush teeth, say prayers, watch a PBS show and then he goes to sleep. Raegan, on the other hand, is a nightmare. She doesn't fall asleep until 11 most nights. I think it will be much better when she doesn't nap anymore. Hopefully that will be soon. :)

[Diz]

We have always had a strick routine from day 1 with both boys. I had to, being my hubby worked so much, and I would be working within 6 mos. It was a life saver.

When they were babies we would rock them to sleep with their last bottle, or rock all night time bottles with the lights off. Once they were off the bottles (1 yr) it was a quick kiss and cudle in bed. We do the routine on the couch, a story, a cudle....... But once we enter that bedroom it is sleep time.


What I think helped us the most with the kids knowing their bedrooms are for sleeping was no toys. Just their teddy or what ever the flavor of the month was. All their toys were in our family room.

Our bedtime is still 7-7:30 they go to sleep with minimal fuss. It will most likely get hectic this summer when we move them into the same room.

For me early strict bedtimes was not a parenting decision. IT was a sanity decision.

[Kat]

Dizzy - same here. Having that bedtime routine is a sanity saver for us, also.

We, too, only use DS's room for sleeping and it's where his and Allison's clothes are. The room is so damn big, I've got both of their stuff in there. He's in a regular bed, and I figure I'll try Allison in her crib when she's a few months older - possibly until she's a year.

[MSRX]

My routine is pretty loose. The kids are on my 2nd shift schedule. Around 11:00, we go to bed. If I'm not exhausted, I go and lay down with Xena until she falls asleep, she generally falls asleep within 15minutes, on rare occasions it has taken an hr or so. If I am exhausted, I let her go to bed with us, and then I carry her to her own bed after she falls asleep (unless I fall asleep first, but then I will generally wake up an hr or so later.) Quinlan sleeps relatively good. Sometimes (but not often), my husband can get him to sleep, while I'm getting Xena to sleep. Quinlan sleeps with us. Some nights he really fights sleep, but we've found leaving the light on helps. He can look around and coo at stuff quietly while we go to sleep.

[Ali]

I never had a routine with ds until he was weaned. He always just nursed and then to bed at 7:00. Once weaned we did snack, teeth, book, bed.

Alison is easy at bedtime too. I nurse her from between 6:45 to 7:15 and then off to bed. I always put them down awake. I have never had an issue with them at bedtime. Now naptime is a whole nuther story :lol

[Twinklestars]

My twins are easy. I take them upstairs, one at a time and put them in their cribs. If one is a bit fussy, she gets rocked for a bit with a song or two. They usually go to bed around 7pm and sleep 12-13 hours.

My oldest goes to bed with me or dh around 10pm and will sleep until about 8:30.

[ajandcjsmom]

Steph, i really haven't read thru all of this topic, but you should try and start to establish a routine with Amelia now, and when Gavin is old enough, he'll fall right into it. we didn't start really establishing a routine with Alecia until she was sleeping the night, and with Carianne it was pretty easy. It'll probalby be tough, but if you try and make bedtime fun, like reading, peek a boo with the blankets, it might make it easier