Bedtime routine. Details Please!

Crysta - posted on 10/21/2011

My sons routine is at 7pm we start picking up all of his toys and putting them away, then we pick out some pjs for him to wear in get him dressed, and then we go into the bathroom and he brushes his teeth. After that we go downstairs to his room, he usually crawls onto his bed and waits for me to put it night time dvd on, his tv and dvd player automatically shut off after the movie is over and he is usually asleep by then. The only times he has woken up at night since we turned his crib into a bed is if he has a bad dream, he's teething, or he rolled off his bed and he is too tired to put himself back in his bed, lol. But the whole process takes about 30min. but he is always asleep by 8pm.

Jael - posted on 10/19/2011

If he wakes up in the middle of the night wait a while before you go to pick him up. He is waking up out of routine and he is saying "are you still there" because he is not sure if he is safe on his own. If you let him cry himself back to sleep he will learn that it is okay to be in the room alone and that he can calm down by himself. Eventually he will just not cry when he wakes up and just fall back asleep easily.

Elly - posted on 10/18/2011

my son will b 3 in november.
we have tea at 5.30 then clean up, brush teeth etc, we weatch a bit of telly then at 6 we start putting pjs on, we make the bed ready to sleep, we lie down he chooses a book we read it together, we cuddle, sing a bit then he has his bottle and by 6.30 (7 on a weekend) he's out cold.
a couple of times a week he has a warm bath with a few drops of essential oils, i use mandarin, mint and tea tree (good to repel nits and head lice) and sometimes i out a few drops of lavander essential oil on his bed. if he's very nervouse i infuse his milk with a blend of relaxing tea (chamomile, valerian, balm, hawthorn, fennel).
i noticed that putting him to bed when he is at the "right" stage of tiredness is better than postponing the bed time until he is too tired to sleep.

Sharlene - posted on 10/16/2011

Darls that does sound like a good retouine to me.Hes sleeping to much during the day you have to cut at least 1 sleep out during the,try to make it after his had lunch bottle let him sleep for 30/40 mins then get up and play with him try to keep him busy then dinner at 5.30 and then bath at 6pm a then he should be in bed between 6.30 or 7 pm.Try to take out of the cot all toy only let him have a safty blankie thats if he has or his favorite baby toy and his pacifier if he has one, Look I hope this helps but this my rountine with my 18 month old and 6 month old premmie with my other to older children there bed routine is 8pm all the best

Nicole - posted on 08/05/2011

well i have twin 16 month olds and since june our bed time rountie is as follows: ( i give baths every other night depending on what we have done if we went swimming we get a bath even if we had one the night before) at 6pm we get in our pjs and brush our teeth, and get our sippy of either milk or water, 6:30 we do a diaper check and switch to over nights, 6:45 we read a book, and watch the sprout channel, by 7pm we are in there nursery give kisses turn on the music and say good nights, both girls sleep in the same room but separate cribs. 7 is there bed time they sleep threw the night and wake up around 6am-7am. they take a 2 1/2 hour nap a day at the same time around 10:30am, then they r up at 12:30pm for lunch, then dinner is at 4:30-5pm and bed at 7pm.

Jenna - posted on 07/14/2011

Have you heard of the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child"? It is my go-to book for sleep. Has all the info you could possibly want about what is normal and how to get the best nights sleep, for you and the baby :) I recommend it to everyone b/c it has helped me so so much. Good luck!

Meghan - posted on 07/11/2011

Wow! That's a lot of singing..yes it is very sweet,but he needs to figure out how to fall asleep on his own or you will be singing to him for years and that will cut into time that you have with your new baby. I sugest slowly cutting down as long as he's calm you should stop,give kisses and hugs and say goodnite then leave him be. I never let my kids cry in there cribs(that's just me..I'm a sucker,lol) so I always gave them like 5 maybe 10 mins go in soothe them and then repeat...it takes a week or so,so be strong! Good luck

Veronica - posted on 07/10/2011

Thanks. I would love to think of the dilemma or what to do if we go anywhere. Sadly, daddy is against anyone watching our little ones till they can rat out the babysitter. Sometimes, I take out the story or I sing one less song and he doesn't seem to mind, so I think there is some flexability, but I notice that by the time I get to song number 3 = Over the Rainbow he is konked out by then.

Tisa - posted on 07/08/2011

My daughter was born on Apri 5th 2010 and her bedtime is 7.30pm. At 7pm we go upstairs, she gets into her pjs, we place her in her bed (not a crib cause she screamed when we had her in that) and we read 1 story with her. We let her turn off the light and then she knows its bedtime and we leave the room. She might wake up once we go to bed cause the tv turns off and i think she notices the background noise stops but we pat her for a few seconds or turn the lullabys on in her room and that settles her. She has 12 teeth also but doesnt ever have teething issues. She spends lots of time with my mother in law and at daycare so that has stopped any seperation anxiety. maybe try to leave your son with family a little more to stop the anxiety? As for the routine, I think it sounds sweet. Its lovely to spend that quality quiet time with them (especially when I come home from work). Makayla has one nap, mabye for 1 1/2 hours and that is it. The only thing I would mention is what happens if you go out? With a shorter routine you can put him to sleep anywhere. We put Mac to bed at friends and family at 7.30 no matter where we are. Its great. Good luck with it all but it sounds like your doing great. xx