What is your bedtime routine?

Jessica - posted on 02/28/2010

i do stuffed animals, rocker with baba, then bed. i rock her untill she is done with her bottel, (choking hazerds of giving it to them in there crib freak me out) then when she is done i put her in her crib, she may lay down may not. i tell her ill see her 2m and that we love her then i leave. i dont go back in at all, ater the first 3 days, she stoped crying and now sleeps from 7pm to 9am with out waking! i realy think letting them put them selfs down gives them a confidence boust after they relise they can do it, it sux the first week but if go by the not letting them cry longer then 1hr, and i mean like hysterical cry she can whine all she wants as long as i know shes ok. hope this helps!

Cheri - posted on 02/25/2010

bath (if needed), pajamas, milk from sippy cup, brush teeth (no one has mentioned this but I think it is important even at this age, my husband is a dentist and we have never left a bottle in bed with our kids with anything other than water), read book, 1-2 songs, lights all out, place in bed with stuffed animal, and walk out the door closing it all the way - - He used to cry a bit but now he knows that is the routine, he goes right to sleep.

Carlie - posted on 02/22/2010

our routine is usually: dinner, bath, some playtime, relax time, warm milk, bedtime. we always put our son down awake, but tired, so he's always gone to sleep on his own, even at nap time. we also try to keep things around the same time everynight.
babies like consitency and predictability.

Kailey - posted on 02/21/2010

we put alivia to bed when the sun goes down and explain that when the sun goes down we go to sleep and we dont let her out until the sun comes up. i think it helps her understand time a little bit, or it will in the future at least. we give her a bath, put her in her pj's, give goodnight kisses to daddy, lay her down in bed with a bottle, and tap a butterfly above her bed so it wings back and forth. she watches it while she drinks her bottle and falls asleep like a little angel!

Colleen - posted on 02/19/2010

Our routine is sort of the same as above. Dinner (bath every couple nights or so) Then we actually do some evening play (get out his energy). He knows that around 7 or 7:30 play ends.... then we do diaper and pjs if he didn't have them on already. We go to livingroom to read stories half hour or so. Then he can cuddle with me for half hour or just sit with me (I might have the tv on for a program I watch) He knows that after some cuddling I'll take him upstairs, he goes in his crib, has his two music buddies, I turn on his CD and walk out with a kiss. ( I leave his door open or he freaks) It took us a month or so to get him to be ok with being in there awake, but now he's fine and falls asleep on his own. I close the door later after I come up for bed.

Tiphanie - posted on 02/18/2010

We do pretty much the same, dinner, play, bath, lotion, bottle then in bed for 7.00. He has his cuddly toys and I put on all of his musical things and projector musical light which turns off after 10mins. George puts himself to sleep.

Tammy - posted on 02/15/2010

We do bath, read books on the lounge, milk from his sippy cup while laying on the loung then we put him straight to bed with his blankey at 7.30pm. We've never used a night light or anything (didn't want to start any habits). He falls asleep him self (we've never rocked him to sleep or anything, again so as not to start any habits we didn't want to have to continue with).

Caitlin - posted on 02/15/2010

Our routine is dinner, quick cuddle, bath (if needed), change, bottle and bed. We turn on her aquarium before we leave the room and she still gets her bottle in the crib, but she needs to have it for nutritional reasons, so she'll be getting that until she's 2. She usually finishes her bottle in the crib, throws it out and the goes to sleep on her own. She's learned that that means bedtime, and no matter how much she fusses, she still has to go to bed.

Cathy - posted on 02/15/2010

We do bath, lotion, pajamas, story time, bed. My daughter has been off bottles for a few months so we just let her have her sippy cup with milk while we read a couple of books. Then we bring her up to bed, put her in her sleep sack, hand her her blankey and stuffed bunny and then turn on her music mirror and out we go. We have always put her to bed awake and she falls asleep on her own.