s/o putting to bed question. I am dumb.

[Brie]

We have a "routine" largely because H and I are creatures of habit. C often changes the routine based on his mood, so we just go with it.

Usually we do a bath around 7 (he LOVES baths and they calm him down when he's fussy--we use soap every other day so he doesn't dry out), diaper, PJs, a few minutes of tummy time on the Boppy or a book, and then I nurse him in our bedroom with lights out and white noise on. Sometimes he goes to sleep right away, and sometimes H and I will switch off soothing him for half hour or so shifts until he does.

[dcrunnergirl]

Nov 15, 2012 19:33:17 GMT -5 toriwc said:

This doesn't work for everyone, but we started a routine at two weeks old. Sometimes, she stayed awake after it, but the routine was in place. I really believe it helped us by 2 months old. Nothing complicated. 6:15-6:30, bath, jammies, book, bottle. On nights we skipped bath (which we did until her helmet, then we had to bathe her nightly), we started later, and I still lotioned her before jammies.

This was us too. Around 2w or so, we started a bedtime routine to signal it was time to go to sleep for the night. We started around 7pm IIRC, and did bath (every other night), PJs, bottle, swaddle, book, bed. We did it like this so the bottle and the going to bed part were separate and they would learn not to fall asleep while eating or being rocked. We still do practically this same routine at 2 years old: bath, PJs, sippy of milk, brush teeth, books, bed.

Starting the routine changed everything for us. They went down for a good few hours, and DH and I had alone time, even though in those days, we were going to bed by 8:30pm b/c we knew that we'd be up again by 1am or so for a feeding.

[Deleted]

Around 2 months we started doing a bedtime routine but the actual time varied (still does). Bath, diaper, pjs, book, and then nurse to sleep. I don't think he realizes there is a routine yet haha but I think it helps him wind down a bit. Now I've added "clean your room" to it before we do his bath - I pick up his toys etc and then get him ready for his bath. I'm lame but I'm trying to establish the habit of cleaning up before bed, since I don't have that habit, lol.

[pugz]

Squirmy doesn't usually freak out in the evening, so we've had a routine for a long time. After her last evening feeding between 7:30-9 we get her in her jammies and read a story. Every other night we do bath, then jammies and a story. Then one of us rocks her to sleep.

[bunch]

We have been doing a routine since dds cord fell off (which was late, I think around a month or so). It went bath, jammies, book, nurse, bed. In the early days, we'd put her in the bouncer at 8 and run the vibrate until she knocked out, then we'd put her in the crib.

[Deleted]

Nov 15, 2012 20:17:27 GMT -5 @msstarry said:

here is my thing. she only has one good stretch in her. I don't want it to start at 7 or 8pm selfishly. Do any of you dream feed or is that uncivilized? I attempted last night at 10 when she fell asleep at 7:30 but she woke up. however she still slept 11-5:15 after so I don't really regret it.

As she gets older she will get another good stretch (promise!!) so I would still try to start the bedtime early. I actually read in the Healthy Sleep Book that the earlier you start, the longer they will sleep. Its when they get overtired they have a restless sleep. I think for DS it was true until he hit the 4-month mark and sleep went to shit.

[bunch]

Dd never successfully did a dream feed. Dd always woke at 2 to eat, whether she went down at 8 or 11.

[jackpackage]

We didn't really do anything until 3 months. We started to recognize when he's tired and realized that he slept well with an 8:30-8:45 bedtime. If we started too early, he would freak out and scream until 8:30 anyway, and starting later it took forever to get him to sleep.

We just change, swaddle, turn the lights off, turn on the white noise machine and rock him for a few minutes. We used to put the white noise on a timer, but now we keep it on all night, and it's made a huge difference. I don't read to him at night b/c he gets too excited, and I usually nurse him about an hour before bedtime. I sound like a mean mom, but he sleeps from 7:30(b/c DST)-9:30 and wakes up once or twice to nurse.

[drloretta]

We let DD lead the way the whole time. I honestly can't remember when we started a wind-down routine, but it wasn't anywhere near 2 months.

That said, I vaguely remember her usually nodding off around 7:30ish at 3 months, and that's when we'd put her in her crib

[lindyanne]

We started a routine around 5 or 6 weeks because he was screaming bloody murder at night. Bath, book, bottle, bed (swaddled)

[arch01]

We started a routine at 6 weeks. Feed, diaper, change into PJs, swaddle, read a book or sing a song, bed. He has never fought bedtime.

[pamela]

We still don't have a real routine at 22 months. And he goes to bed just fine. DH and I were joking tonight that I've never met a kid that is (usually) so happy to go to bed.

[curbsideprophet]

We started off putting her to bed when we went to bed. Mostly for the same reason that we wanted to maximize our sleep with her long stretch of sleep. That worked fine for a little while. Eventually we realized life was much easier if we put her to bed earlier. She was still waking up multiple times a night, but there was less crying/fussing in the evening. If she did wake up, she would usually eat and go back to sleep fairly easily. I thought about doing dream feeds, but I was paranoid I would wake her up and she would not go back to sleep. So I just let her decide when to wake up.

[DarcyLongfellow]

I can't imagine a bedtime routine at 2 months. We didn't have one until much later. I remember deciding at some point that attempting to hold a swaddled baby who couldn't sit up yet in my lap while balancing a book and attempting to interest her in a book while she fussed was just no fun. I started reading before bed once she could sit up and show interest -- maybe six months? That's when we started the routine, although our routine was always just (in DD's mind) some random crap mom does, then nurse, then bed. She had to nurse right before bed for a long, long time -- and that was really the only "routine" she needed.

[Deleted]

Nov 15, 2012 20:17:27 GMT -5 @msstarry said:

here is my thing. she only has one good stretch in her. I don't want it to start at 7 or 8pm selfishly. Do any of you dream feed or is that uncivilized? I attempted last night at 10 when she fell asleep at 7:30 but she woke up. however she still slept 11-5:15 after so I don't really regret it.

I do a dream feed every night between 9:30 and 11, depending on when I go to bed. She usually starts her fussy time around 7ish so we try to get her to sleep before then. No real routine. We just read her cues. Once the first yawn hits or her eyes get red, one of us takes her up to her room and begins the rocking in a mostly futile attempt to avoid the screaming. In the dark, white noise on and pacifier in mouth (or so we try). She usually fights it for 30ish mins, will pass out and wake up sometimes 30 mins later. Usually that wake-up only requires putting the pacifier back in her mouth and rocking her RnP. We try not to pick her up every time. Then for the dream feed I literally pick her up and stick my boob in her mouth. She eats in silence and falls asleep soundly and I put her back down. I do not burp her at this point and it hasn't seemed to matter. She has been sleeping until about 5am pretty consistently for a few weeks.

[satsuma]

We didn't have a routine until 4 months when he didn't seem to be sleeping at random times anymore. Like he would wake up and want to go down for his first nap around the same time every day. Prior to that, it was harder to know if he'd be going down for a nap or for the night.

[Deleted]

We don't really have a routine for dd yet (beond a bottle, then swaddle, then rock to sleep). It seems to work anyway. We didn't develop one with the boys until they were closer to a year I think.

[froggy76]

We started a routine around 3-4 months. Now our routine is bath every other day, jammies and nurse/story. At a fairly consistent time each day.

[Deleted]

We did a coconut oil massage after bath yesterday and that is going to have to be part of a regular routine for us. DS adores baths and that massage was incredible for bonding. I think that followed by a little reading or singing would be a great way to kick off bedtime. Now that he's just hit 4 wks, I really want to get him in the swing of a decent routine as much as our schedules permit, especially since we only have two more weeks until I'm back at work.

[catbus]

Nov 16, 2012 17:47:40 GMT -5 @chronoptomist said:

We did a coconut oil massage after bath yesterday and that is going to have to be part of a regular routine for us. DS adores baths and that massage was incredible for bonding. I think that followed by a little reading or singing would be a great way to kick off bedtime. Now that he's just hit 4 wks, I really want to get him in the swing of a decent routine as much as our schedules permit, especially since we only have two more weeks until I'm back at work.

This is similar to what we do. We started a bedtime routine within the first week home, as much for my sanity as anything else. It was helpful for me to have that "bedtime" line. I also worked on day/night distinction from the beginning--little to no light in the bedroom at night, lots of light and an outdoor walk in the day. It could be dumb luck, but E consistently falls asleep easily at bedtime and sleeps long stretches (7.5 hours twice in the last week). Our routine includes tummy massage (to coax out any gas), fresh diaper, feeding, swaddling, and bed (or lying on daddy for a while if he's not quite to drowsy, but usually he is). Often he falls asleep immediately after being swaddled.
So it's not an elaborate routine, but we do the same things in the same order at the same time each night, and it works.

[GailGoldie]

we didn't read books at bedtime with any of the boys until about 3yo. Before that books just got them more excited and now a good way to wind down. We read to them often during the day so it's not like we did not read - just not at bed time. Our bedtim routines have always been minimal --- change into PJs, brush teeth, go potty, book, prayers, song, in bed. (obviously- the potty not until potty trained)