Babies Bedtime Routine
Set a routine early and stick to it.
Bedtime is one of the most important routines to teach your child.
Why you ask? Well not only does it teach them repetition, but it will in the long run signal them that this is when I go to sleep for the night. That in turn saves you.
I knew this, I had been told this by so many people, did I listen to this advice…simply put no. I thought a bath here and there, bedtimes based on whenever I thought my son was tired or what felt like “Oh that would be a good chunk of time.” or well I don’t want to go to bed yet. This was chaos at best, and set no routine for my son, and therefore set me up to co-sleep with him until about 8/9 months old. If you haven’t slept through the night uninterrupted for 9 months that shit is going to ware you down, hard.
So at 9 months I got my ish together, and started sleep training my son and setting a CONSISTENT bedtime routine. A couple weeks of pure consistency and I now have an 11 month old who sleeps through the night.
So what does your bedtime routine look like?
Here is an example of ours, but this is NOT going to work for everyone.
Wakes up from last nap around 4 pm
Snack time 4:30 pm
Dinner 6:30 pm
Play time
7:30 pm Bath time
7:40 pm Settling down and getting into PJ’s
*We dry off, night time diaper goes on, we comb his hair, clean his ears, apply baby lotion, get into PJ’s and our sleep sack
7:50 pm-8 pm Nursing
8 pm in crib (awake)
Again, this will look different for everyone but I keep bath time and how we settle down the same every single night. I am still breastfeeding, so I do nurse him at night and in the mornings. If he is having a bad day, or teething I nurse before nap times as well. This is more of a soothing mechanism than it is nutritional value, and everyone is going to have different approaches on this topic! You do you mama, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
However you choose to do bedtime, because it’s going to look different for ever single family, stick to your routine. Babies are really good at starting to pick up on what is coming next, they know bath time means oh pajamas and a book come next, and then after the book I go to bed. Don’t under estimate babies, they are smarter than they seem.
Some items that I use every night:
Honest Lavender Baby Wash & Lotion
Fun Bath Toys
Overnight Diapers
Sleep Sack
Fuzzy Baby Blanket
Pacifier
Teething Toy
Small Stuffies
Soft books
When baby is old enough to start having small toys and a blanket in the crib, I recommend small stuffies that I linked about because they are small enough that they wont harm your baby and they have eyes. Oddly enough when baby wakes up and sees something with a face in the crib they are comforted, and have an easier time putting themselves back to sleep. My son NEVER took a pacifier but has been obsessed with his puppy wubbanub for the last several weeks, but only at bed time and he loves his sophie the girrafe teething toy as well. He has 10 teeth at 11 months old soooo he needs something to chew on and soothe during the night.
Remember whatever you choose, you are choosing the right thing for your baby. Don’t be afraid to ask other people their routines to get ideas and modify for what works best for you and your family.
Good luck mama you got this!
-AG