Tell me about your bedtime routine

I'm still trying to work out a routine that works, so would love to hear what others do.

What is in your routine and what order? How long does each stage take? If you read stories, at what age did your child start actually listening to them? How does the routine end? With you turning out the light and leaving, or do you stay till baby is asleep? Is it always the same parent each night? How much crying is involved? Do you enjoy the routine, or is it a pain?

Thanks heaps

Ok I'll got through the 3 routines we've had in the last 3 months...

When DD was 7.5 months she managed to wean herself from the wrap.
6pm we'd give her dinner and allow about 30 minutes for her to eat and have a drink. DP would clean her up while I got the bath ready, a clean towel and got her pjs etc ready.
6.30pm bath and we'd again allow 30 minutes for this but usually it was 15 bath and 15 getting dried, massaged and dressed.
7pm we'd have story time and I've always laid the books out in front of DD and allowed her to choose 3 and she normall picks the same 3... Hairy Maclary (sp?), The Little Yellow Digger and one other random one! Anyway we'd read them, have cuddles for about 15-20 minutes.
7.20pm I would take her to her room and put her in her sleeping bag (as I wasn't swaddling her I decided to put her in a wrap because she kicks the blankets off!). And then I would BF her to sleep! Normally took about 10 minutes at that stage. I'd put her down in her cot and 8/10 she'd stay asleep and I'd leave. I never had the light on at all and being day light savings there was a bit of light coming through the curtains but just enough to see. No more. I'd leave quietly and close the door fully.

At about 9.5 months I managed to teach DD to self settle so I did all of the above...
6pm Dinner
6.30 bath
7pm stories and cuddles and
7.20 down to her room, into sleeping bag, BF and put to bed awake (she'd have both side now instead of just 1) and then I'd leave the room slowly (she normally watches me and I slowly back out moving back a step as she looks away) until I got out lol! Closed the door. She had a couple of toys plus her mobile that she'd play with until she nodded off. (Normally about 7.45pm.

On Xmas day when she was 10mo she learned to crawl... Everytime I went to put her in her cot she'd crawl around for about 20 minutes, then her mobile would turn off and she'd cry... So I had to do a new routine! I kept everything the same
6pm Dinner
6.30pm Bath
7pm Stories and cuddles
7.20 Bed, sleeping bag but instead of trying to self settle I tried feeding to sleep again but she was just too restless and wanted to move about!

I tried putting her to bed later and allowing her to have a big play after her bath to tire herself out and then stories etc at 7.30 but that didn't work... Tried giving herself an hour to tire out and stories at 8pm - no go.

In the end I decided it was just easier to have her do her day sleeps in our bed and we'd lay down and I'd feed to sleep.
Night time is...
6pm Dinner
6.30 Bath
7pm Quick play
7.30pm Stories and cuddles
8pm Into DP and I's bed - into her sleeping bag and we lay down and BF for about 15-20 mins both sides until she nods off.

She's also been teething and I think giving her something before bed helps...

She used to wake about 5 times a night until just the last week where I gave her bonjela before bed and since then she's been waking once - twice max. Last night I forgot the bonjela and she woke 3 times before 2am... Oops! She currently has her top middle tooth coming through and what looks like 2 bottom molars...

I currently stay until DD is asleep and then leave quietly and close the door completely. I always do the last stage of the routine with lights out but as it's still light when I put DD to bed it's no different to having the lights on! I really enjoy our routine and I think DD does too because she seems to look forward to it and 'know'...
It's always me who does the routine though DP gives her cuddles now because I get mine laying down to feed her. I bath her but DP comes into the bathroom too and watches or sometimes he has a shower too.

Lily has been read to from day 1 and I think she started listening at 3 months old - she seemed to really respond to 'We're Going On A Bear Hunt'
but for her night time story she was always really fidgety and grizzly until about 8 months...

We've had the same routine for months and works for us:

5-5:30pm - dinner
6:15pm - I start running the bath and she comes crawling down the hallway and waits for it to fill

Bath lasts until she's ready to get out, usually it lasts 15-20mins

6:45pm I give her a bottle, then we read 2-3 books and it's straight into bed. I give her her bunny, put her down and leave her to it. She usually falls asleep herself, but if she's teething she may cry for a while. If the crying carries on or is distressed I'll go in and give her a cuddle and keep putting her down until she goes to sleep. I've never rocked her to sleep or stayed in her room until she's fallen asleep.

DH and I do the same things every night, he baths her and I give her dinner and put her down. Gives me a chance to clean up while she's in the bath.

We have pretty much always done feed, bath, feed bed routine right from when DD was a few weeks old (shes now 11 months). So at the moment its
5pm-ish dinner
6pm-ish bath
Sometimes after that has some quiet story time but she's usually really tired so we go straight to bedtime-milk. At the moment thats a bf, plus a formula top-up but I am currently weaning her so in a week or two it might just be formula only.

Sometimes she falls asleep during the feed and I just put her down and thats it. If not, I usually cuddle and rock her for a while until she's really drowsy then put her down. I used to be able to just leave after I put her down and she would settle herself within 5-10 mins, but the last few months that hasn't worked - she wouldn't necessarily be crying but just refusing to switch off and sleep (like even after being left for nearly an hour, despite being virtually asleep when I put her down!) So I have been staying in the room with her a lot more - patting her until she's asleep. I hope to be able to get back to leaving her to it soon!

Ha we have a really short routine.

Bedtime used to be set at 7pm, but atm she is dropping her 3rd nap.

So bed between 6 and 7pm, depending on last nap.

We start with tea,
Nappy change,
Into Pjs, this depends on temperature.
A nice relaxing Breastfeed
Waving "nigh nighs" to everyone in the lounge/dining room.
Then down to her room (theres a mirror down the end of the hall so she waves nigh nighs to mummy)
She knows its bedtime, she puts her head on my shoulder and sucks her fingers.
Then its into her cot, quick back rub, last nigh nighs, and leave.
If she cries, I wait see whether she settles, if not back in I go.
She doesn't usually cry though.

I haven't read the other routines, they just make me feel bad.

7pm comes around, I make sure if we are going that we are going to be home within 15mins or I''m counting down time at home.

But what we then is change nappy & into jamies, find bottle & make it up, pick up, say good night to everyone, into bedroom, into bed with his two soft toys, bottle in mouth, covers up. Close curtains & switch on night light, say good night, walk out & shut door behind. So super fast....

BUT

it used to be turn on his music, which at the start coincided with 5 mins of crying time, a resettle & then sleep, earlier days it took quite a few crying cycles but they gradually got less & less. The music became a great cue to go to sleep. We accidentally stopped this by one night I said I'll get new batteries & I couldn't find any & since then it's been ok.

He's not a cuddly, patty type of kid when he goes to be, he's just best left to work it out on his own.

I second that T-Rex, I wish there was an easy solution and that my DS liked sleep more too! If someone tried as hard as I have to get ME to sleep, I would certainly take the opportunity!!!!

Ummm...

dinner 6pm
bath/jammies 6.50 pm
pull curtains 7.10 ish
Feed/stories
Helps turn out light
Sing song while holding her
Into bed, night, night
Door shut 7.30 ish
She chats to her toys/sings/giggles for about 20 mins before drifting of to sleep.

T_Rex wrote: I'm still trying to work out a routine that works, so would love to hear what others do. Thanks heaps

I haven't read the other replies either but here's what we do...

Our night time "routine" begins with tea time around 5 - 5.30. Then quiet play till around 6-6.30 depending on how tired DS is. I start counting down to "shower time" about 5 minutes before I want DS to come upstairs, "5 minutes till shower time" then 3 minutes, then 1 minute and usually by then DS has started taking himself up the stairs or at least comes pretty willingly.

Shower, jammies on, then sleeping bag then we sit on the bed and read a story while DS drinks his milk and then brushes his teeth. We are slowly cutting down the milk so that will go soon. Before he was in a big bed we sat in a chair and read together, he has always been happy to cuddle and listen to a story while he has milk.

Then we have one more cuddle and a kiss and then I say goodnight and it's lights out and door closed. C has just started trying to stall me at bedtime again, last night it was "cuddle" "kiss" "high 5!" "kiss" He gets one of each and then I go.

Since DS2 arrived DH has done probably 50% of the bed times (depends on if he's home from work). The rest of the time it's either me or our helper.

Pretty minimal crying here, we're lucky C seems to love his bed!?! Funny kid If he does complain it's for about 5 minutes and it's more a shout/protest than a cry IYGWIM?

I do enjoy it, but that's coz it's relaxing for both of us and relatively quick. I love the quiet/snuggly time together and I also look forward to putting my feet up at the end of it!

Here's our routine - without times because when she goes to bed depends on when she woke up from her nap, if she had one (has to be up for 6hrs otherwise she WILL NOT go to sleep! )

-Dinner (which is usually between 5-6pm)
-Bath, has about 10mins in there
-Run around nakey time - don't time it, just depends how sleepy she looks haha
-Go to toilet then get dressed into night nappy and PJs
-book with Daddy, followed by book with mummy hehe (usually she manages to get 3 or 4 books out of us )

The rest of this has to be me:
-put her into bed, turn on seahorse music toy and lie down next to her and cuddle till seahorse finishes. If she's still awake (which she usually is, although if she hasn't a nap she's usually out to it by now!) then put on her "Scout" toy music for 10mins, while I sit on the floor and hold her hand/rub her back etc depending on what she orders me to do then sneak out once she's asleep.
There's no crying. I still can't leave her crying, but if I tried she'd just get out of bed anyway!

Was so much easier when she was still in her cot lol, we'd just snuggle on the chair while the seahorse played, then I'd turn on Scout, put her in her cot and leave and she'd go to sleep by herself.
I enjoy the cuddles, and it's not too bad waiting till she's asleep if we've let her stay up long enough. There's no point even trying if she's wide awake!