What is the bedtime routine for your toddler?

[janebanks]

Just finished putting my 2 1/2 year old son to bed - hope he stays there. Made me curious to know what is everyone's toddler bedtime routine. Maybe we do some things in common!

Ours:
1. Bath (if time)
2. Some sort of small carbohydrate snack, like Cream of Wheat or oatmeal or crackers
3. Singulair in a spoonful of yogurt
4. Kiss sister and parent goodnight (the parent who's not putting him to bed)
5. Brush teeth
6. Read stories
7. Turn out light, get "doggie" and blanket and rock in the rocking chair while singing songs - right now, it's "A Whole New World"
8. Get into "big boy bed" - hug and kiss - I leave the room and close the door.
9. I wait 10 minutes or so by the door to make sure he doesn't get up. If he does, I silently put him back, using the SuperNanny method as many times as it takes.

OK, your turn!

[mjaclyn]

Well, my DD isn't a toddler yet but this is our bedtime routine:

1. Bath (every other night)
2. Jammies
3. Breastmilk
4. Prayer
5. To bed with her fuzzy pink blanket and pacifier

She actually goes to sleep very easily with that routine. She'll grab her blanket and roll over onto her side - so cute!

[magicofdisney]

Well, against my mom's better judgement, our 1 y/o sleeps in our bed. Right now that's what works for us. We'll be moving in a few weeks and then he'll have his own room. At that time we hope to move him to his own bed at night. But this is what we do.

1. He takes a shower with one of us (he HATES baths).
2. The other parent puts on his PJs and brushes his teeth.
3. We get him a sippy cup of water.
4. He lays in bed with Mommy (me) until he falls asleep.

Now for naps, he sleeps in his own bed and he falls asleep on his own. So he has the ability to do so. But when he was born, I began this nighttime routine and it's just kind of stuck. It also makes it easier for my husband to get our other 3 kids ready and in bed each night.

[Terra]

Genna, don't feel bad...lol...
we partial co sleep too!! but I'm an Attachment Parent person so I'm really big on that!!
His crib is actually in our room!

David is not a toddler yet either...he'll be 5 months old next week...but he set hisself a nice little routine which actully starts at 6pm!!

Heaven forbid you take him out anywhere at that time....he is NOT a happy camper...so we get a babysitter if we go out in the evening!!

Anyway....between 5-6pm he takes his bottle, then just relaxes and I let him watch a Baby Einstein, Veggie Tale or Disney DVD until 7pm...
At which time he gets his dinner which right now is carrots and cereal with fruit.
Then its off to get a bath [every other night on that]...

Then we go to the bedroom and I "set the mood" because he likes it that way...lol...
I turn on the humidifer...I turn on the nighlight and turn off the big light....
I stop talking to him except to say I love you
I change his diaper, put his PJ's on and then give him his last bottle as we sit on the bed...
He eats and then I lay him in his crib and off he goes...
He's out by 8pm and he sleeps until about 5am at which time he comes into bed with us and I nurse him...then he sleeps about another 2 hours and he's up!

[DisneyDog]

My DS is 4 1/2, but we've been doing the same bedtime routine for years now. We've never had a problem with him getting out of bed, and he's never given us an argument about going to bed. The key is to be consistent, no matter what, even if you are on vacation. We've been doing pretty much the same thing since he was an infant.

He goes potty, we brush teeth, we give him a shower (or bath), he gets his jammies on, we read stories, he says goodnight to his pets and then to us, and he gets in bed and we say goodnight one more time.

Short and sweet. The entire routine takes about 1/2 hour.

[Ian]

Ours is normally pretty routine ... DD is almost 5, so she normally goes to bed around 8PM.

At 7:15 or so, she gets into the tub and plays for 1/2 hour or so. Then, depending on what night it is and if she has school the next day, she'll either fall asleep watching a movie or the Disney Channel or we'll read a story before bedtime.

90% of the time it's pretty painless. The only time we have minor battles is when she wants to watch T.V. or a movie on a school night. We don't allow that and sometimes she really pushes for it.

But as long as we stand our ground (which we always do) it doesn't last for long.

DS is only 4 1/2 months, so his routine consists of him screaming until we feed him, us crossing our fingers he falls asleep, then us dumping him in his crib and running like thieves.

[JanetMegan]

Originally Posted by WDWacky

DS is only 4 1/2 months, so his routine consists of him screaming until we feed him, us crossing our fingers he falls asleep, then us dumping him in his crib and running like thieves.

Somehow I can picture this-ROTFLOL!

I'm reminded occasionally as to why I don't have kid

[Flower]

Brandon turned 3 March 4th.

Since Benjamin came along in November, Brandon has acted weird at bedtime. Normally he would go to be around 6:30-7:00 without incident, now it is a little later, which is understandable as he is getting older.

We all sit down to dinner most nights, give Brandon a bath & out his PJ's on, let him play for awhile and lately he has been going to bed around 7:30-8:00.

Here is where it gets weird. He has been wanting to sleep in 'mommy's bed'. I don't have a problem with him falling asleep in my bed and we take him to his room later. If he stays in his room, he gets out of bed and sleeps on the floor in his room, or in the hallway - he will then usually wake up in the middle of the night and come into our room and fall back asleep on the floor. If he is comfortable sleeping on the floor then I am okay with it, as long as he goes to sleep.

We are also in the middle of potty training so I don't know if that adds something to the weirdness.

Benjamin has his last feeding around 9:00 and sleeps through the night.

[magicofdisney]

Originally Posted by Terra

Genna, don't feel bad...lol...
we partial co sleep too!! but I'm an Attachment Parent person so I'm really big on that!!
His crib is actually in our room!

My oldest son slept with us until he was 18mos, at which time a pediatrician (I no longer use, BTW) recommended we get him used to sleeping through the night in his bed. We never could work out a routine for our twin girls to sleep with us (just NO room). When this little guy came along, we bought a co-sleeper that he used until about 12mos. I'm a nursing mother as well so it worked out better to just leave him in the bed at all times.

I love the nighttime routine. Once everyone's in bed, it's so peaceful in the house. Being a SAHM, I really look forward to my quiet, evening times.

[sleepingbooty]

Well, lets see. It varies, but here is a typical example of Lucy's bedtime routine:

• 8:00 - bathtime with big sis
• 8:20 - brush teeth and pjs
• 8:30 - Lucy runs downstairs and hides to avoid having her hair brushed
• 8:30 - Scott reads poems to Jenna, Lucy skips out after a few minutes to come find mommy
• 8:40 - Lucy hides next to me on the couch when Scott comes to get her to put her to bed. He has to pry her off of me to get her upstairs.
• 9:00 - Jenna comes down whining that Lucy got in her bed
• 9:15 - Lucy sneaks downstairs, we put her back
• 9:20 - We hear noises upstairs, go up and find Lucy trying on close in her closet
• 9:30 - Lucy sneaks down stairs, we put her back
• 9:45 - We hear noises upstairs, go up and find Lucy in my bathroom smearing lipstick all over her face
• 10:00 - We know she is not asleep because we can hear her singing in her room above us
• 10:30 - Scott goes up to bed, finds Lucy asleep in our bed - exactly what we were trying to avoid!

I don't much recommend this system.

[janebanks]

Originally Posted by WDWacky

DS is only 4 1/2 months, so his routine consists of him screaming until we feed him, us crossing our fingers he falls asleep, then us dumping him in his crib and running like thieves.

Yeah, we have a 1 month old. Sounds like we're using the same routine for that one...

Sleepingbooty, I don't know whether to laugh or cry along with your post. I feel for you!

I wanted to add something to my post about the bath thing... I said, "if time" which makes me sound like my child is unclean. The thing is, he LOVES taking baths, and getting him out of the tub is like pulling teeth. So, until lately, I don't let him get in the tub unless we start the whole routine before 6 pm! I have been just too tired to deal - see above, the part where I have a 1 month old. But, just recently, I have started to use a timer, and so I say, "When the timer goes off, bath time is over." I've just ordered a Donald Duck timer from the Disney website to help with this! So far, so good - last night I got him out within 30 minutes. So, it's my hope to add bathtime to the bedtime routine in such a way that it won't last all night!

[merlinmagic4]

Originally Posted by janebanks;1247071

[B

I wanted to add something to my post about the bath thing... I said, "if time" which makes me sound like my child is unclean.

[/B]

Actually, you're probably saving his skin Babies don't really need to be bathed everyday. I was told by a very reputable person that bathing everyday strips the natural lipid layer of their skin. She thought too much bathing could cause skin problems (sensitivities) later in childhood. Just a thought.....

Now, on topic, my little one (almost a year) nurses around 8pm and goes to sleep. I put him in his crib where he stays for 2-3 hours. He wakes up and I nurse him again. If I am in bed, he stays there with us and if I am still up I put him back in his crib and repeat in 2-3 hours again. We have had such a rough year that we have fallen into a very tough pattern to break out of but at some point he will wean and sleep all by himself (all too soon if you ask me). Until then, we get by on very little sleep!

[magicofdisney]

Originally Posted by sleepingbooty

Well, lets see. It varies, but here is a typical example of Lucy's bedtime routine:

• 8:00 - bathtime with big sis
• 8:20 - brush teeth and pjs
• 8:30 - Lucy runs downstairs and hides to avoid having her hair brushed
• 8:30 - Scott reads poems to Jenna, Lucy skips out after a few minutes to come find mommy
• 8:40 - Lucy hides next to me on the couch when Scott comes to get her to put her to bed. He has to pry her off of me to get her upstairs.
• 9:00 - Jenna comes down whining that Lucy got in her bed
• 9:15 - Lucy sneaks downstairs, we put her back
• 9:20 - We hear noises upstairs, go up and find Lucy trying on close in her closet
• 9:30 - Lucy sneaks down stairs, we put her back
• 9:45 - We hear noises upstairs, go up and find Lucy in my bathroom smearing lipstick all over her face
• 10:00 - We know she is not asleep because we can hear her singing in her room above us
• 10:30 - Scott goes up to bed, finds Lucy asleep in our bed - exactly what we were trying to avoid!

I don't much recommend this system.

I hear ya. When my twin girls first went from a crib to a big girl bed, life was hectice at bedtime for about 3 years.

[janebanks]

Originally Posted by merlinmagic4

Actually, you're probably saving his skin Babies don't really need to be bathed everyday. I was told by a very reputable person that bathing everyday strips the natural lipid layer of their skin. She thought too much bathing could cause skin problems (sensitivities) later in childhood. Just a thought.....

I knew this was the case for infants, which is why I didn't bathe my daughter until her 1 month birthday - her skin was so dry it was cracking, so I knew that her natural oils were the best thing for her. But I didn't know this could be true of toddlers, too... thanks for the heads-up! I've definitely had to be careful of his feet - they get dry very easily for some reason...

[crazykids]

I have 3 kids ages 15 months, 2 - almost 3, & 4 1/2. My husband works late so I handle this all on my own.

6:00 Start baths, each one seperate or a fight will break out. Do not use any toys, this wiil take up too much time! My motto is "get in, get clean, get out!"

6:30 Stories

6:45 Put the 2 older ones in bed, say goodnight & close the door - normally will not hear from them again till morning. Bring the lttle one back down for some milk.

7:00 Put the baby to bed. Go back downstairs & spend the next couple hours cleaning up all the mess from the day.

[BrerGnat]

Our kids are 2 1/2 and 1. Our bedtime routine is and has ALWAYS been quick and no nonsense. I began this with each of my kids at 6 months of age and it has worked like a charm.

6:25-Clean up time. We have a special clean up song that we sing, and the boys help pick up the living room and put away their toys.

Then, it's "Bathie time"

6:30-brush teeth, then bath, EVERY night, no matter what. If we skip this, the kids don't "get it" that it's bedtime. If they don't really need a bath (some days I have to bathe them earlier in the day if they get extra dirty playing outside), they go in the tub with plain water and play for about 15 min.

6:45-Out of the tub, into PJ's. Older one climbs straight into bed. No bedtime stories (he doesn't want one anymore) or anything. He gets in (we have to arrange his blankets in a certain way), we cover him, kiss him goodnight, give him one final sip of water, and shut his door. He is out within 10 minutes and sleeps for 12 hours straight. He doesn't nap anymore, so by 7pm, he's been up 12 hours and he's beat.

6:50-Baby gets a bottle of milk, followed by tooth brushing, then he goes to his own room. We put him in his crib with his blankie and he puts himself to sleep with no aids (no nightlight, no music, etc). He is very easy.

We do the story time prior to the bath, because once they both come out of the tub, they are ready for SLEEP, and we don't linger with that. Neither of them has much desire to stay up because we wear them down before the bath!

Both boys sleep in dark, quiet rooms. We don't use nightlights because my oldest is fascinated with lights and has no concept of danger, so we had to remove the lamp from his room. He had a childproof nightlight for awhile and I took it out because he would get out of bed and just sit in front of it, turning the brightness adjust switch over and over again. He's autistic, and we have found that the darker and quieter it is, the faster he goes to sleep. If he can't see anything, he doesn't feel like there is a reason to want to stay up.

We hit some bumps in the routine when our youngest was born and our oldest was still napping. I was sort of forcing the nap because I thought he needed it, but then he was up until 10pm or later every night. I just stopped putting him down to nap in the afternoons a few months after he turned 2 and it made a huge difference in how early and quickly he went to bed.

The bedtime routine has been both a blessing and a curse. DH and I cannot really go out often because it's very difficult to get both of them bathed and put in bed when there is only one person doing it, so we are reluctant to leave them with a sitter, plus older DS is autisitic, so we can't just leave him with anyone. My sister babysits, but we always go out AFTER the boys are in bed, since the routine is so specific, if parts of it are not done in a certain way, older DS will flip out and tantrum.

Also, we can never go out as a family if we are not home by 6:30. Both boys are SO attached to the bedtime that they become very fussy and irritable as the hour approaches. However, it is WONDERFUL to have a good solid 3 hours or so every night from 7-10pm for just DH and I to relax and unwind together.