Large family bedtime routine

[Bluemoon88]

Just wondering how large families work the bedtime routine? I have 2 dcs. I bath them both, PJs on, they have a little telly, then youngest to bed with 1 story and half hour later eldest to bed with 1 story. By the time they are both in bed I want to flop on the sofa! Wondering if we had 3 or 4 children whether we would have to do all this with all of them or if there's some short cuts I hadn't thought of? Tia x

I don’t bath mine everyday and when I do, the older ones sometimes have it before dinner so their hair has chance to dry.

I tend to read one or 2 stories at the most and one is usually very short and aimed at dc 3. The older 2 are reading after school every day so if everyone is exhausted I don’t worry.

Are you doing lots in the day?

I only have 3 kids but have friends with 6 and 9 (not blended families). Once you get to about 4 the kids are usually having different bedtimes with the younger ones off to bed earlier. Once you get to 6 your eldest is often 12+ and can actually be part of the bedtime routine (maybe read to the primary age kids) while mum and dad are settling the youngest. All my friends with big families said it got easier after 4 as the older ones were able to help, such as play with their younger sibs, do basic chores, help with homework etc.

We have 3. It's a production line starting with the youngest because they are most likely to poop in the bath when they first go in. Everyone is bathed and DC are removed, dried and changed into pjs in reverse order to going in with eldest out first. This way the toddler is occupied. The elder 2 are 5 & 7 and are able to read to themselves while I deal with the toddler.

My dcs are 3 and 6. @Elliejojo my son reads to me everyday after school and I read to him at bedtime.

Wondering if when you get to more children you start to "bulk" read to them. As in read to the 2 eldest together and 2 youngest together.

I also wondered if baths would have to be cut down as my DH isn't home for that so I have to do it on my own. When dc1 was small he had a bath every single day, then dc2 came along and it's been cut down to weekdays only. Cba at weekends! My friend with 4dc only does baths on Wednesdays and Sundays.

We have 3DC.
10 month old and 2 year old go in the bath straight after tea, 6 year old gets in once 10 month old is out.
Get pjs on downstairs then they play or dance to music while I tidy up after tea, 6 year old keeps them interested it would be harder if she was younger! Then I bring toothbrushes down and we do teeth downstairs to save taking them all upstairs together, story for the babies then 2 year old settles herself to sleep usually, I feed 10 month old to sleep while DD plays quietly in her room then once he's asleep I do her story and get her settled in bed.
DP works away quite often and its not as hard as I thought it would be!

I have 3 and I do not think of 3 kids as being a large family.

We have three children, bedtime routine - they still all have a bath it just takes a little longer. Usually I have dinner ready for 6pm when DH gets home, we eat and then go up for a bath about 6:30-6:45 ish which takes about 15 mins. All then get in PJ's - me and DH read a story each so one will take the two boys (who share) and one does our daughter - now the boys are a bit older they read us their book instead and sometimes eldest likes to read to daughter. Boys are allowed 30 mins till lights out where they can read a book in weekdays.(they are 9 and 7) and on weekends can have a film, daughter is 4 so she falls asleep pretty much when we've read the story she is also allowed a film on weekends (a recent development) - on weekends we tend to put them down half an hour earlier so we get a bit more evening time too!

I only have 2 DC. They both go to bed at the same time. Bath every night, stories (they choose 1 each) together. There's only 18 months between them though.

If I had the gap you do I would do story, targeted for 3 year old, with both of them.Then both to bed but older one to read in his bed for half an hour before lights out.

We have 3 aged 7, 4 and nearly 1. I find bedtimes hands-down the hardest part of having 3 but that is largely because I breastfeed the youngest at bedtime and she wakes regularly through the evening, plus the 4 year old only ever wants me to put her to bed and the 7 year old likes some 1-2-1 chat time with me as well. So my advice is to make sure they are settling themselves to sleep before you have a third, or at the very least are happy with either parent at bedtime. I wouldn’t change the breastfeeding personally because it’s my evening relax time but if you’re planning to do bottles this could be a big help. TBH if you have a solid routine already you are well on your way as it should withstand a bit of tweaking! Good luck!

We have 4. Sometimes 5, sometimes 6 if toddler sister and nephew here. (Usually 2 sleepovers and here everyday for achool run) Oldest is doing homework or Xbox when bedtime starts. Baby crawls about whilst 2 middle ones in the bath or 2 plus the extra 1 or 2. Baby then goes in after all hairs washed. Baby put down in cot to sleep then get the rest out. All sit in a circle getting pj's on, hairs dried. Then a story all together. Then they go and pick their own story whilst one is getting an individual story. Starts at around 7pm all kids in bed and adults downstairs by 8pm. We then spend time alone with the eldest, movie, board game and any revision or just talking about his day. It's a military operation and everyone knows their role. When the bath is running kids are doing their teeth and pee and the other adult is doing a quick Tidy up down stairs. If there is only me or at then we do a quick 15min tidy up once they are all down. I think once you go over 4 kids in the house you need to stick to a timetable! I don't know why but it was harder with 3 than it is with 4,5, or 6.