Where do you do your bedtime routine?

[MummySparkle]

We have recently takes our old single bed out of our 11month old's room. It was a guest bed, but we haven't had any for so long it had become a stuff dump!

We have re-arranged his bedroom and now have a 'cuddle corner' lots of cushions and floor mats and the big soft toys. This is where I am now doing our bedtime bottle and story.

When we used to sit on the bed, DS was quite content to cuddle and fall asleep with me. Now that we are on floor level he will cuddle for a bit, but then crawls off to play with his toys.

Does anyone have any idea how I can keep him with me so that he will sleep? I feel like I need to bring the playpen in here to contain him!

I do story and cuddle on a rocking chair before putting in sleeping bag then into cot awake. Would it be worth sitting on a dining room chair (in his room) with a cushion for support to see if being higher and temptation out of reach helps. Might be a bit uncomfortable but if it works maybe worth investing in something more comfortable and if not no money wasted on an unused item. My lo is 12 months old now i just need to work out how to get him to stay in his cot all night. Sorry if you have already tried this. Oh sorry just had a thought i do story by his nightlight so the main bedroom light isn't on therefore not too bright but still light enough to see the book. Do you have the main light on? Just a thought if he couldn't see the toys sorry if that doesn't make sense

Is he in a cot still or in a bed now?
If he's in a bed I'd be tempted to just leave him to play for a bit and take himself to bed when he's tired. He might be a bit young for that though.

You could also try putting the toys away in a large toy box and high shelf so he can't reach them. Or have milk/cuddle/story downstairs and then take him to bed and leave him in the cot/bed to go to sleep by himself.

I never cuddled either of mine to sleep - even as tiny babies. I always gave them their milk/supper/story/cuddle downstairs then took them to bed whilst still awake.

read him the story and put him in his cot to go to sleep by himself? I never used to cuddle mine until they were asleep especially by that age.

I generally did milk, cuddles and story either downstairs on the sofa or on our bed if the living room was a bit noisy or busy.

agree no need to cuddle him to sleep

We are teaching him to self-settle at the moment, I only stopped breastfeeding him a few weeks ago so I'm trying to adjust to things slowly rather than throw in lots of big changes. We had got to the stage where he would have milk and a story and then fall asleep on the single bed with me sitting next to him. Once he is good at that my plan was to put him into the cot sleepy and sit next to him, and then gradually sit further away over a few weeks.

I'm not trying to cuddle him to sleep, just cuddle him until he is sleepy so that I can put him into the cot, but he is resisting and crawling off. Please note that I was asking MNers to share where they do bedtime rather than for a criticism of my parenting.

At the moment he will fall asleep fine in his car seat, but not in the cot. I might try doing bedtime in our room tonight and see if that helps. Hopefully being unable to see his toys will make all the difference!

at that age, on our bed, milk, story.
teeth
into the cot. night night. leave room

I would do milk and story and pop him in the cot and then leave the room and see if he settles. You can always go back in if he doesnt. I didnt see anyone criticise your parenting, just people saying what worked for them