How to introduce reading into evening routine?

[Bunny2021]

Following in from another thread about the importance of reading to little ones, I’m feeling lost as to how we introduce this to our routine.

DS is 15 months. He’s at nursery four days a week and gets home 5:30/6 PM. He has a light supper and then bath.

After his bath he’s usually super tired and so it’s cuddles, bottle until he falls asleep and into his cot.

I just don’t know how to do a bedtime story into our routine and feeling like I’m failing him!

I will tell u something. I read religiously with my eldest. We went to the library loads and she didn’t pick up reading as well as my second who I barely read to. I was very guilty about this until she just started reading all by herself.

enjoY night time cuddles. And read lots in the days when he is with you. Have lots of books around and he will be fine. You are not failing him and are doing a great job. Nursery will be reading to him too

read a story whilst he is drinking his milk. A story takes 5 minutes, less sometimes.

does he need a bath every night?( most kids don’t)

At this age, you can just sing him a song or make something random up as your putting him down. Or you can read to him during the day. Your definitely not failing him. We were terrible with 2 (8yo)& 3 (5yo) it’s only recently we’ve got into a decent routine with them. Our 5yo now gets a story every night but this is only since starting school and our 8yo either gets a story or reads to herself for 20mins. We hardly did any reading with our 8yo when she was little as she was a nightmare at bedtimes, she was 5 before she started to settle down, by which time we had number 3 and were too tired to do bedtime stories.

We don't have a bedtime routine involving books yet because they're wither so tired they fall asleep quickly, or they need to at least be in the dark both holding hands with you, or they're too lively to sit and listen. Read one in the day at weekends. Work up to putting on in on an evening when he takes a little longer to go down

I have a 15month old and we have read to her every night since she was 3 months old. Our routine looks like this:

5.30 / 5.45pm ish home from nursery
Light snack
6.15pm quiet play in the lounge (ie no flashy / loud toys)
6.40pm - bathtime and into pjs (3 x a week, otherwise its just more downstairs play)
7.00pm - milk and cuddles
7.10pm - teethbrushing
7.15pm - into sleepsack and read story whilst having more cuddles
7.25pm - white noise on, dummy in and rocked for a bit. Usually asleep by 7.40pm when i lay into cot.

We have board books on the floor in every room and if DD picks one up we sit her on our knee and read it to her before she plays with anything else. Now she actively chooses books to bring to us to read - current faves are the "where mr... ?" lift the flap series so not long ones, but we just incorporate it into our day. If you start having more books around, its amazing how fast they will engage with them. Enjoy! It's so nice seeing them develop a love of books.

Just read a short story whilst having cuddles and a bottle surely? And during days when he's not at nursery you can read for longer. We always read in the mornings at weekends at well ... DS would join us when we had our coffee in bed. Happy memories- he's a 21 year old student now and hates reading .

I used to tell DC stories in the bath. At that age you can make up any old rubbish and they love it. Or tell them simple fairy stories.Or read a little picture book to him. That will take 5 mins.

I read while they're having their milk. Dear Zoo takes about three minutes which is roughly the amount of time DD2 takes to demolish her cup of milk. Book, cot, night night!

Pick up short rhyming stories. They can take 2 minutes. Imagine reading Depends on what you are reading and their engagement.

I’ve never read to any of mine. Reading to kids isn’t normal here - it’s more singing and lullaby’s and none of mine have ever been negatively affected either by lack of reading or my singing.

What about a book of children's poems? Just read one a night.

interestingliterature.com/2017/02/10-classic-childrens-poems-everyone-should-read/

I have a 15 mo, home a little earlier but timings still work. He doesn’t have milk at all now (and doesn’t like cows milk as a drink) so gets his dairy through cereal, yoghurt and cheese.
6 dinner (we actually give him a full dinner most days even if he’s eaten at nursery because he has a massive appetite)
620 bath
640 ready for bed, teeth brushing
650 book
7 bed.

You're not failing him.

I think if you can't see how the story fits into the evening, it might simply be that actually for now it doesn't fit in and you shouldn't mess with what sounds like an efficient, effective, relaxing evening in order to shoehorn it in.

His tiredness will change (initially I'd expect bedtime to start moving slightly later, up until he drops his nap when he'll suddenly start falling asleep at the dinner table IME!), and then it might work. Or when you want to move away from feeding to sleep eg for dental reasons it can be part of how you switch up that routine.

I did read a bedtime story to mine at that age (DC1 probably from around 10mo, DC2 from younger) but only because it helped as part of the winding down (DC2 in particular found bathtime quite invigorating ). At 15mo I read in the bedroom then dimmed the lights and bf to sleep. As time has gone by, the story became more centre stage and the milk less so.

DC2 has often requested I read to her in the bath? Personally this feels more intuitive than reading whilst feeding to sleep but they're they're so different.

My boy is 2 and we've always read to him before naps and bedtime from quite early on, maybe 4 or 5 months old? We read to him for about 20mins before he goes to bed.

He absolutely loves reading books, we have a big book case in his room and in his play area.