Whats your bedtime routine?

[milkyman]

...

From aged 2 to present (aged 5.6). We have calm time after tea until 6.30 then upstairs for a bath and teeth, in bed for 6.50 for 1 story. Then lights out.

DS is 10.5mo. His bedtime routine has changed slightly in the last month as I've finally stopped breastfeeding. It goes as follows:
5.45ish yoghurt and a small cup of cows milk downstairs whilst having stories and ceebeebies
6ish upstairs for bath, teeth brushing, cuddles and bed.
6.15ish lights out

We keep it short and sweet!

For 7.5 mth ds

6.20- quiet rolling time with daddy on the bed
6.30 - nappy change, pajamas and eczema cream on
6.40- cuddles with mummy while daddy reads a story
6.50 - breastfeed
7.00 - pop in cot with projector on, dummy in and rabbit snuggled up to face

Your routines are all so nice and quick with such nice early bedtimes. Mine is crap. DS is 5 and a half months.

DH gets home around 6.45 and we eat dinner while DS sits with us in highchair playing. After dinner is supposed to be quiet and calm with some nappy off time, but DH hasn't seen him all day and plays with him, so tired DS is squealing excitedly . This is often followed by a bath and maybe massage but not every night. (doesn't seem to make a difference to his sleep). At about 8pm he's in sleep suit and sleeping bag, and i'll settle down, turn lights off, and he'll have a long feed until he's asleep, while I watch something on laptop. Usually get to put him down asleep at 8.45 to 9.15 but sometimes earlier. Sometimes he wakes up within a few minutes and we're back to feeding to sleep.

As you can see we're in a dreadful boob-dependant mess. I want him to go bed much earlier but seeing as it takes a while to feed him to sleep, I can't figure out the practicality around mealtimes etc.

Paperclips, this was us a few weeks ago!
I fed to sleep with it taking up to an hour. We had done this from birth and although it took ages it was successful!
Suddenly at about 6.5 months old it stopped working and I needed to do something else!
What we did was introduce the routine I've stated above. I fed him but he didn't fall asleep so I had an hour of rocking, singing hell!
One day we just tried putting him in his cot. He had previously screamed whenever we did.
He has a furry rabbit cuddled up to his face and a dummy in. I put his light projector on and my hand on his tummy. I close my eyes and just repeat shush. After a few minutes, he's asleep! It's like a miracle.

I think what helped was putting him in his cot during the bedtime routine for a while to get him used to it everyday.
We don't leave him to cry, it's not me.
I used to think I'd be feeding to sleep forever and would never get my evenings back.
One day however it just changed and I'm sure it will for you. He stopped feeding to sleep for naps and when he stopped in the evening I think it was his way of telling me he was ready for something else!
Enjoy the cuddles!

Paperclips I think it's really hard if your DH doesn't see DS all day, then of course he wants to play with him. Can DH cook dinner whilst you put DS to bed? So you move everything forward a bit but eat a bit later? We experimented for ages before we realised that DS needed to be in bed nice and early. For months he went to bed at 5.30! We've only just managed to move it back to 6.15 in a gradual attempt to stop the 5.45am wakings.

Also I second what melon said. I fed DS to sleep until he was about 4.5mo. Then it stopped working. I tried all sorts and then one day just put him in his cot. He was asleep within 8 minutes. We had had a very solid bedtime routine for a while though, so he knew what was coming. Might be worth a try? Comforters are always a good idea.