Tell me about your bedtime routine for babies (under a year)

[HomeIsWhereTheGinIs]

My 10 week old DS has a regular bedtime of the following;

• 5pm feed whilst I sing a bit then put on music
• Read a calming book together (no primary colours)
• Put him in crib with mobile playing whilst I run bath and close curtains / lay out pjs
• 5.45pm bath, then into pjs and sleeping bag
• 6 white noise on, second feed in dimmed room (nightlight only)

He usually falls asleep between 615-7. I put him down awake and he drifts off. So here's my query - after his bath, we put on his pjs and then the lights and music go off for his feed and then he goes to sleep. I don't read him a story or anything, believing him to be too overstimulated. So I'm worried his actual bedtime routine post bath is really just pjs and a feed. What do you think?

Tell me about your bedtime routine for your baby, what do you do?

I think you're over thinking it . DD is 10 months and since around 8 weeks her bedtime routine has been quiet play followed by a bath, changed into pj's, feed, bedtime music and then into her cot. Sometimes we do a story before her feed depending how grumpy she is (I've never found that she is overstimulated by a story!). What else do you think you should be adding? The bedtime routine isn't necessarily about what you do, more about the order you do it so that your baby knows bedtime is coming.

DS2 is 6 months and has had the same bedtime routine since about 2 months.

Bath (sometimes) with DS1
Into pjs
Breastfeed
Into bed

My 9 week old DD:

A rub down with coconut oil when she's awake at some point in the evening.
Massive cluster feed all evening
Final feed at about 9 which I do in our room with the lights low. Then put her in her cot either awake or asleep depending on what's happened whilst feeding.

I don't think u need to worry at this stage too much about over stimulation etc. just cuddle and feed to make a contented baby. Contented baby= thriving baby

You are seriously over thinking it but sounds as though you are enjoying it so that's great. .

I think my DS's routine was bath ............ bed (7pm - lights out GF routine ) I never went in for 'bedtime feed', singing or reading etc until he was old enough to engage with a book.

My 12 week dd routine is 6/6.15 wind down time lying with her nappy off usually pees everywhere bath in to pj's and sleeping bag then bottle she falls asleep on me then I put her down really need to try to put her down awake but she would cry. We have done bath pjs bottle at roughly the same time each night since we came home from hospital. I have a question though do you put your babies "up to bed" we still keep dd downstairs in her basket til we go to bed but it disturbs her sometimes, Im reluctant to put her upstairs because of SIDS guidelines am I being silly?

Bath
Pjs
Milk
Bed

Takes about half an hour, no faffing as I have older DC and other stuff to be doing.

Same as hollie84 -

Bath
Pjs & grobag
Feed
Bed

All in quiet, dark bedroom

Takes about half an hour from bath to eyes closed.

Impressed that you can put him down awake. Was about 5.5 months before we could do that.

6.5 months and start about 6-6.15 depending how tired she is.

Books for 15 mins to wind down
Bath
Bottle/cuddle
Bed

Usually falls asleep around 7. Tends to roll around cot for a bit then falls asleep.

I used to do bath for DS (but not for DD as she hated bath time and it set her off screaming), then put them in PJs, then a feed, then straight into cot. Very simple, no fuss.

DS took longer to go off, and a nightlight and lullabies CD helped. DD just went straight to sleep.

Whatever works for you is the way forward, but I always felt that the best thing was not to make the routine too elaborate, so that they learn that bath/milk/lights out = sleep.

Ifem I think you're right about keeping it simple. I was counting the 5pm feed as a precursor to bedtime but think if consider it from his bath it just takes half an hour. So his book is before his bath. I guess I'll move it to afterwards when he's old enough not to have a bottle before sleeping.

My DD is almost 16 weeks. She has half a feed at 6ish, bath at 6.30pm, into pjs and sleeping bag, rest of feed, two stories (she's way too young to engage with them obviously, but gives us some quiet time for cuddles), into cot and asleep by 7.

i agree with pp that a straightforward routine is best - i'm trying to set things up now so that I can try to prevent faffing when she's a bit older she said hopefully)

13 week old DD goes upstairs at about 5.30pm for a bit of nappy free time & a kick on her mat while I get her bath ready, then bath, pjs on, bottle in a dark room, then in her cot. We do have to do a bit of shush/pat and pick up put down before she will settle & she still prefers to fall asleep on me, but shes usually asleep around 7.

Your routine sounds great. I didn't start with a story with DD1 til she was maybe 4/5 months as I found she was too tired after her bath, so I'll do the same thing with DD2.

Interested to know, as my DS is 5 weeks, when a routine is worth starting? We keep him downstairs with us until we go to bed, I wouldn't want to have him in another room from me for hours. I wasn't thinking of doing a proper bed routine until a few months but some of you seem to be starting it quite early? He still wants feeding every two to three hours so I feel there is little point putting him in his crib at 7 if he's going to be up so much. I was hoping to have a bit more time of just having him with us all the time rather than be rigidly sticking to certain times for things (also my DH won't see him in the evening due to his commute if he gets all this before 7). Should I be starting soon though?

It's completely up to you Redling! I actually gave in to family pressure to instigate a bedtime; until then she was coming to bed at the same time as us and in hindsight that suited us much better! I don't think you'll be causing any long term issues by carrying on as you are for as long as you're happy to. As long as the baby is getting enough sleep over 24 hours I don't think it matters what hours these are.

I started putting mine to bed when they stopped cluster feeding all evening.

It is far easier for all of us to go to bed at 11-11.30pm, as then I'm really only getting up to feed him 2-3 times in the 'night', which is psychologically easier for me then if I were up and downstairs feeding him from 7 I think! I was planning on waiting until he can go longer stretches without feeding before I start a bed routine. We bath him at the same time every night but bring him down and he then sleeps in the evening for long stretches so hope he's getting into evening sleeping without me having to put him alone in a dark room to make him! Also we love having him with us and I wanted that to continue for longer! It would be hard to stop him sleeping on us or in his moses basket in the living room, because it might be better in the long run, he's not this tiny for long. He will sleep in his crib during the night and goes down easy after feeds so I'm hoping it won't be too hard to get him in earlier when I want to.

Until about 4 months we just went with the flow as trying to enforce a set routine wouldn't have worked. From then it has been tea time, then a bath around 6:30, pyjames, bottle downstairs then brush teeth (all two of them) and put him in his cot, give him his little soft toy and a kiss. He falls asleep straight away and is asleep by 7.

Yeah I completely understand Redling, and when DD came to bed with us it meant I got a bit of a 'lie in' in the morning too! You'll probably get to the point where you want your evenings back, in which case that would be the time to start instigating a bedtime routine. No rush though .

Baby no 4..20 wks old.... Bedtime routine is loosely this... Baby gets put into babygro somewhere between kids tea and homework... Daddy gets in from work and has a little play ... Gives her a bottle and puts her in her cot.... She goes to sleep...