Bedtime routine for 8mo?

[GlitteryGreen]

Hi all,

Just wondering what people do as a daily bedtime routine for their babies??

My dd has always had a nappy change, gone into her PJs and sleep sack and then fed to sleep on the sofa in the living room with me (because she would never go in her cot, awake or asleep). However, this now doesn't seem to be working as well at bedtime, though still works for during the day. She is constantly popping back up again, trying to look around etc. This is the same even if I take her through to the dark bedroom with white noise and try to feed/ rock her to sleep.

I've read the online recommendations but just don't know where to start with a wind-down routine. She has a bath every other night but this doesn't seem to make a difference to how easily she sleeps. If I try and read her a book she just grabs it off me and bites it 🙈 I am trying to get her to sleep after about 3 hours which is a good wake window for her the rest of the time, but it's not working.

Just wondering what others do at bedtime to get their babies into the right mood???

My dd is 1, I put on a quieter tv show for a wind down time, then she has a bath, into pjs, bottle of milk and then we cuddle up and read a story.
She really hates white noise so we cuddle in a dark room with soft music. If she’s really unsettled then I have a little projector light that I find calms her.

My lb is 11 months.
Bath, pjs, downstairs for a mad half hour, milk and upstairs to bed.
He has a blanket that he rubs to fall asleep, he usually messes about for 5/10 mins before this tho lol and he's always worse when I'm in the room so I just leave & watch/listen on the camera x

We've done bath, pajamas, book & bed since DS was about 4 months - it used to be bath, bottle, pajamas, book & bed until he started refusing his bedtime bottle at around 11 months.
Don't worry too much about her biting the book - the key thing is to create a consistent routine so she always knows what will happen next and that it will soon be time for her to sleep.
Also don't make it take too long - I think our routine used to be 45 mins but now DS is 13 months we do it in 30 mins from 6:30 - 7pm. Brushing teeth in the bath works well for us to save some time.
I try to keep most elements of the routine the same length every night but when reading the book I can stretch it out or rush through it depending on how tired he is - we do the same book every night but read different books in the day time for variety.
I also do the same little bits every night after reading the book - kiss night night whilst carrying him into his cot, zip him into his sleeping bag, turn on the white noise and turn off the light, sing a lullaby then leave the room. My husband does the same bits when he does the put-down so between us we're consistent.

Make the last awake window a little bit longer - 3.5 hours.

Separate the feeding and sleeping - so maybe last feed downstairs snuggled up with a comforter (if she doesn't have one already then introduce it - a blanket/teddy/muslin)
Then brush teeth and into the bedroom
Have as many sleep crutches as possible - comforter, dummy, white noise, projector, sleep music, sing a special lullaby while you gently rock her etc.
Then when drowsy into the cot and shush and pat her to sleep.

From first day home it was bath, bedtime story (I often made it up), feed and down. Lights out and I was gone! Repeat repeat repeat until it sunk in so that by three months they were reliably sleeping as soon as I put them down.
As they got a bit older we watched the CBBEES which had a bedtime thing. Then up first bath and story and bed.

Baby mozart (spotify), nappy, teeth, then into room, story, BF, then cot. Then cut out the BF, but kept same routine. Although they do tend to muck around more now when in their room

Thanks everyone. It's the cot bit that stumps me, she screams blue murder if put in awake but wakes up after 40 mins if I manage to get her in asleep (which is rare).

She has never taken a dummy but I'm trying to introduce a comforter now...not had much interest so far!

You just have to be consistent with the cot.
Put her in and pat and shush her.
If she gets really upset, pick her up and cuddle til calm then put her back down before she falls asleep.
Keep repeating until she falls asleep with you patting her in the cot.
It will take an hour the first day, but if you keep at it, within a few days she will fall asleep in the cot. Then you can gradually reduce the amount of patting and shushing you do.

@cyncope I have tried patting and shushing a couple of times - not relentlessly tbf - but she just flails around crying and doesn't seem anywhere close to sleep, she just gets more and more worked up 🤷‍♀️

Hello there,
I completely understand your struggles with bedtime routines. My son, who's 3.5 years old, had similar issues. I found a unique approach that works for us—I created a series of bedtime stories that include white noise, music, ASMR ambient sounds, and soothing, educational dialogues. These stories about a dinosaur family have really helped him settle down at night. He now often asks to go to bed with these stories and falls asleep as they play, which has been a game-changer for us in managing bedtime.
Best of luck finding a routine that works for you!