Changing bedtime routines...

[snickers]

A couple of probs really.

DD now has 2 teeth. And now I'm concerned about giving DD a bottle before bed... She is 9m. It's always been bath, bottle, bed. I have added tooth brushing to the routine, but that comes after bath. How do you change a routine? Scary. She has always got cranky at points through the bedtime routine (loves bath, hates being taken out, hates being dressed, but is worse now she can't sit still for 2 seconds) and it's always a relief to settle down in the chair and give her the bottle, when she calms down...

Thing is, we have hit a problem where now she screams the house down when I leave the room (we have never had a problem with bedtime since she was 3m). She has just started crawling. Perhaps it's part of the "separation anxiety" thing because if I go in to her room, and settle her back down (without picking her up) and rub her back and talk soothingly, she goes off just fine but needs me there... If we miss her afternoon nap, she is really upset all through bedtime routine through beign overtired but settles with the bottle and is asleep as soon as she is in the cot. But she does seem to need that little 1/2hr catnap, and is better through the afternoon and during b/t routine as a result. But then we have the above mentioned screaming.

So - how do I fit in the nice soothing bottle, without having to take her back into the brightly lit bathroom for a toothbrush before bed? And has anyone else had the sudden change in bedtime settling - is it a phase? (ramble ramble - as usual )

Hi Snickers. I thought I'd reply to you since no one else has yet. I don't have any great ideas sorry but I always tend to have problems with routine changes (probably more me than dd!). I don't know about the brushing teeth last thing idea...probably a good idea in theory, and if you can get it to work defineatly good. I tend to brush dd's (8 1/2 months)teeth while she's in the bath cos its one of the few times she's sitting still! Plus shes nearly always asleep at the end of a feed (bf). As far as the naps go..she should probably only be having 2 now - a morning and afternoon. I find if dd sleeps too late she cries when going to bed at night too. So that may be your problem.I do admit that by bed time she is really zonked and a bit tetchy for an hour or so before bed. HTH :-)

Snickers at that age my DS had his 8 front teeth so we were well established in the teeth cleaning routine. He also enjoyed his bath but hated getting out. I used to bath, dress (often with him crying), milk in bedroom (dimmer switch on light)which settled him, then back to bathroom for teeth and then back to bedroom and same comfy chair for a couple of stories and then into bed. This worked really well for us.

Also you could turn the bathroom light off after the bath because you should be able to see to clean teeth without it at this time of year. But I think introducing a bedtime story at this stage might really help.

Snickers, my dd is nearly 8 months and has 7 teeth. I clean them before the bottle (I know I shouldn't but she wakes up otherwise) and I do it with her laying on the bed in her room, I make it like a game and she loves it!

Snickers, my dd is nearly 8 months and has 7 teeth. I clean them before the bottle (I know I shouldn't but she wakes up otherwise) and I do it with her laying on the bed in her room, I make it like a game and she loves it!