All mums of small kids are dreading the evening before their kids go to bed. Some are struggling, some have their routine, others could have a habit of putting them to sleep that is not the best (me!!!) but it works great for them.
Now that my boy has turned 2 I need some good tips and tricks off you on how to change his bedtime routine. It has been working out grand for us until now. But as you know they all get heavier and it will have to come to an end at some point. Right now the bedtime bottle is still there which I don’t find a big deal. He gets his story as normal but the putting to sleep bit I want to change and it needs to once he changes from his cot bed into a real bed the latest.
9 out of 10 he has to be rocked to sleep. It’s funny how I thought before I had a child I would never ever do this. If you are that person reading this right… trust me, you will eventually get into a bad habit too.
Anyway, please share your bedtime routines below. Right now I just don’t see it happening putting him into his bed and by saying good night. He is jumping up and down in the bed. I hope you all have been there.
Don’t feel like what you are doing at the moment is wrong. Let him guide you a little with the routine. I don’t do things in th bedroom, all stories, bottles etc are done in the lounge room and once they go to bed that is it.
I am no expert!! I am trying to deal wtth a 3 year old who won’t got to bed, has taken to falling asleep under my bed and then coming in at stupid oçlock and laying at the bottom of my bed!!
Good Luck!!
Oh the things I said I would never do before I had kids! And with each baby, I became more and more relaxed! I’m not the best person to give bedtime routine advice as 3 of ours still sleep with us most nights, but I can say that like all things, these months and years do pass so quickly. My oldest is off to high school next year and it terrifies me, I feel like I blinked and a whole decade went by!
I have a 2 yr old and he sleeps really well, we do the whole bath, book in his room, some cuddles while I sing Twinkle twinkle little star and then in to his cot(will move to big bed at Christmas time) then usual he will settle himself…if not I will give him a hug until he is drowsy and then put him down and I do not here from him again…..just go slow with it and make sure you do the same thing every night at the same time(I know boring) but he will get used to it.
you might be interested in my blog too the address is:http://mummasmoments.blogspot.com.au/
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Thanks for your advice.
I think right now when he’s still in a cot bed I will keep it that way. Hopefully I have him moved into a bed in November and will start a similar routine to yours.
He was never into teddy bears but he is slowly getting there now now that he is older.
My best advice is to change the routine slowly. Incorporate a special snuggly toy just for bedtime. We use certain lullaby music that plays as she goes to sleep too. We started playing this at a young age when we were rocking her to sleep in her arms, then I progressed to putting her in the cot and gently patting and rocking her while the music played and she was laying in the cot.
It took a while for her to get used to that so don’t rush it. Now at 13 months she instantly relaxes as soon as she hears the music and grabs her little cuddly toy and I don’t even have to pat or rock her now, she just rolls over and puts herself to sleep.
This won’t work for every child, but the best thing to do is slow and steady and just remember that you won’t be rocking him to sleep when he is 10, it won’t last forever!
Hang in there, you’ll figure out what works best with a little trial and error. Check out the Pinky McKay page on facebook too, she is brilliant and has heaps of different ideas and gentle techniques to help with settling little ones to sleep and changing routines. xx