A routine is the key in my opinion to get the kids down to bed safe and sound. Matthew has had a routine since a very young age. He was a very relaxed baby and had no trouble going to sleep in his own room at the age of 4 months. He generally falls asleep with no issues but wakes up at night sometimes wanting to come into our bed which is no problem at all.
Since Chloe came along bedtime can be a bit more challenging especially when hubby is away working which is 2 nights a week…it can be worse.
In this post I’d like to share the bedtime routine with you… it might give you some advice, if you have more than 1 child and need a different routine or you might have some advice for me even.
5.30 – 6pm
Dinner is happening at this time. The kids always eat together. Sometimes I manage to eat with them. When hubby is home we generally eat together which is lovely as a family
6 – 7pm
An hours play time is guaranteed for them. Once the weather picks up and it gets warmer, we will start going outside again. I really want to teach Matthew how to use his scooter and bike.
7 – 7.30pm
Matthew hates getting dressed so the only way to make it smooth, is to put on an episode of Paw patrol or Blaze and the monster machine. Then brush teeth. I am getting Chloe dressed downstairs when Matthew is still playing.
At 7pm Chloe and Matthew receive a snack like bread stick, cracker or biscuit.
7.30pm onwards
We go into Matthew’s room and he is allowed to pick 2 books from his book shelf. He needs to take a big drink of water before he goes to bed (might have to drop this when we do potty training at night). I tuck him into his bed and he says good night to me and Chloe and says “love you” and I tell him what we’re going to do in the morning.
Next up Chloe…she used to get a bottle before bed time. I dropped her bottles completely since she had that bad stomach bug a couple of weeks ago. It was the perfect opportunity. Once Matthew is in bed, we are going to watch 2 nursery rhymes. A German one and twinkle twinkle little star which she falls asleep on a few times lately.
If she’s not asleep from the nursery rhymes, I play a plush sun that can be winded up. Both kids are generally asleep by 8pm.
We both do struggle with Chloe crying at night. One of the reasons why we take turns for minding them at night. We haven’t got to the bottom of it yet but half the time it’s her dodie falling out which is fair enough but other times I am not too sure. She wiggles around at lot. Next move we might try is remove her gro bag. I don’t think she likes the restriction too much.
How do you handle bedtime in your house?
We’re just getting this organised now, our newborn and our preschooler, so I’m on the look-out for tips. Alternate bath nights for now, until she is old enough to bath with her big brother. It might get a bit more complicated when she’s out of the bedside cot. We haven’t quite worked out which rooms everyone will be going in… 🙂
As long as your routine works for you then that’s all that matters. I like that you tell them 2 nursery rhymes too
Who knows how bedtime will go when baby number 2 arrives, our routine with Lamb is hard enough! Sound like your routine works. I’ll definitely have to be more strict when I have 2 kids to put to bed x
Sounds like a good routine you have there! I also agree that routine is key, now Bella is a bit older and we’re both juggling work and I go to a couple of exercise classes in the evenings our routine isnt as strict as it was but we still loosely follow it. xxx
This sounds very organised. I’m going to be writing our bedtime routine soon 🙂 x
This is such a helpful post. Our second baby is due in July and bedtime is one thing that I am quite worried about. I think I will need to make a lot of changes to our current routine. It sounds like you have a fab routine set up. Fingers crossed I can do that too. Hugs Lucy xxxx
Great routine and it sounds like it works really well for you and your family x
Routine is definitely key. You seem to have yours suiting you very well!
We have a strict routine at home too. Glad the kids are following it now easily…
This is so interesting to read, I always wonder how others do bedtime routines. We used to have one with Tyler as a baby but now we’re quite bad at it and he’s goes to bed quite late, I’ll have to fix that before he starts school in sept! X
We also try and stick to a strict routine but with four of them (and three under three) it isn’t always that easy. Just one nap at the wrong time that day can throw the whole schedule! #MMWBH
Hello 🙂
That’s a nice post. Our routine is quite similar with one child.
We have always had a strict routine and it has really paid off! They are 10,7 &4. They all get pjs on + brush teeth at 7pm (+bath if necessary) then it’s homework for the girls (older 2) and story time for the boy where he reads to me, then I read to him. 7.30 is the Boy’s bedtime- we sing a medley of nursery rhymes always finishing with ‘sing a rainbow’. Then I read with the 7 year old and she goes up at 8pm and is allowed to read until 8.30. I then help K with homework and she is allowed to read until 9.15 in bed. xx