Follow Up to my Last Thread: Bedtime Routines

[carriesmom]

Okay. I know I need a bedtime routine for my daughter, so I was wondering what type of routines you guys have for your kids? I've been trying really hard to cut waaaay down on TV time on the weekdays. She just turned 2 in August. Any help, please? I trust you ladies to not steer me wrong!

[nikkiARNGwife]

Mine have a 7 pm bedtime. DS is 4 and has gone to bed at 7 his entire life..DD is 9 mos and goes down between 6:30-7 every night. We usually finish up supper around 6ish, then we do baths..DS then spends time with his Daddy while I get DD her bottle and in the bed. Then one of us reads DS a story, brushes his teeth and he's in bed by 7. It usually takes him a while to fall asleep but he knows no getting up once lights are off. I put DD down awake and she goes to sleep on her own as well.

I am ALL about a routine...my kids thrive on it.

[lauren grier]

pretty much ditto nikki.. just not that early ^_^

dinner, bath, teeth,1 book, hug, kiss, bed. the end.

[WalkersMommy]

My son is 20 months old and goes to bed around 9:30pm. DH and I are both night owls, so I'm not suprised that DS has turned out to be one too lol.

Our routine is dinner around 7pm, playing with toys/reading/coloring(pretty much whatever DS feels like playing lol) until around 8pm-8:30pm, then we do a bath, brush teeth, read and sing while rocking, and then I lay him down and he falls asleep on his own. He sleeps for about 10-12 hours so he wakes up between 8am-9am.

[Misty Cato]

I have an almost 2 yr old and a 4 year old. Here's our routine most evenings.

6:00 dinner
6:30 family activities (varies depending on the evening; Hullabaloo, Candyland, family worship/Bible time, Simon Says, watch VeggieTales, sing silly stuff or just hang out)
7:00 Clean up (kids pick up toys, dh and I do household chores of some sort)
7:30 Bath (for one, they alternate nights), brush teeth, pjs
7:50-8:00 short story, lullaby then lights out for the little one
7:50-8:15 Reading from a chapter book for the older one then lights out

It's so set in stone the kids would never think to question it (not yet anyway ).

[kscwgirl]

Mine go to bed between 8-8:30 most nights. We tried a routine and it just didn't work for mine. Some kids thrive on it. Mine just aren't those kids. JJ is a night owl and I sometimes have trouble getting him to go to sleep, but he lays down and talks to himself or sings to himself.

[mrs_jb]

We've had pretty much the same routine for 8 years now... I can do it on complete auto-pilot! LOL!

5:30- Dinner
6:00- Clean-up and morning prep (kids usually play or go outside)
7:00- Baths
7:30- Teeth brushing, prayers, kisses goodnight (older 2 boys)
7:45- 2 yr old in bed after some milk and snuggles

[Tracyfish]

We usually never have a week of being home every night so our "routine" is pretty loose.

IF we're home...
5:30 - 6:00 - L.J. and I eat dinner
6:00 - 7:00 - play outside or inside
7:00 - 7:30 - usually my hubby gets home and L.J.watches him eat and talks his ear off
7:30 - 8:00 - shower, brush teeth
8:00 - read a couple books and then lay down on the couch to "rest"...usually falls asleep there

I usually have one volunteer meeting or event per week and Mon and Fri are baseball nights so those really throw off the schedule.

Weekends...whatever! No routine, no schedule, fly by the seat of our pants.

[carriesmom]

A little update... It is 9:03 here and both kids are in their beds and there is no crying. We had a little crying when I wouldn't let her watch her Blue's Clues DVD, when she didn't get milk, and when I wouldn't let her sleep with her book. But those are nothing compared with the meltdowns of the past two nights. This might just work. Here is what we did:

6:30 or so- rocked the baby and let Carrie play and watch a Blue's Clue's DVD
7:00ish- Put the baby down, feed Carrie dinner
7:30ish- Do household chores
8:00ish- Carrie gets a bath
8:15- read a story, baby wakes up
8:45- Brush Teeth, story in bed, lights out
9:00 give baby bottle put to bed.

[jaylensmom]

i probably have the worst schedule...my son didn't have a schedule until he started going to preschool last year (it was stressful)...

now he is in bed by 8pm...before bed he takes his bath, brushes teeth, i read him a story, and then we go to bed...yes we...i go to bed with him until he falls asleep...i don't recommend it...he was rocked to sleep for 3 years and then we went to this routine...hopefully i can break this terrible habit soon...

good luck...i wish i would've put my son a schedule when he was a baby...

[nanienamou]

We had a really rigid routine for a couple of years, but since then, I have found that I can be a little more lax with it, and we have no trouble. My youngest always goes to bed between 7 and 7:30, except maybe sometimes on week-ends, but it's really rare. My two other boys go to sleep anywhere between 7 to 8:30, depending if I see that they are tired or not. Usually, its a special occasion if there still up by 8:30. Before they go to sleep, they brush their teeth and we sing them 2-3 songs. Baths we do whenever, sometimes before supper.

[1girl1boy]

Camden has always been in bed by 8, but Emma used to go to bed at 9. We adopted a new routine when she started kinder this fall and we're still trying to get adjusted to it. We try to have baths done by 7:30, brush teeth, read a couple of books and then prayers and lights out at 8 pm or as close to 8 as possible.

[emmasmommy]

My kids (and I) THRIVE on routine. We've always had a very rigid schedule because that's what works best for us.

5:30 dinner for the girls and me
6:00 play outside/inside/hang out with Daddy when he gets home/etc.
7:15 baths/brush teeth/jammies on
7:30 Madelyn gets her cup of milk, drinks a little bit, grabs up her baby, blankie, and binky and goes to bed. She's normally exhausted and goes right to sleep
7:35ish Emma gets out of the bathtub, sits down has a snack, watches a little TV with me, and then about 1/4 to 8 or 8 she goes up to bed.

[DawnMarch]

My kids are getting a little older (7 and 9) so we aren't quite as religious about routines as we used to be, BUT we are strict about bedtime -- at 7:30, they brush teeth and put on their PJs, we read books for 1/2 hour, then into bed at 8 (the usual tuck-in, hugs and kisses in their rooms). They can play/read in their beds until they fall asleep, which is usually around 8:30.