[Incubator]

OKay. I've had enough of DS fighting sleep for hours and finally going to sleep around 11, but sometimes it takes him until 1 or 2 to get to sleep. I want to start him on a bedtime routine that, I hope, will ease the transition from playtime to sleep time for him. I'd like to start getting him to sleep by 9 or 10. It's okay with me if the routine starts before 8:30, because my dh leaves at 830 to go to work, but I'd like him to have a role in bedtime. What kinds of things are good to include in a routine for a 10 month old? He loves bathtime, so we already do that. I've tried reading him books, but he either takes to book away from me and rips out some pages, or crawls around the room playing and ignoring me. ANyone have any ideas for bedtime routine?
Also, what time do you think I should put him down for naps, and for how long? TIA.

 

[Mamato3wild ponnie]

Is you child breastfed? How about turning out all the lights like your going to bed and laying down in the bed to nurse him? This works great for us, a few minutes...sometimes longer...and my ds 27 months is fast asleep. Then i gently roll over and get up...and do what ever needs to be done. Or i just let him fall asleep where ever he ends up getting sleepy. Good Luck

 

[Incubator]

Yes, he's breastfed, but he hasn't nursed to sleep since he was about 5 mos old. It helps him get in the mood, but it doesn't put him out.

 

[Kate Carmichael]

I think at 10 months, we were still doing 2 naps a day, but phasing out. If you do two naps, I'd aim for a morning nap a couple of hours after he normally wakes up, hope for 1-1.5 hours, and an 1-1.5 hour afternoon nap after lunch (assuming you're feeding solids...if not, I'd put him down after he's nursed and played for a while, and has heavy eyes). For us, it was something like wake-up 7:00am, nap 10-11:30, lunch 11:30, afternoon nap at 1:30. I don't recommend dragging out the bedtime routine for two hours, or he won't get the idea that it's actually bedtime. I also don't recommend letting him sleep wherever he falls asleep, if you're really aiming for a bedtime routine to let him know it's time to sleep.

So I'd start with a quiet playtime after dinner, then bath, storytime (which, if he doesn't like books yet, you could try what we did...my daughter loved looking at laminated photos of family, friends, animals, etc. at that age), sing a lullabye (or a few), nurse, a little baby massage, turn on a music box or FP aquarium or whatever, and leave while he's still awake. This will give him a comforting routine that helps him wind down and prepare for a good night's sleep. And once he gets used to being put down awake, you won't have to worry that he'll wake up after you leave, wonder where you are, and start howling.

Oh, one more thing...I do a count-down before I leave my kids' rooms at night (even for the 6YO). I hold them and sway, or hug them if they're in bed already, and count slowly "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10," then I say "Biiiiig hug" (bear hug), "Biiiiiiig kiss" (lots of kisses all over their face...sometimes induces giggles), "I love you, good night." Then I tuck them in and leave.

 

[myhoneyswife]

That countdown thing is cute

Just an idea, my baby is *wired* after her bath. She loves it, and is totally relaxed and calm in the tub, but for some reason she'll be up til 11 if I give her a bath at night. Normally she's asleep around 8:30 or 9. Our 'routine' is just to put her in her sleep sack and nurse on our bed. No real tips there.

 

[aprilbaby06]

My dd is also 10m. Our bed time routine is like this. We pick out a few books ( we use board books so that she can "read" one whild I red one to her. We get in bed and red our books. Some books work better than others. DD's favorite is Dear Zoo. She will let me read that book ten times and never reach for it. It has little flaps that you lift up on each page, I think she is really into that. After we read a wrap her in a blanket and she nurses for about 20 min. After she is good and asleep, I can go to sleep with her ( we cosleep) or put her down in her bed until I am ready to go to bed.

With my older dd. I rocked her to sleep ever night. She knew that when we put on our p.j.s and got her in the rocker that it was sleepy time. I would just have to rock her for 1/2 an hour.

Don't know if any of these ideas will work for you, but that is what we do.

 

[snoopy5386]

I would try put your DC to bed, much, much earlier, like 7 pm. Kids have a natural bedtime around 6-7 pm. Give it a try, even 9 might be too late.
Anyways here is our day
wake up between 6:30-7:30
Nap around 8:30-9
Nap around 1:30-2:30
Bedtime at 7-7:30
Our routine is dinner, brush teeth, pjs, daddy reads stories, mama nurses and sings (and sometimes rocks, cuddles, etc) to sleep
We read the same book last before bed and also before naps.

 

[Incubator]

Thank you. We're trying some of these tonite. I'll update later.

 

[Incubator]

Baby is out! record time, it took a whole 30 minutes of rocking. This is two hours earlier than normal!!

We had a bath at 8. Then naked time with dad until 8:30, at which point dad put a diaper on him. Then it was "bye bye" daddy time with lots of kisses. Then I let him crawl around a bit while I got a bottle of water and smoked

:

:
Then we nursed, after that we sat a read two books, The Missing Piece and TMP Meets the Big O. we only have 5 books for kids, and none of them are board books. This was the hard part, he wanted to squirm and crawl away and play with the lamp. After awhile he just sat in my arms and looked at the pages. Then I rocked/bounced him and at about 9:30, BAM! eyes closed!

Thanks ladies. And recommendations for good bedtimes books, or other things to add to the routine woult be welcomed.

ALSO: The reason I never worried about his bedtime too much before is that I don't want him waking up too early. I think 8 or 9 is as early as I can manage, unless I work up to it, a little earlier every week.

 

[alegna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by snoopy5386 Kids have a natural bedtime around 6-7 pm.

Not all kids....

-Angela

 

[PortraitPixie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alegna Not all kids.... -Angela

:

 

[pixilixi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alegna Not all kids.... -Angela

:

For ages I felt guilty about this - especially after reading some of NCSS and hanging out with friends that do a 6pm bedtime. But 9pm or thereabouts seems to work for ds - and he gets up around 8am, so I figure, who cares, he's getting enough sleep, what's it matter? (And we don't complain about having to get up at 5am!)

FWIW, at night we have a shower together (seems more relaxing for ds than a bath), then jammies, brush teeth and hop in bed. I have a couple of board books in bed if ds wants to look at them. Then he will crawl over to me to nurse to sleep when he's ready. We also have some relaxing music playing (background music helps to filter outside noise, and also it's nice for *me* to listen to while I'm laying there).

DS still naps twice a day for 45 - 90 minutes at around 11am and 3pm (very flexible times!). He is 11 months old.

HTH

Brooke

 

[Incubator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixilixi : For ages I felt guilty about this - especially after reading some of NCSS and hanging out with friends that do a 6pm bedtime. But 9pm or thereabouts seems to work for ds - and he gets up around 8am, so I figure, who cares, he's getting enough sleep, what's it matter? (And we don't complain about having to get up at 5am!) FWIW, at night we have a shower together (seems more relaxing for ds than a bath), then jammies, brush teeth and hop in bed. I have a couple of board books in bed if ds wants to look at them. Then he will crawl over to me to nurse to sleep when he's ready. We also have some relaxing music playing (background music helps to filter outside noise, and also it's nice for *me* to listen to while I'm laying there). DS still naps twice a day for 45 - 90 minutes at around 11am and 3pm (very flexible times!). He is 11 months old. HTH Brooke

Thanks. I feel better about tha late bedtime now. I couldn't imagine putting him to sleep at 6 pm! This sounds a lot like what I'm trying to do with ds. This morning he woke up at 9-9:30, after fighting the last hour of sleep. But when he wakes up in the mornng, he does't usually "tell" me, he just crawls out of bed and goes to play with his toys, which gives me a chance to catch up. When he's ready for company he come to wake me up, usually 1/2 to 1 hour later. Today he just came and "asked" me to put him back to sleep. So he's taking his first nap at 11 ! yay, this is going so well, I'm glad I decided to try this.

Thank you again ladies!!