What is your infant's bedtime routine?

[boogiemomz]

we're starting to think about developing a bedtime routine for our newborn. she is of course not on a consistent sleep schedule yet at just over 2 months, but we want to start incorporating bedtime activities to develop our routine and ease into it. i like the idea of having a bath as part of it, except that she sometimes gets fussy after her bath (either when we are getting her dressed or combing her hair... she has a lot of hair and we need to comb it so it doesn't get ratty, then it sometimes takes a bit of time to dry and i think she may get cold), so i don't know if we should do the baths at night. we are already able to put her down drowsy but awake, so i don't necessarily need to nurse her to sleep, but i'm reluctant to do much reading or singing after feeding her because i don't want to stimulate her out of the drowsy just-fed state. SO... i would love to hear different routines for infants... what do you do and in what order, and how did you decide on your routine? thanks

[JenChem]

We start around 7:30.
Bath - Pajamas - Brush hair - Read Book - Bottle - Snuggle on the couch
For books we do Goodnight Moon or Where the Wild Things Are.
He is usually asleep by 9 and then we put him in his crib.

ETA - We started our sleep routine at 3 months.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I am anti nightly baths as a part of the routine for a few reasons. One, if you are out at dinner and will be coming straight home for bed (or something like that) and your dc is so programmed to get a bath to settle in for bed you might find that it's hard to skip it, even if you don't have time for it. Two, baths strip the natural oils and can cause dry skin.

We really just nursed to sleep until ds was more than 6m old. We stopped when he stopped falling asleep nursing. We would do PJs, story, nurse, bed.

Beth

[Kymberley]

We start at 8:00

Diaper change
Lotion/massage
Put DS in sleep sack
Read a book
Nurse, nurse, nurse
Sing a lullaby
Lay down

DS is usually asleep by the time I get to his door. We started a routine around 5 months, and I wish I had started sooner. But, at least it works now! Good luck!

[crazye]

We would do bath, lotion, PJs, boob, rock to sleep. We kept up with nightly baths until she was just under 2yo and now we do it 3x per week as DD#2 is due soon and I didn't know how well I could physically do bathtime on my own once I got ginormous. As it stands now DH ends up doing bathtime most nights as my back/hips are typically killing me at the end of the day. We'll probably do 3x per week for DD#2 from the get-go on the same nights as DD#1.

FWIW, 99% of DD#1's bedtime baths were warm water only just for routine as she wasn't very dirty and her tush/face/neck were wiped several times a day for obvious reasons.

[Momof3Labs]

After we eat dinner, we take the babies upstairs, change their diapers, put them in PJs, and feed them in a mostly-dark room. They may or may not fall asleep while feeding, but when they are done feeding, we transfer them to their bassinet, turn on their Sleep Sheep (white noise) and leave the room.

When they get a little older, we'll include them in reading books every night - probably before they get their bottles. The boys always nursed as the very last step of their bedtime routine when they were younger.

Our older two gets baths/showers about 2x per week (more often in the summer when they get sweaty) as part of their bedtime routine. When we had just one child, we did nightly baths. You have to be careful that you aren't stretching out the bedtime routine too much and making a tired baby overtired as that will just make it harder to get them to sleep.

[newg]

We do a bath (but not every night).......PJ's......snack (use to be boob).....book.....sleep sack....song.....bed

we started with just bath and snack and slowly have worked the book in........I usually do a bedtime type book....something that's not loud or too brightly colored...............and the song I sing is just a softly sung dilly I made up.....if I don't start singing it as I put DD in her sleep sack she starts to hum it to me..........

I think as long as you keep things soft and quiet and not too stimulating, you can do just about anything.
Oh, DD wasn't too much of a fan of baths in the beginning too.....I think she got a little too cold as well........but now she loves them.

[bigpassport]

Same routine every night since he was just a few weeks old. We start at 7 p.m. Have happy-naked-play-on-the-bathroom-floor-time for about 15 minutes. Bath for about 15 minutes. Dry him, comb hair, lotion, and in pjs. Then bottle. Usually in bed by 8 p.m. or so and usually goes right to sleep.

[shawnandangel]

Start time: 6:45-7pm
After eating dinner:
"Do you have to potty DD?" DD runs to the bathroom and waits for me to strip her down and put her on the pot.
Brush teeth
Change diaper
Lotion
PJ's on
Sleep sack on
Book
Bottle
Bed
Violet (stuffed animal) turned on "10 minutes of bedtime music. Snuggle up DD!"
Lights out.
Door closed.

[Andi98989]

Diaper
Lotion
PJ's
Bottle
Book (goodnight moon or I love you through and through)
Bed