Bedtime Routine

One of the biggest challenges we had early on was trying to establish a bedtime routine. For a period of time (literally like 3 months) her days and nights were switched. She would go to bed around 5 in the morning. When we would pick her up from daycare at 5pm, they would tell us that she had slept all day. After I took the TX Bar Exam and our lives got back to normal, we knew we had to figure something out. She was sleeping, just not at night, but we were getting no sleep! So, there was some trial and error, but eventually we got our bedtime routine down.

Quiet Hour

During our struggle period, we were noticing that one of the issues she was having when we were trying to put her down is she was too wired. She was bursting with energy and we hadn't given her any time to come down. An hour before bedtime, we use this period to set the tone. We turn off the TV, music, or any electronics that that could be distracting. Only soothing sounds and calming voices are allowed during quiet hour.

Bath Time

We started implementing lavender scented products during bath time. Lavender can be used to calm and soothe your baby and help with winding them down in preparation for bedtime. Most baby bath lines will have a lavender scented product, but if not, a couple drops of lavender essential oil in the bath tub will work the same.

Nurse

After she's had her bath we get her dressed for bedtime. As we're getting into the colder months we always make sure to check the temperature before bedtime as well as what it will be in the morning. If she gets cold she's less likely to sleep well because she's not comfortable.

After she's been dressed we start nursing. While I'm feeding her, my husband will put on white noise in the background. We have a white noise machine, but as she's gotten older she seems to like the sound of thunderstorms better than the white noise.

When she's finished nursing, we read a book and then lay her in her crib. Sometimes she will immediately lay down and go to bed and sometimes she stays up for a little bit, playing quietly in her crib. If she doesn't drift off and starts crying, I feed her again and then put her back down. We've been doing this for about two months now and she's been consistently sleeping from 8/9pm until 8am.

She does not sleep through the night, but I don't have any expectations that she will. I don't sleep through the night, so why would I expect my infant to? She wakes up a couple of times to nurse and then goes back to sleep when we put her back in her crib.

It's important to be consistent. You're establishing a routine. They need the consistency of the routine in order to associate it with bedtime. Be patient. This is something new for them too.

Have you implemented a bedtime routine? What does yours look like? Let me know in the comment section