Today is the beggining of "NaBloPoMo" where I pledged to do a posting every day in November.I'm going to start tonight with a question that we seriously need an answer to. Calling all mums,dads and parents to be, we need HELP!!!
Question is, what is a good bedtime routine for a 16 month old?
Ours is not working and results in 20-40 minutes crying and tonight included bursts of screaming.
Please help before we go mental!
Below is our current routine:
5.30pm-ish: Dinner
6.30pm: Bathtime (not every night)
6.45-7.15: PJs and some playtime
7.15-7.30pm: Bedtime, which includes him voluntarily going to his room and used to involve him sitting on my knee while I read a story and he drank his milk but now he struggles out of my arms to play. Does not want his milk, does not want to sit in my lap and have a story read. SO, we put him in his crib and try milk & book and he stands up, throws his sippy cup out of the crib and cries to be let out. So I eventually give up and leave his room and he just goes mad. And so do we. SIGH...
3 comments:
Hi--I got your comment on my blog about needing help with a bedtime routine. We've been doing the same routine since she was about 4 months old, so she's had a long time to get used to it, but here's what we do... At 7:00 every night we get a cup of milk ready and say, "Are you ready to go take a bath?" and she usually runs to the bottom of the stairs (if she doesn't, we take her anyway). We give her the bath, take her in her room and get jammies on. I turn the fan on (she has always slept with a fan on for background noise) and sit down in the rocker with her. I turn the light off and all of the hallway lights are off, too, so she knows it's almost night night time. She drinks her milk in the dark and I don't talk to her. She's usually pretty quiet by this time, anyway, but if not, I whisper "Shhh...it's time to go nigh night," in her ear. When she's finished her milk she hands me the cup. I say, "Okay, time to go nigh night" and stand up with her. I hold her close and pray for her in her ear, tell her I love her and will see her in the morning, and lay her down with her favorite blanket, which is only allowed in the crib (it's always been this way, so it's her special blanket that she only gets at bedtime). From time to time she'll talk a little before she falls asleep, but more often than not we don't hear a sound after this and she goes right to sleep. This works great for us, and I think it's because early on we wouldn't cave and go in after we put her down and she'd be crying (and it was hard not to!!!). She learned that when it was time, we meant it, and she put herself to sleep. Lately, though, we've been talking about needing to change things, because I'd like to get in the habit to read her a story before bed and pray "with" her instead of just for her (knowing that for now it'll just be us praying), and I'd like to cut out the cup of milk and have her drink it at dinner instead, but this works so well that we're afraid to make any changes!
Sorry this is sooooo long....hope it helps at least a little. Best wishes for happier bedtimes!--Weed
Well, I do something similar, and I'm not sure it will help. But I agree with Weed, I think that since you've changed the routine recently, he's going to protest, and you may have to put up with some crying for a while until he realizes that you aren't coming back and he just needs to give up and go to sleep. We have Katy help clean up her toys, give kisses to whoever is downstairs that isn't putting her to bed, and then we head upstairs with her milk. We change her diaper, put her in jammies, and then let her sit in our lap and drink her milk. Sometimes she wants all of it, sometimes not very much, either is fine. Then we go to the bathroom and brush her teeth (just added this recently), come back and put her in her crib, say prayers, kisses, and say nigh-night. Then I turn on the fan, turn out the light and walk out. She's often still walking around the crib for a few minutes, but then she lays down and goes to sleep shortly. I think if you pick something and stick with it, after a period of protesting, he'll get used to it and go to sleep on his own. Sorry for the stressful nights!
ok.. not a mom (yet)but what about some light music? Rachel did the whole White Noise thing (the sound of fuzz is supposed to sound like a womb right). or even soft music..maybe he will think it is a treat to have the music on when the lights go out and that could be part of his "new routine". i can only imagine that the screaming thing is heartbreaking, and i do think that if you continue to go in and "check" on him, he will start to realize he is getting what HE wants.. Gina
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