# Cosleeping/Bedtime routines



## Chiroalltheway (Aug 18, 2007)

Can you tell me your routines? (or what you do if you don't have a routine!!) Please tell me the ages of your children, who sleeps where, and how you get them all down. We are expecting #3 in November, and DS1 has been having an AWFUL time with naptime and bedtime. Granted, he might be preparing to drop his nap, but bedtime is very frustrating for me, because I KNOW he has to be tired. We are (well, I am) considering moving him into our bed/room, but I'm just wondering how this will look once there is a newborn in there. Thanks, mamas! (DS2 sleeps WONDERFULLY in his own bed, own room...go figure...so he won't be joining us







)

Oh, and what about naptime??


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## CheapPearls (Aug 7, 2007)

I have 3 boys, 4 1/2 (H) , 2 1/2 (T) and 9 months (E). Only my 9 month old is in bed with us so this may not help you much.

My oldest H doesn't nap anymore. For nap times with E at 10am and 1-2pm, I take him to our room and rock/nurse him. We are using NCSS right now so once he's getting very drowsy, I pull him off and lay him on his mattress. (he sleeps on a floor bed when we are not in bed with him.) He goes to sleep quickly.

T takes a nap between 12 and 1pm. After lunch, there's a little bit of down time, a story or two then he lays down. He doesn't need me there to go to sleep. Lately he's been fighting it but he's going through a weird time right now. I just now thought that it may be molars. I'll have to check when he's up.

Bed time is slightly chaotic but usually at 7pm, it's time for bath or at least washing faces and hands. We clean up all the toys, put on PJs, brush teeth. After they are ready for bed, I read a story then it's all good nights, usually about 7:45. My older boys share a room and often stay up for 10-15 minutes just talking to each other so we moved their bed time up a bit to make up for that.

After they are laying down, I take E for some quiet time in his playroo, usually with some soft music playing. Around 8, I change diaper, put lotion on him, nurse him until he's drowsy. Again pull off and set into bed. I then can go finished up whatever needs to be done before DH and I head to bed.

I need to print this out. Haha! It might be easier to follow 100% of the time if I have it on paper.


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## Issibearmama (Dec 15, 2007)

DD has slept in our bed from birth. At 3 months she was finally receptive to a nighttime routine and has been on it ever since (shes now 10.5 months).

Obviously, there have been times when it needed to be tweaked a bit but bedtime usually goes as follows:

-Around 8:20 she comes upstairs to "her" room for a wash and change, PJ's, massage, and listen to some relaxing music. While I do this, dh prepares our room - cleans up any toys, fixes the sheets, puts on the fan, and turns on her baby mozart cd.
-I bring her into our bed usually around 8:30 - 8:40 and nurse her to sleep.

She's always had a difficult time with naps so I think having a bedtime structure is really helpful for her. It lets her know it's ok to now shut everything off for the night.

Do you plan on cosleeping with your newborn as well? I do know that toddlers and young baby's shouldn't sleep next to one another for safety reasons so when the new baby comes you may have to tweak the situation again. Hope that helps some. Good luck!


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