Bedtime routines

4:15 - last nap
5:30 - awake, given bottle of breast milk whilst spending time with Dad after work. I cook
7:00 - bath (Dad does this so I can tidy up)
7:30 - out of bath, moisturise/massage, PJs
7:45 - low stimulation “play”
8:15 - story with Dad
8:30 - breastfed to sleep (sleeps on me until we go up to bed)
10:30ish - head upstairs, nappy change, breastfed back to sleep, held for 15 mins whilst asleep and then transferred to next to me

Sleeps through until around 6:30-8 depending on partners alarm time.

This will change from sleeping on me at 8:30 to sleeping upstairs in the next to me after shes 6months old as we follow the NHS/Lullaby Trust guidelines for safe sleep and reducing the risk of SIDS.

Also, Dad does a lot in the evenings with her by choice as I’m a SAHM and uni student so juggle a lot when he’s at work.

My boy goes to bed between 8-9pm so this is how our evenings look:

Baby has his last half hour nap of the day around 6-6:30, and only contact naps so will sleep on me until 6:30 when his dad takes over and gives him a bottle if hes due and didn’t have one before the nap. I cook dinner, we eat dinner at the table with baby in his high chair. 7:30 is when fiance takes him up to his bedroom to get ready for bed (only time we change him in his room is wake up and bed time) which includes bath on bath days and then sleepy time lotion and pjs. I’ve cleaned up downstairs from dinner and made a bottle, fiance feeds and then passes him back over to me for story and sleep. Usually in his cot by 8:30!

My baby goes to bed Late⏰ typically her last feed is around 9:30 -10 because that’s when we eat dinner and I let her play in her playpen for about 30 minutes to an hour and then we give her what I call the “works” which really means that she’s getting a fresh diaper fresh clothes and putting on lotion and then after that, she’s pretty much tired and ready to wind down so we put on Lofi and the bedroom swaddle her and then she pretty much falls asleep

Nd then mom and dad get to stay up and play video games lol !

5pm - wakes from last nap
5-7 - plays and does sensory play with me
7pm- bath time, oil massage
7:30- book and bottle
8pm - asleep

We really push that last wake window and keep him busy and he will sleep through from 8pm-8am usually ☺️

5pm- wakes from last nap.
5-6pm-low stimulation playing & a book. (If it’s bath night we have a bath at 5.30) with mum and dad.
6-6.15-Into the bedroom, nappy, change into sleeping bag, massage etc.
6.15-feed
6.30-asleep (if he isn’t asleep by 6.30 he is always drowsy enough for me to put him into his cot and he will always be asleep by 7pm)
7pm-Mum and Dad have dinner☺️Dad cooks whilst I do the bedtime, we have done it since he was around 8 weeks, it took about 2 weeks for him to always be asleep by 7. It has always worked for us🥰

Our routine isnt set, it depends on my little boys feeds during the day because he is still feeding every 3 hours.

But usually when its getting around dinner time i check when he would be due a feed, say its 7.30pm i will bath him at 7ish, and massage his feet and legs with baby moisturiser and also a little on his face, the smell seems to make him sleepy! Then into a sleep suit and a love to dream swaddle (as opposed to an outfit during the day to help establish the difference) then a big feed after. This is when i tend to eat dinner whilst feeding him! Then when he eventually drops off, sound machine on and straight into next to me cot, sometimes he wakes up and wants another feed but then back down again. Lights down low when feeding, quiet atmosphere (TV down low for example)
I used to wait for ages after he fell asleep after a feed ‘just incase he wasnt fully asleep’ but i found he woke more this way or likely to want another feed sooner so put him down sooner- has worked well

I asked chat GPT to create one for me and it’s been amazing. I only use it for sleep time really and the rest is quite flexible, just feeds at 2 hour intervals and about 3-4 naps.