11 Month Bedtime Routine

-

Bedtime for Mary normally starts around 7:00 with bedtime being around 7:30.

We are normally all hanging out in the living room after dinner at this point.  We try to make a point to clean the living room every evening before Mary goes to bed.  I want her to see us cleaning and that it is not just a magic thing that happens. After we tidy the room, I breastfeed Mary, and then that's it.  She just goes to bed and I sit on the couch on my phone or reading, or I work on my writing.  Haha, not quite. But my husband does normally do the bedtime routine.  We find it is great for me to have a rest and for him to have time with Mary especially now that he is working in the office. 


After the feed, Nick does a nappy change.  We put on a night nappy, which just has several more layers than the day nappies.  After the night nappy, Mary gets her teeth brushed.  Not her favorite part of the process, but it gets done.  Next, she gets put in her sleeping sack. Since it's winter we use two sleeping bags.  One sleeveless and on top of that a sleeved bag.  Next Mary gets her cuddles and a devotional read to her.  After the devotional, Nick turns out all the lights and walks around while singing one song. After the song is over, he puts her in the cot and quietly leaves the room.  She normally fusses for a minute, but normally falls asleep within 5 minutes.  


While that is the routine we usually use, we try to be flexible.  Every Sunday for example we go to church at 5 pm, so we do not leave until 7ish.  So on those nights we normally change Mary into the night nappy at church and she falls asleep in the car on the way home.  Whenever we don’t do the night nappy at church we regret it. 

Mary still isn’t sleeping through the night, but she always resettles after a feed.  


What does the bedtime routine look like in your house?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dressing Fashinable as a New Parent

-
Image
  As a new parent, you don't have a lot of spare time. Everything you are doing you probably have your baby with you or you are listening for their cries. When you are trying to get out of the house it can be even worse since you are trying to remember to pack the nappy bag and everything you and baby might need. But there are ways you can dress to look put together without a lot of time or thought. A lot of this is determined by your closet.  I often have my closet organized into sections so I can grab anything from a section and know it goes with anything in another section.  This doesn’t have to be difficult, just slowly move clothes when you are putting them away from the laundry. Most of my advice is feminine because that is how I dress.  However, you can adjust the advice to fit your style.  I went through a phase a couple of years ago when I tried to dress more put together. I hadn't realized it had rubbed off on me even when I’m not trying, until a recent conversation w
Read more

What to do With an 11 Month Old All Day

-
Image
  Entertaining a small child all day can be difficult. There is only so much sitting on the floor and playing with toys that you and your child can take. Here are some of the ways I entertain my daughter all day.   Painting. I put paint on a piece of paper and slide it inside a Ziploc bag. That way she gets to paint with no mess. Another option with painting is getting washable paint and putting baby and paint in the bathtub. It's a contained mess and easy to clean up. Just run the bath.  Laundry. I let Mary pull the clean clothes out of the washing machine. She loves it. I also let her help me fold it. It takes twice as long since she unfolds half of it, but we are sitting on the floor chatting so it's good bonding time. A game we play with the laundry is I will throw something like a t-shirt over her face and let her pull it off. It is a version of peekaboo and Mary adores it.  Exercise. Mary loves watching me jump rope. If I am doing push-ups I'll often kiss or bite at h
Read more

Coping with Sickness as a Parent

-
Image
  Being sick is never fun. Being sick when you have a small child is extra not fun.  You can not just crawl into bed all day or sit on the couch and watch Netflix.  You have to feed your child, play with them, make sure they have naps, do nappy changes, and do all of the normal parenting things.   We have just sent Mary to daycare twice a week, so we are getting hit with all the daycare illnesses here.  I’m going to walk you through a few strategies that we have been using to cope while sick.  Sleep as much as possible. Which I know is easier said than done.  But I do have suggestions to help.  I highly recommend going to bed at the same time as your child. Don’t worry about staying up to do the dishes or laundry.  As long as you have something clean resting so you can heal is more important.  When your child goes down for a nap, nap as well.  Even if you do not sleep, do not try to get chores done.  Now is a  time to rest.  If your child does not nap, implement a quiet period.   Forge
Read more