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2 bedtime routine examples for babies 5+ months old and 2-3 year old toddlers

As a young mom, I was always learning new things about how to take care of my (almost) 5 month old baby boy, Little One. Every day was and STILL is a new adventure, a new challenge, a new opportunity to grow as a parent.  One of the challenges of having an infant is how do you teach you baby it is time to say “night, night”? How do you convince them that since the sun is down, they should lay their head to rest???

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There are many books on baby sleep patterns and taking care of kids the first year. What to Expect the First Year, On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep, The Baby Book, Revised Edition: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Sears Parenting Library),  The Happiest Baby on the Block, and many many more. I have personally read What to Expect, The Baby Book, and The Happiest Baby on the Block. There are also countless articles on websites like BabyCenter.com that give tips, tricks, and advice from other parents.

Buy these books on Amazon:

Biggest Tip

Some of the best advice I received was to establish your own family “bed time routine.” It’s supposed to be something that works for your family! When I read that, I thought, oooh now that sounds like a great idea! I love bedtime routines, so maybe Little One will too!

At first, I was a little doubtful.  I couldn’t believe that a routine would work when he seemed like he was talking a mile a minute and waving his arms and trying to eat the book we were reading, but miraculously… a regular bed time with a normal routine WORKED! It was amazing!

Most nights when Little One was 5 months old (before we had Little Two) the schedule was pretty flexible, but there are some basic parts to establishing a bedtime routine. On another post, I will outline some basics for a bedtime routine to help you get started. Today, I’ll just tive some examples of what worked for our family! Take it or leave it!

Baby Bedtime Routine Example, 5+ months

Here’s an actionable plan to follow (and some don’ts):

1. Get ready for bed – Bedtime was between 630 and 730 (because we need mommy daddy time, seriously!)
   • Change Diaper
   • Footie Pajamas
   • Tickles on the changer
2. Read a book – Sit down in that lovely rocking chair your mama bought for you at your baby shower and read a book! Sometimes we read a short story children’s book like Goodnight Moon, but many nights it was a story out of our The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name. The pictures in it are beautiful and the message is profound in it’s simplicity.

1. Sing a Song – Even though I’m terrible at singing, my kids don’t care! After we finished reading, I sang him a song like Twinkle, Twinkle.
2. Lay him down and walk away – From there, I give him a kiss goodnight, lay him in his crib, and voila! It’s like magic! Sometimes I had to give him his pacifier but then he immediately falls asleep 🙂 (I was a little spoiled I know… but I really think it can work for others as well).

Some “don’t”s to avoid bad habits down the line:

• Don’t nurse him or give him a bottle to fall asleep. Not only can this be bad for his teeth but it can be a hard habit to break later.
• Don’t be the only one to put him down. Alternate with your husband, grandparents, etc. so that he can learn it’s safe to fall sleep with other people.
• Don’t stay in the room until he falls asleep. Again, this will be a bad habit you will have to break later

Now that Little One is almost 4 years old and Little Two is 2 years old, I feel like bedtime routines are so “everyday.” But in our house, we still embrace and love them! You’ll notice, bedtime routine becomes a little more active as they get older.

Baby Bedtime Routine Example, 2 year olds & 4 year olds

For our toddlers, here’s the routine we follow most nights. Hint: A little competition goes a longggggg way.

1. Change into jammies – Bedtime routine begins around 7:00pm. As I change Little Two’s diaper, Little One races to see if he can get into his jammies on before I change his sister.
2. Brush teeth – My older one races to the bathroom to help by putting the tooth paste on both his and his sister’s tooth brushes.
   • I try frantically to contain them while they wildly wave toothbrushes full of Tom’s of Maine Natural Fluoride Free Children’s Toothpaste, Silly Strawberry, 4.2 Oz, mostly because I don’t want to waste a single cent of that precious paste (and who wants to clean it up).
   • Funny/not funny story: I was thankful we had the fluoride free kind, when one morning I realized my son had sucked down the whole tube and had a small stomach ache that morning… believe me he didn’t do THAT again and still talks about it today!
   • I help my daughter brush her teeth as I monitor the 4-year old’s self-brushing. Occasionally, I still force him to let me help scrub all of his teeth that he probably misses. The dentist hasn’t seen any issues so far
3. Get the crazies out – Then we go back into my daughter’s room, which has a wide open floor to “spin” to songs from Amazon’s music app or for them to do tricks aka hand stands aka somersaults aka get all their energy out. Sometimes if Daddy is out of town (which is often), we call him in so he can experience the craziness.
4. Read a book – Finally time to calm down. We argue – ahem – negotiate how many books we are reading that night and in which room. Normally I win with 1 book in each room plus devotionals plus some poems from Shell Silverstein…(I’m still not sure if I’d call this a win or not…but at least they like books?)
5. Sing songs and prayer – Then my son sings my daughter a song; we say prayers, and I lay her down in her crib to go to sleep. Finally, we head to my son’s room for one more book, another song, and another prayer.
6. Closing Remarks – We end the night with my son asking for Millie (our second dog) to sleep in his room (like she does every night) and for Roxy to sleep in his sister’s room. “Yes, buddy, just like every night… Millie will sleep in here and Roxy will sleep in Zoeys. Yes, buddy, I’ll turn on your truck night light. Yes, buddy I’ll leave the bathroom light on. Good night! Stay in bed until your clock says “seven zero zero”!”

And with that I walk away to normally collapse onto my bed into an exhausted heap at 7:45pm. Only to awaken at 9:38 to get ready for bed.

All this to say: yes, I really do think bedtime routines work.  I know that the same routine won’t work for every kid, and it won’t work every night.  But I’ll take any night I can get without fighting baby or toddler to go to sleep!  Kids need structure. They need loving and cherishing. What’s a better way to share your favorite books and put your child to sleep in one fell swoop???

If you have any other techniques  for putting your kids to sleep, leave a comment to share! If you found this inspirational, please don’t forget to pin it or share to your favorite social media site!

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