…go to sleep. Please, little baby.
I think we’re really getting into this whole “bedtime” thing. Knock on wood, of course, because the Rule of Baby is that as soon as you say something like “well, we’re past the ___ phase!”, BOOM. New phase. Worse phase. So I’m really hoping that I haven’t just jinxed us with this post. We’ll find out.
Ethan has always been pretty good about sleep. He allows us to put him in his crib without much fuss, tends to sleep peacefully, and usually sleeps a reliable number of hours between feeding and activity time. Even so, for our own sanity, we felt the need to at least attempt to establish a rough “bedtime”. This is generally anywhere from 7-8 PM, give or take about half an hour. Tonight, he went down at 6:30 – that may sound really early (and it is), but the kid was exhausted.
Our routine generally goes like this (of course, times are rough estimates only, but this is what we aim for):
6:00: last bottle of the daylight hours. He generally takes 6 oz., but if he’s really hungry, I’ll offer him another two.
6:30: Wiggleworm time. This is the time for burping, a last round of Tummy Time if he’s feeling it, and generally getting out those last squirms before bedtime.
6:45: Bath/warm washcloth wipe-down, lotion, fresh diaper, and new onesie/pajamas.
7:15: Snuggle time, singing, general cuddling, and swaddling.
7:30: Into crib for bedtime.
Like I said, this isn’t always how it goes. Sometimes it’s almost two hours “late”, sometimes it’s an hour early. We are still letting Ethan ultimately dictate his schedule, but we’re at least trying to get him used to a certain routine. The hope is that once he’s old enough for us to really establish a firm bedtime, it will be easier for him to settle into it since he’ll be used to bedtime meaning certain things happening in a certain order. We’ve been sticking to this routine for almost two weeks now and it has been working wonders – we feel like we have a lot more control over our days. For me personally, I feel so much better – much less overwhelmed than I was before.
And now I’m free to have a glass of wine and watch Toddlers and Tiaras most nights. Can’t beat that.
