Bedtime routine twins with older toddler (2-3 years) ...

My twins are still young, but I am a schedule freak, but at this point I have no idea how I am going to get 3 kids down for the night in a reasonable amount of time. My oldest is going to bed at 7 pm, 6.30 pm if she doesn't take her nap (or when it's too short). I strongly believe in early bed times, so I would like to have the twins down around the same time, possibly earlier when they're a little older ... how do you do it with feedings, dinner, bed time stories, bath, etc.

 

My twins are still young, but I am a schedule freak, but at this point I have no idea how I am going to get 3 kids down for the night in a reasonable amount of time. My oldest is going to bed at 7 pm, 6.30 pm if she doesn't take her nap (or when it's too short). I strongly believe in early bed times, so I would like to have the twins down around the same time, possibly earlier when they're a little older ... how do you do it with feedings, dinner, bed time stories, bath, etc.

 

I logged on here to post this exact question!! Tonight I started making dinner at 5:30 and the second twin wasn't asleep until 10 - I can't do that night after night. I'll be looking forward to your responses on this.

 

This is something that took us almost 4 months to actually do. What we did was make sure we did the same routine every night and eventually they started to catch on. My older child does the bedtime routine with us and I put him to bed even if we are having a late night with one of the twins. Like tonight Kevin was up for a while because of the holidays and shots today. So Patrick went in first 6:30, and John went in at 8 (thats his bedtime) and then of course Kev was up and wasn't interested in sleeping so he is PNPing it in our room tonight

Don't kill yourself right now over it. Just stick with one routine and keep trying it even if it doesn't seem to work. Eventually it will pan out! PM me if you need any other help! 2 months is a tough time, trust me!

 

My oldest is 3 so I will tell you how we do it. I start making dinner around 4:45-5pm I get everyone eating and cleaned up by 6:30 then baths start immediately. My dh and I switch off each night who baths which kids. One night he does the twins and I do Isabella. Then the next night we switch. I then start to bf the twins and he gets Isabella ready for bed. If you were doing all of this alone it is going to be a little more challenging. I have done it on several occassions it is doable. We usually have everyone in bed by 8. Good Luck it takes a while to get it down to a science!

 

Here's what we do:

supper at 5:30p

girls go to bed at 7p
almost 3 year old boy goes at 7:30p

Gabe used to go to bed at 7, but since the girls came on board I pushed his bedtime back a little so that the girls went to bed first. That's our special time together. We read books, cuddle, tickle, talk, just be together.

As a single mom, that little bit of one on one time has made a world of difference in how my little fella has adjusted to being a big brother to twins.

Consistency is key in everything IMO! Try to work out a routine that works for everyone and stick to it. Even if met with resistance!

 

Your twins are still really little, so I'm trying to remember how I did it when my boys were that age. I was completely alone at that time - my DH was away at school. I think the boys had quiet time, or were napping when I put DD (she would have been about 18 months at that time) down at 7:00. After she was down, I played with the boys and then nursed and put them down around 8:00. Now that they are older (11 months) and eating table food we all eat around 5:30-6:00. After dinner and cleaning up we play and get ready for bed (or do baths). The boys nurse at 7:00 and go to bed right after. As soon as they are in bed I take care of DD. She and I read a couple books and then I lay down with her for a short bit. If the day is anything close to a "normal" day, I am always done with bedtime by 8:00.

You'll get something figured out that will work for you and your little ones. Good luck though! I remember being frustrated trying to get it figured out as well. For me, not only did I want a routine, but I wanted bedtime fairly early so I could have an hour or two for myself before I went to bed!

 

This is how we do it. We have 4 month old twins and a 3 1/2 year old son. Dinner done by 6 pm. Baths start at 630 , twins first and sat in bouncers to wait for bottle. If DH happens to be home he gives 3 yr old a bath if not, I feed the twins their bottles and they get swaddled and put down then the 3 yr old gets his bath and then bedtime story and bed. Twins are asleep by 730 and 3 yr old is out by 8 pm.

 

Aahhh. I'm having a bit of a challenge with this one. I'm trying bathing each set of twins on alternate nights. My older twins are going to sleep by 7:30pm and then I work on getting the younger ones to sleep-- If I start at 8pm, I usually have them both down by 10 or so. It's still pretty challenging right now, but I'm hoping once the younger ones can go to bed a little earlier it will be easier.

There's no way I can do 4 baths in one night on a regular basis. I'm back to work now for 4 10hour days and it's pretty hard with all these sleepless nights.

Crystal