Nighttime Routines

Our nighttime routine of feed, bathe, dress, top off and rock to sleep is taking FOREVER, and I had a terrible time last night trying to do the whole thing alone...which I kind of have to do if the routine takes 2+ hours I'm going to get them into bed by 7pm.

How long does yours take to get through? Are you doing it single-handed?

(Bathing when I'm by myself is totally optional, though it does really help relax the boys.)

 

I have almost always done the nighttime routine myself, with baths, but I have never rocked to sleep...I can see how that would be hard.

 

first off your in alexandria va im in ashburn.. yea a new friend

how old are your babies..

i never gave mine a bath by myself until they were 7 months..

i always had the x bring them to me.. or me to him..

we found it easier to relax and enjoy the routine rather than fight it..


one of us would sit in the bath tub.. place babies in arms. one at a time.. wash and enjoy
then pull that one out dress and put the other one in..

we took turns giving them baths with us..

then while the baby was in the bath.. the one who was doing the running around.. would fix bottles

that way ( i ) could get the other one dressed.. he could get out get dressed

and we would feed bottles and put to bed..

i have many tips for getting through..

ill pm you
m

 

I do it myself but don't rock to sleep. We've never done that for this reason - I can't do it alone and DH isn't home from work yet. Maybe try to let them put themselves to sleep. Mine are good now and don't cry at all when they do down (sometimes for a minute or 2).

 

I find it difficult and stressful to do this by myself, too! DH and I do it together and now have a very well-oiled machine for our night routine!
That said, when I am by myself, I tend to skip the rocking part and let the swings do it (they're getting to big for them so I'll have to find another solution soon)!

 

Have you tried swings instead of rocking them to sleep? Or just try stopping the rocking and seeing if they can go to sleep on their own. Eventually you'll regret the habit of rocking them to sleep each night when they can't get to sleep on their own. I'm not sure how old they are.

I have done it myself, and DH does it himself too. Now that they are older, baths are DH's responsibility while I clean up from dinner. Then we both put them to bed.

 

I'm beginning to see where my problem is! I've been working on establishing a routine BEFORE giving up the rocking, but maybe we need to switch priorities. The issue is that we have a screamer, who hates swings and pretty much everything else but being held and rocked. Even if Jack goes down quickly and quietly, he'll wake up to the screaming if we put Tom down awake...we're moving into separate cribs soon.

There is light in this tunnel, though. Tom went down for his nap today awake...and has been asleep for 2 hours! But we haven't been able to do that regularly, yet.

They're 8 weeks today, if that helps...

 

For 8 wks. old you're doing great!! I didn't do the bedtime routine by myself until they were probably 6 mos. old (and only then because I had to since dh travels for work). At 8 wks. it can take a long time, just stay consistent every night and it will get shorter and easier to put them to bed as time goes by.

 

wow, alone at 8 weeks? i am impressed. i don't know when it was that i first did it alone, but i remember freaking out about it! but survived. I only have to do it alone usually 1x/wk, adn DH does it maybe 1-2x/month (when i get that rare opportunitiy to go OUT with the GIRLS!!!). we both will skip the bath that night. change one at a time, read to both of them, and will feed them in bouncy seats (though when they were real little, we propped them in 2 boppy's). they usually both took about the same amount of time to eat, but then whoever looked the most tired/fussy, i would try to put to sleep first. we also had to rock to sleep (luckily, DS grew out ofthat- except tonight (see my pp!) and DD is on her way). most of the time, the other would be pretty patient. i think i was probably the most impatient of the 3 of us!
so in answer to your question, yes it IS Possible, but NOT preferable!

 

QUOTE(Zabeta @ Aug 14 2007, 05:20 PM) [snapback]368190[/snapback]
I'm beginning to see where my problem is! I've been working on establishing a routine BEFORE giving up the rocking, but maybe we need to switch priorities. The issue is that we have a screamer, who hates swings and pretty much everything else but being held and rocked. Even if Jack goes down quickly and quietly, he'll wake up to the screaming if we put Tom down awake...we're moving into separate cribs soon.

There is light in this tunnel, though. Tom went down for his nap today awake...and has been asleep for 2 hours! But we haven't been able to do that regularly, yet.

They're 8 weeks today, if that helps...


WOW - 8 weeks and you have a routine for naps. Do they consistently take naps around the same time fo ryou. I have 7wkold twins and their schedule varies except at night.

At night - around 6 or 7 - depending on their last bottle - it is bath, bottles, hold for 10 minutes upright, an dthen bed. Then they wake up every 3 hours for a bottle. My DH and I split up the feedings.

What is your schedule? During the day, it varies daily.

 

Trying to do it alone at 8 weeks is definitely hard, but possible. Since I'm home during the day, I bathe all of my kids in the morning - they actually all shower with me and have since they were 2 months old. It definitely makes bedtime less hectic. I would then sit on the couch and put a baby on each side of me with their feet against the back of the couch and their head on a pillow. I would hold both bottles (or prop sometimes) to feed the girls. Afterwards I would give each a pacifier, swaddle and let them lay there until they fell asleep. Sometimes I would have to put the pacifier back in numerous times. Once they started falling asleep quickly, I started putting them in their cribs right after their bottles. It took several weeks, but they soon started falling asleep soon as I put them in the cribs. They are now 5 months and they require no rocking at all. I feed them their bottles, put them in the cribs and they immediately fall asleep for bedtime and naps. I miss the rocking sometimes myself, but it makes bedtime so much easier when you have 2 or more kids that go to sleep at the same time. In my household, I pretty much put all 3 of my kids to bed by myself every night.

All that said, having 2 newborns is stressful and it is much easier if you have help especially at bedtime.

 

I do bedtime by myself most of the time, though it is easier and faster with help. I usually start getting everything ready (on a bath night; every other day) about 30 minutes before I'm going to start.

I put a thick blanket on the counter and then layer two towles ontop, open and ready to go. Off to the side I put 2 diapers, 2 sleepers, and lotion. Next to the tub I place my washcloths and baby wash. Then I get bottles, burp cloths, and blankets for propping ready by their boppy loungers (one in the kitchen with me, and the other in the living room.)

If both babies are fussy then I will wear one in a sling while I work with the other. Bath, lotion, sleeper, and then I put them in the lounger (or bouncy) in the kitchen and prop them up with a bottle while I do the same for the second baby. When they're ready to go I move them into the living room and then bring the first baby in.

They usually start drifting off during this feed, usually falling asleep in the loungers by the end of feeding and burping. I will let them stay in the loungers for a few minutes, or rock a baby that's awake before I move them upstairs. The whole process takes me about an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how quickly they eat and if one is more fussy.

That being said, it took me a while to figure that routine out. I was really nervous the first time I bathed them on my own (probably 6 or 7 weeks), and the idea of putting them to bed alone was daunting when all my help went home. I do think that getting everything you need set up ahead of time so there's no waiting really helped me the most.

Good luck, you will get it down!

 

Gosh I hope it can be done singlehanded because I do it all the time!

The thing that helps me is to have everything prepared and where I need it before I start. Baths around here are short affairs and that cuts down on the time. When I rocked them to sleep it helped if I wasn't tense, they drifted off faster.

 

I put the girls to bed by myself all the time, but I normally don't bathe them everynight. On the nights that I do bathe them I make sure either my older kids are around or DH is home. They are sitting up in the big tub now, but I am still a little bit unsure of handling them in the big tub. If I had to deal with the other one getting into something or crying, I'm not sure I'd handle that very well. Our routine isn't all the lengthy or complicated just because I do have the other two and sometimes dh isn't home. HTH!