"Create a bedtime routine." everyone told me we needed to do this from the beginning [insert eye roll], but how on earth does a first time mom create a routine when she has never lived a day as a mom to know what the right routine would be?
My husband and I agreed we would just figure it out when our baby arrived. It didn’t make sense to us to create this routine from what the books tell you, because not every book or blog fit our lifestyle and groove at home.
So when our little one arrived into this world, we let her help us figure out what this “bedtime routine” would be.
We followed the guidelines of how often she should eat and sleep, but other then that we just rolled with what she wanted to do and it worked for us. Well, maybe it didn’t work for us every night because sometimes I just wanted to sleep, but I knew these middle of the night wake up’s would be short lived because there would come a day she would sleep through the night on her own.
I would say around November (month 3), after I got back into a work routine, we got into OUR own full home routine with our little one. It wasn’t the best routine, but it was OUR routine that worked for our little one and that was what mattered. Back then she would normally sleep for 3 hours and up for 3-4 hours. During the wake up hours we would play, read books, nurse and change diapers. AND then REPEAT!
As the months rolled on the nights became longer and the days became longer. It’s just all part of that growth period in a infants life. The play more and sleeps more and the routine shifts.
I think it was around month 4 when we created a solid night time routine. What did this look like? Well let me tell you:
Routine if mom IS home
8:30 PM
Turn on soft calming piano music (tv can be distracting for her sometimes.)
Dim lights or just turn on a lamp to help make the room relaxing and calming for her.
Change diaper.
Lotion and baby massage.
Put on PJ’s.
Nurse for 15 - 20 minutes.
Patted her to get a little burp up. If she woke up I would give try to nurse her and she would almost always fall back to sleep.
Then I would lay her in the Rock n Play and would turn the white nose Baby Shusher on for her (this thing is amazing by the way.)
If she wakes up in the night, we would try to give her a paci, but if she didn’t want that it we couldn't console her I would nurse for a few minutes until she went back to sleep.
Routine if mom IS NOT home to nurse
8:15 PM
Start warming the bottle in warm/ hot water in a bowl. (Frozen milk warm under facet)
Turn on soft calming piano music (tv can be distracting for her sometimes.)
Dim lights or just turn on a lamp to help make the room relaxing and calming for her.
Change diaper while bottle is warming.
Put on her PJ’s.
Check bottle, if it’s room temp on your wrist it’s ready. Give it a swirl so that fat mixes.
Then put her in the swaddle or sleep sack.
Put bib on, no need to button it, it stays on if you just lay it under her chin (take it off before you lay her down to sleep)
Give her a little burp when she’s done. If she wakes up, give her a paci and rock her back to sleep.
Turn the white nose Baby Shusher on for her.
Once she’s sleeping, put her in the Rock in Play bed.
If she wakes up in the night, try to give her the paci. If she just doesn’t want it and is still fussy you can feed her again 3-4 oz.
My biggest lesson about creating routines is that you shouldn't stress and you should listen to your own gut as to what is the right next step to the day. Everyone finds their way and eventually settles into a comfortable day-to-day home life groove.