Friday, May 20, 2011

The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Nighttime routine

I'm starting to work through a book called The No-Cry Sleep Solution to help Hyrum sleep through the night. One of the first steps listed is to create a nighttime routine that helps to signal sleepy time and help baby wind down. Right now our nighttime routine looks something like this:

7:15 bath time
7:25 massage
7:30 change into pajamas, nurse
7:45 Try to lay down in crib. If he cries, I'll pick him up and rock him or nurse him.

I realize that maybe I need this bedtime routine to be a little longer--not really to signal sleep because the current routine does that nicely--but to calm him down to get him ready for sleep. Here is my newly proposed plan:

1. 6:30pm--family walk
2. 7:00pm--bath
3. baby massage
4. change into pajamas
5. read 3 books
6. move to baby's room
7. lights out
8. sing Primary song
9. nurse
10. lay down in crib
10. rub tummy and stroke head
11. sleep

The main issue with this routine is the walk at 6:30pm. My husband doesn't get home from work until about 6pm. Normally we talk for a little while, make dinner together, play with the baby, and sit down to eat dinner. By the time we're done eating dinner, it's already after 7pm and basically time for Hyrum's bath. We could scratch the walk but since Daddy is at work all day, I really want us to be able to spend some time together as a family before Hyrum goes down for the night.

Therefore, I need to add a personal goal to our bedtime routine: have dinner ready at 6pm when Daddy walks through the door. While I really love the time that we spend talking in the kitchen together with the baby, we could move that time to the outdoors where we can all get a little bit of fresh air and spend time winding down together.

1 comment:

  1. Daryl gets home at 6:00 -or later- most days, so my dilemma with the "family time" is the same as yours. I worked hard to have dinner ready when Daryl came home so we could eat and then move on to other things.

    I didn't like it at first. 6:00 was too early for me to eat, and I liked having Daryl's input on what we should eat. Daryl felt exactly the opposite. He was starving (because he hardly packs an adequate lunch or snacks) and he enjoys having something (anything! Mostly.) served to him. He even prefers if I pre-fill his tacos. (I don't. But it doesn't stop him from asking.)

    I found as Max got older he could stay up a little later and that helped me out too. We generally do the bath at 7:30-ish and he's in bed by 8:15. Most nights. At least that's my goal since he tends to sleep the best when he falls asleep before 8:30. So maybe as Hyrum improves his sleep habits he'll be able to spend a little more time with you and Brennan. (And Brennan and Hyrum can play some sort of "Monster!" game while you clean up dinner. It generally involves a lot of growling, squealing, and chewing on the babe. Max loves it. Tires him right out.)

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