Establishing the nighttime routines for a better bedtime
I have been compensated by Johnson’s® Baby for this post; however, I am sharing my own thoughts. All opinions are my own.
When my son was born, I thought I knew what I was getting into. I read all the books, had questioned many of my friends and I could ask my mom if things really were getting tough. Truth is, I had no idea what I was doing. It was weeks before we had settled on a bedtime routine (and a real bedtime that worked for everyone.) When my daughter was born, I was much more confident in my parenting skills. I knew sleep was a necessity, and getting decent sleep started with a solid bedtime routine. With the help of JOHNSON’S® Baby products, we can ensure our nights go a little more smoother.
My daughter has a 7pm bedtime. This is not one I chose for her – her internal clock was strong at birth and she loses her mind if she’s not in bed between 6:30 and 7pm. This doesn’t give me much time to be with her between work and bedtime. Some nights I have one hour, and we have to eat, do bath time and do our bedtime rituals.
Every evening we eat dinner as a family, and I then start a bath for her. Some nights she’s a little more wound up, so I sometimes use JOHNSON’S® BEDTIME® Baby Bath to help relax her. We’re currently in week 8 of colds and ear infections, and I have found that the JOHNSON’S® baby soothing vapor bath works GREAT at helping lessen her cough. It creates bubbles in her bath, which she is starting to enjoy (because believe it or not, bubbles kind of terrified her the first time I did a bubble bath for her.)
Speaking of colds – I’ve been hesitant to take my daughter out in public because she’s a magnet for germs. I recently tried Walmart’s grocery pickup service to order all of my JOHNSON’S® baby products and grocery items I need. I selected a time that would be good for me to pick them up, checked in when I pulled into a space at Walmart, and the items were in my trunk less than 10 minutes later. I can’t believe it has taken me this long to try this service, and I may not take my kids out during cold and flu season as long as I can get everything delivered to my trunk!
Now, see my daughter’s hair? It has a slight wave to it in the back and it can be a mess. With my son, I never had to deal with the knots – and he had a haircut before even turned a year old. Thankfully JOHNSON’S® has a NO MORE TANGLES® detangling spray that I use during bath time – and any time the knots are just too much to comb through. I try to work her hair out in the bathtub, but I definitely brush it afterwards, and if the knots are bad I try to work on them a little throughout the day. The NO MORE TANGLES® spray helps gets her hair under control and lessens our tears.
Speaking of tears (and bedtime routines), there are a lot of them when I have to brush her teeth. Just recently she has taken a liking to an iPad app I use with her brother, so I can clean her teeth (it distracts her just enough.) Brushing my children’s teeth might be my least favorite part of the day. I try to brush my daughter’s teeth while she’s wrapped in a towel and before she can get too chilly. It’s just simpler since we’re already in the bathroom.
Finally, we have reading time at bedtime – my girl loves to read. While I’m drying her off, applying the HEAD-TO-TOE® baby lotion and dressing her, she’s reading a board book. Before I put her down for the night, we tend to read at least one book together. I remember with my son, he would pick out dozens of books to read at bedtime! My daughter’s current book of choice? Anything featuring Elmo.
Rocking my baby for a few minutes is by far one of my favorite moments of the day. She sucks her thumb when she’s tired, and I try to soak up the baby moments while I still can – these babies grow quickly and I want to remember all the sweetness before it escapes me.
Recently when we traveled, I didn’t let our trip derail bedtime. If we were in the car when I knew the kids might fall asleep, I put them in pajamas right after dinner. I kept the JOHNSON’S® HEAD-TO-TOE® baby cleansing cloths in my bag to use in the car and I love the HEAD-TO-TOE® baby wash and keep travel size bottles in my travel bags.
What products do you love to use at bedtime for your baby?
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I used to fall asleep reading to my kids. It worked for me :). However I was bad about routines- I was working and wanted to spend time with them at night so kept them up probably a little too late sometimes
The early bedtimes are so hard for working parents! (I’m a working mom myself.) I hate that I don’t always see my kids for longer periods of time during the week, so I try to make up for it on weekends.
I miss having a bedtime routine. Now that my kids are older, it’s all gone out the window. I need to try to get them back into some sort of routine, but it’s hard when it’s still light out.
I totally think having a strong night time routine equates to beter sleep. We started one at 4 weeks and he is a great sleeper!
We were not as smart our first time parenting, but with our second, we knew going in we had to have a plan!
routine and schedule are so important for kids at such a young age. keeping a good routine means better sleep and better health!
I love the Johnsons bedtime bath. I even use it on myself as well as the kids. Love their products! We use them for all our nightly routines!
That’s exactly the stuff we used for our girls when they were younger. And we’ll recommend it to them when they have grandbabies (in a LONG time)!
My youngest kids are 9 & 6 and we still stick to our routine. It’s key! I could never wrap my head around my friends kids who would just be up until all different times etc.