how long does your toddler take to wind down and what do you do...
so DD (almost 2) seems to need some wind down time when in bed before falling asleep, that would be fine if she didnt need me there with her, so im wondering if say reading books with her inbed for around the length of time she fluffs around would help her wind down and fall asleep quicker.
so how long does your LO take and what dod you do?
We read lots of books and sometimes i'll put on kids shows for her to watch. Moreso books though and no tv or sit and listen to music and talk about the day and what we are going to do tomorrow. HOWEVER... this isn't working for us now as it's taking her at least 3 hours from the time i put her to bed until she goes to sleep (and thats a min!)
I usually read books out of bed.
Will be interested to hear what others have to say. Hope you can find something soon hun. xx
We have had a few bad nights lately but most nights no problem. Our wind down time has started to involve 'baby'. DD got her first baby doll for Christmas. When it is time for DD to go to bed, DD and baby sit down together with me in DD's room and we pick 4 stories (sometimes there is a little bit of a misunderstanding on how many stories but nevertheless, there are stories.
Then I say something to DD along the lines of, its getting late now, mummy is so tired, is baby tired (she always nods or says yes) and I say well lets go to bed. Together we wrap baby up and then put her in DD's bed and DD climbs in next to her lying down and pats babies back. I turn some very gentle lullaby music and DD has a projector thing on her ceiling of the moon and some stars and give them both(yes the baby as well) a kiss and we say love you and goodnight. This has worked a treat the last2 nights as DD is all of a sudden loving caring for babies. Tonight I walked out and she was patting her wrapped up babies back and I did not hear a peep all night. She probably tired herself out patting her baby (I know it tires me out when I have to pat her)
Anyway who knows how long it will work for but its a nice wind down and very quiet (for babies sake )
We have our bedtime routine - tea, bath/shower, dressed for bed... then we read books for about half an hour (depending on how tired DS seems), then he goes to bed. He might talk/move around for 5-10 minutes, but will then drift off on his own.
I think reading books is a big part of why he goes to bed so well - it's a quiet activity, and he sits on my knee so he gets lots of nice close contact before bed for the night. Also, because it's part of the routine, I've noticed he actually starts getting noticeably sleepier after a few books.
thanks everyone!
our routine thats been the same since she was 3 weeks old is currently
5.30 dinner
6.00 bath
then book boob and bed...
though im weaning off the boob and maybe thats when things took a little turn mmmmm
am going to try the same but after boob. i'll read some books with her while DH plays with DD1 and see how we go
am also going to try out a special CD a special person gave me
DS doesn't go to bed till 8.30pm most nights because we found he just wasn't ready for bed before that. Plus, it's so light outside still at night - I think he was having trouble getting to sleep earlier.
E has a cup of milk, zipped in to her sleeping bag, then we read a book together. Then we go through the whole routine, of kissing the picture of J, saying goodnight to the butterflies on her wall, and the faries on her wall. Then she says goodnight to about 5 different teddies. All up taking about 15 mins.
DS takes aaages to wind down. Thankfully since he was about 2 or so he didn't need us ther the whole time. He has bath, supper and books, then lights out and songs. Then he blathers on to himself (sometimes needing us to pop in and out) for 30-60 minutes after all that.
Sometims I've found reading more and more books works. We insist he's quiet and still for books and songs, which helps him to wind down a bit. If he is noisy or moves aroudn he gets one warning then we walk out.
Usually he winds down pretty fast. After about 4 books of his choosing, zip into bag, kiss for Mummy & Daddy, goodnight pat for the cats I can hear him rolling around for about 5 mins.
Though sometimes for whatever reason it's not working for him and he'll go for an hour or more! But we'll go in and pat him off to sleep for as long as it takes in this case.
OMG - thank goodness it is not just us. DD2 here has been up for hours recently...we have been doing dinner at 5.30. Bath. Quiet time until 7.30, usually reading books and quiet playing. We read a book together, teeth, pretend to go to the toilet (her that is), then bed. Last night was a bit later but she was still going strong at 10.30.... something is going on as she is usually really good. We have had to lie on the floor until she goes to sleep otherwise she shrieks the house down. I have organised playdates etc in the afternoons for this week in desperation but not sure it will make any difference as the girls are quite full on anyway.
Really interested in others experiences....
DS is either fully on or stopped completely so we don't have the best wind down - now that he's up a bit later, we eat dinner together then he plays for anything up to 30 mins, then he has a bath. after his bath he usually runs around naked for a bit & then it's into pj's & pretty quickly into his sleeping bag. sometimes we read a couple of books & sometimes it's straight to lights out, a feed & bed.
we've tried doing quiet time after his bath but he pretty much runs around like a loon no matter what we do, so we just go along with it.
he takes anything from a couple of minutes to 40 to go to sleep - anything over that & it's usually because we've gone too early with bedtime but someone is with him till he goes to sleep.
We have dinner, let the girls play for 10min then it's a bath we let them do nudie runs and go a but crazy before they hop in then after the bath we get them in their pj's, brush their hair and read them both a book while they have some milk. Then it's lights out and we shut their doors. The both have a torch in their room and we let them play in bed with it and some toys. Eventually they settle and fall asleep. Dd2 is normally asleep in about 15 minutes.
she didnt, but that was because DH did the story time which went well until it was time to go to sleep and she cried for me we gave up and i went and stoood in the doorway...sigh
This is where we are at also, although I have the added problem of my Ds's sharing a room, and bunks. We are making sure we are doing stories, and this is working (we have gotten slack by #3 ) to get him sleepy, but when he goes to bed he yaps and yaps and annoys DS. I think we will try putting DS in our bed to go to sleep for a while....
If you can figure anything out let me know
Sometimes if I read 10+ books he'll just drop off without the chatter and singing and yelling and thrashing...
DS won't go to sleep till 8:30-9. If he skips his nap he might get to sleep by 8, but he's a nasty, horrid mess for the afternoon.
It always takes time when you're changing things around Olive. It's good story time went well at least and that you're doing without the bedtime feed.
I don't know what we're going to do with DD if he's still doing this down the track becstar
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how long does your toddler take to wind down and what do you do...
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mmmmm
gave me
but someone is with him till he goes to sleep.
we gave up and i went and stoood in the doorway...sigh
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