Routine for 1yo?

Hiya

Im interested to know what your routine is/was for your one year old- as in dinner at 5, bath at 6, story then bed etc

Abbys nights are all over the place and we are wanting to get her in to a better pattern so that she is in bed at the same time every night. At the moment she can go to bed anywhere between 7:30 and 11!!!

her day goes a little like this:

wake up: 8-9 breakfast, play, nap around 11am for 1-1.5hrs, play, lunch, play another nap at around 2-3pm for another 1-1.5 hrs and then she is up playing with dad, will have dinner, some more playing and then we will start trying to get her to go to bed at about 8ish. Things like baths, snacks, dinner and breakfast dont have set times at the moment.

Any ideas or suggestions would be great as this isnt really working for us as we dont know what we are doing from one minute to the next, and we would like some 'free time' in the evenings!!!!!!

TIA
xx

Hi!
Question first... maybe she needs to drop down to one nap a day instead of two?
My DS will be 14 months old next week and our day looks a little like this...

wake around 7:30am, prayers, Bible reading, cuddles in bed, up and moving about 8am
8:30am breakfast
play time
nap sometime between 11am and 1pm depending on whether he plays hard enough in the morning or is in the pram because we had to go out... and his nap is generally around 1-1.5 hours
afternoon play time and/or trip to the park and/or walk in the neighborhood
dinner around 5:30pm and 6pm which then begins the night routine of dinner, bath, quiet play, night breastfeed and LATELY he has been going down fairly easily for us between 7:45pm and 8:45pm
I hope this helps somewhat...

My first suggestion would be to get meal times (all three) and bath time down to roughly a set time each day.
At our house we have breakfast at about 6.30 when we all get up. Lunch is probably the most variable but usually that is around 12.30. We eat dinner at 6. Bathtime is around 5pm.
It sounds boring (and it was a rude shock to us after years of being childless and eating whenever we felt like it - or not at all if we didn't feel like it LOL). But it's really, really important that toddlers know what to expect every day.
Dinner is over by 6.30, which is when DD goes into the loungeroom and lies on her "Dora couch" and drinks her milk while I feed DS and daddy cleans up. Then it's bedtime. She knows this and most nights finishes her milk, starts kissing everyone goodnight and is pretty much telling US when it's bedtime. Both kids are in bed by 7pm, every single night LOL.
I know this doesn't work for some people - if you're out in the late afternoon or at night alot obviously it definitely won't work.
But we try to organise things so that 95% of the time we are home in the afternoon/early evening and find that having the kids in a good routine isn't restricting - it saves our sanity.
I'd seriously go crazy if I had both of them up until all hours at night, I freely admit I couldn't cope!

Thanks for the ideas ladies...

Heidi- yes i have been thinking if we should cut it down to one nap so maybe that is the key to geting her to bed earlier (hmmm sounds so obvious now:redface: )

Flea- Firsgt of all... OMG at how early you all get up!!! Now thats something i couldnt cope with!! I am thinking that maybe 9am is a little to late for her to be sleeping in till, but i guess when i cut her second nap and get her to bed earlier she will be up earlier too :doh: .... i guess its a small price to pay! Your right tho, i think getting her meal times set will help.

i was going to suggest dropping a sleep too....i find sophie (13 months) will most days have 2 sleeps, but somedays just the one will do her.
If she isnt in bed asleep by 4pm, i dont bother, i nut it out. We will never get her down at night if she sleeps past 4pm.
I start preparing dinner at 4pm !! we usually eat 530pm, bath, then play.....
Sophie is in bed by 645pm and usually wakes 7am next day....

Chloe's routine has been like this for quite a while:

Awake: between 6.20 - 7.00am
Up:7.00am
Bottle: 7.30am
Solids:8.00-8.30am
Sleep: 10 - 11.30/12
Solids and Bottle: 12.30
Sleep: 3 - 4 ish
Bath: 5 is
Solids and Bottle: 5.30
Bed: 7 - 7.30pm

Just tried dropping a sleep today as she was starting to not want to sleep at the 3pm sleep! So this will change - she had a 2 & 1/2 hour sleep at 11.45am today so I hope this continues!

I agree with Flea - toddlers know then what to expect each day. Plus I also couldn't cope if she was up late. Plus it allows you and your partner to have time together which for us is a rarity!

Hi
Thought i would share my 13 month olds routine.
We ae pretty stuck on it but she is very comfortable with this as she knows what is going to happen

8.00 Wake up, have a little cuddle and drink of water then she plays while watching high 5

9.00 Breakfast of weetbix and toast or poached eggs on toast. Then we have a wash and go for a walk or play outside.

10.30/11.00 Sleep till about 12ish.

12.30 Lunch

2.00 A little snack and a drink

3.00 Sleep untill about 4.30

5.30 Dinner

6.30 Bath

7.00 Bottle of 200 mills formula
Then we read a book and have cuddles

7.30 Bed.

Hope that helps!!!

Amber

Thanks for all the help and ideas everyone.

We have started getting things into a better order. We cut the second nap and its really helping. We are still working it all out but at this stage, the later part of the day is set and seems to be working with dinner at 6, followed by a bath, some quiet play, some milk and then bed. I cant believe its going so well.

Now i just want to work on making sure she has an entertaining day- as in find some other things for us to do together.....

I found with my DD who is also one, that when I gave her 1 nap instead of 2, she went to sleep at night earlier. So around 8am wake up, 1pm Nap till around 3pm, then I put her to sleep at 8pm, this has worked for awhile now. when she had 2 naps though, she wouldnt want to sleep that early, she would go to bed different times. So I reckon maybe cut down one nap. Good Luck