Who Puts Your Child(ren) To Bed?

This is not a whinge about DP - it's just the way it's turned out because DP is not home in the evening one week out of two so I've always put DD to bed. Even on the weeks he is home, it's never really bothered me before now - I've always quite enjoyed it. But now we're just in an unpredictable phase and I'm not enjoying it any more and would quite like DP to take over on the weeks he is home but DD just shouts for mama so we're between a rock and a hard place. I can think of a way around this - I'll just disappear to a cafe at the end of the street for half an hour at bedtime, that way DD will know that really it's DP or nothing.

But I'm just wondering what's normal in your house - d'you do it, d'you share or does your partner do bedtime. I kind of get the impression from a few MG mums that it's their partner's job.

We share. Sometimes i like putting them to bed. Sometimes i feel like i've had enough and i'd like a break. Sometimes #1 requests one of us or the other, but we share the job. Hubby leaves for work early and gets home pretty late, so it's really the only time they get somedays. Good for them and i like the break! :redface:

I'm the one who puts the kids to bed in our house too, I suppose it's just something I've always done and the kids are so use to it being me now not sure if they would go to bed for dad, not that they always go to be for me anyway :wall:.

Regards,
Dianne

We share the bedtime but TBH when DH does it I miss tucking DS in and go in later once he is asleep for a kiss.

Spring x

Yeah my DP puts DD to bed. He always has done. I put her down during the day and he does night time. Ive never really given it much thought till now...

We both do.. having 2 he does 1 I do the other.. or whatever.. We wanted them both to be ok being put down by mum or dad.

My DH is not home for the evenings every other week too Fionas, so on those weeks obviously its just me! But when he's home, we share it. DD is really good at bedtime in the evenings.

(Daytime cat naps of 30 mins are a different story!):doh:

We alternate each night. One night I'll put the girls to bed, the next night DH puts them to bed. They go to bed at different times, so it works well.

We juggle the big two between us but generally I put DS2 to bed (he's only 8 weeks old). I used to put both kids to bed but some nights it's just not possible now. I do really miss putting my little man to bed though on the nights I can't do it :(

Um, the usual routine in our place is Dp will get home @ 5.00pm and he plays with ava while I make dinner then we have dinner after dinner I do the dishes and clean up and dp does the bath, and dresses her and then gives her a bottle & reads to her and puts her to bed. Some nights we swap and he does the dishes while I do ava, but because he only gets 2 hours to see dd @ night because she's in bed @ 7.30 he likes doing it.

I use to always put Oskar to bed, but he used to feed to sleep. Then there was the transition from feeding to sleep to him going to sleep on his own - he was bf until 19 months - so it became both of us. As it got closer to me having Elijah we switched it and changed it around so that it gradually became more and more daddy doing it. Now, it's pretty much DH unless he's away for work. Mainly because Elijah is usually being fed at that time anyway, so I do him and DH does Oskar.

we both put DD1 to bed, but i put DD2 to bed because she's usually attached to me until after DF goes to bed.
i love that both of us put DD1 to bed, i always used to do it,but have made him get more involved especially if its bed time for DD1 and i cant help out because im feeding DD2

we both do it!!
we take one each after bath to dress, we alternate this, then we read the same book everynight to both girls on DD1's bed, we say goodnight to DD1, light out, i then feed DD2 and she goes to bed, its the same everynight unless DH isnt home, then i do it all, im starting a volunteer job on sunday night so DH will do bedtime every sunday solo

I put Jazz to bed mostly, because I feed her to sleep, but on the nights she doesn't feed to sleep and prefers cuddles she likes cuddles from Shel which is kind of :D and kind of :crying: Her and Shel are two peas most of the time, so Shel can do bedtimes later on LOL! I've done the first 12 months, its only been the last few weeks that she'll actually go to sleep without me feeding her :o

LOL!

we used to put ds1 to bed together before ds2 was born but ds1 is a daddy's boy so dh puts him to bed while i put ds2 to bed. ds2 is quicker because he pretty much just goes dow nwhen ds1 needs teeth, books, prayer etc etc

We take turns ... use to be more me putting DD to bed BUT for sometime now it has been 50/50 :D

I did the bedtime routine when I was breastfeeding DS1 but when he weaned DH took over and just hung on to the "job"! There are nights when he is at work late and then I do it but if he is home he does the bedtime routine.
Now that DS2 is here we kind of do it together because I'm generally feeding DS2 when it is time for pj's, stories and the like.
So I guess now DH puts DS1 to bed and I put DS2 to bed! It works well - especially since for the time being (it is changing very soon as we have to move) we are all sleeping in one room together!

I had HUGE issues with getting DS to go to sleep, he would not go to sleep if he knew I was in the house. In the end I would grab the car keys and go to a "meeting" while his Dad put him to bed (he would go straight to sleep for him)

These days, when DS is with his Dad, his Dad puts him to bed and when DS is with me most of the time I put him to bed, but occasionally my Dad puts him to bed

We share. Dh always put the boys to bed while I Bf Dd.. now she has stopped feeding he either cuddles her with her cup of milk and I put the boys to bed or vice versa.. Otherwise DD Dh and I go tuck the boys in then go back to the lounge and DD chooses whose lap she wants to sit on.. Last night it was mine but tonight she cuddled up with Dh..

We both do it together. Dh gives dd1 and dd2 a cuddle and a little chat, while I read dd3 a book on her bed. Then we swap over.

I put DD2 to bed as I give her a BF and then put her down. DD1 is asked who she would like to take her to bed and she chooses mummy or daddy. Initally it was always mummy but as she's gotten older it's more 50/50 - DP is always happy when he gets chosen as she was a mummy's girl for sooooo long.

I have always done the bedtimes - make sure the pj's are on, teeth are brushed, book read if there's time (tho my 8 year old often goes in and reads a book or two to my 4 year old now, which is nice - they enjoy their own little special time together) and then say quick prayers. Either they will go say goodnight to DH before all that, or he will come in and give them a quick kiss and goodnight right before lights out.

I don't always enjoy it - particularly now that by that stage of the evening I don't feel like waddling down the hall...would be easier to stay beached on the couch :D But I figure it's a special thing, really, seeing they grow up SO fast and eventually they won't even want me to put them to bed. So I cherish it while it lasts.

I do it here...
Similar situation to you Fiona - Daryl was away at work 2 weeks out of 3 so it was just me...easier for me to do it when he was home..

Plus, Charlotte was fed to sleep until she was about 11months old, we were away for extended perods without DH in her first 18 months, so again it was me and I knew how to do it so she was happy and went to sleep.

I would love though for DH to be able to do it, and when I am not here he does and she is fabulous. But if I am here she has to have a feed before bed and I have tp put her down.

Not sure how this will change now though - we took the side off her cot today so this is he first night in a "big girl bed", so expecting ups and downs etc to occur - she fell asleep feeding tonight though so no issues tonight! lol

I have been thinking though that I would like to use a lot more EBM with the next one and that way DH can be more hands on - BF really does make it much harder to "share" many responsibilities I think

I hadn't really thought about it but DD is usually walked/rocked to sleep (occasionally fed to sleep) so we alternate. I probably do it more because 2 out of 6 weeks he is away for bedtime and another 2 out of 6 weeks he leaves at 9:30pm and sometimes she still isn't down properly by then!

At this point I can envision still rocking her to sleep at 15 ekk!

dh puts ds to bed during the week because i bath, cook dinner etc and dh does bed and dishes. On the weekends we swap roles. However after writing this I just realised that dh gives ds a bath on weekends but I still have to cook dinner, put ds to bed and do the dishes.. hmmm that doesn't really work out does it :(