Bedtime Routine

It’s been a tough few weeks when it comes to Jimmy sleeping…at night. He naps like a champ but we’ve had some weird nights where he wakes up literally every hour. I’ve tried not letting him sleep as much in the evening so that he’ll sleep longer at night. When I introduced baby food and cereal I tried giving it to him right before bed in the hopes he would stay fuller longer. Nada! It actually seemed like he woke up sooner. I’ve blamed it on teething and a growth spurt and it may have legitimately been one or both of those things BUT I don’t want this pattern to become the norm so I decided to establish a bedtime routine to see if that will help. Last night was the first night and I think it was a success.

It started with dinner. I stripped him down to his diaper and set him on a disposable changing pad on the living room floor and fed him my homemade sweet potato baby food. You should have seen his face! It was greatness! I put that first spoonful in his mouth and he sat there with his mouth hanging wide open like Okay, Mom now what?? I knew he liked it because I had given him some the night before. I finally realized it was a little too thick so I added a little water and oatmeal cereal and that was the trick! He practically inhaled every spoonful and held his little arms out in front of him the entire time.

Once dinner was done I laid him on the floor with his pacifier and he rolled around playing with the changing pad while I gathered up a diaper, towel, wash cloth, lotion, baby oil, his baby gum brush and tooth/gum paste, pajama’s and his baby tub. When the tub was full and ready I sat him in it with a little rubber duck I got at my baby shower. He loved it! He’s getting better at sitting up so he has more fun in the tub now because he doesn’t have to lay back. Daddy came in and played with him too and helped me scrub him down front and back. Once he was clean he played some more, splashing and trying to shove the whole duck in his mouth. I would say he took a 20 or 30 minute bath!

Once the bubbles and ducky fun were wearing off I wrapped him in the towel and headed back to the living room floor where he got a nice massage of baby oil and then lotion. Topped it off with a fresh diaper, pajama’s and a good gum scrubbing and he was ready to nurse! After nursing he was so relaxed he felt like a rag doll. He sat in my lap and leaned his oily-lotioned head against me and zoned out. I couldn’t even tell you when he fell asleep, sweet little thing.

He did really well during the night…only waking up twice! So we’ll try it again tonight and maybe incorporate a bedtime story and see how it goes.