Naps and Bedtime

Naps

The best hack I have for naps is to get your kiddies to nap at roughly the same time as each other (if your child is too old to nap, he/she can have quiet time to relax in room with books).  My toddler naps at 11:30am so I put baby down shortly after – this gives me at least an hour to do chores, blog, cook, whatever.  This works well for now because the baby is taking 3 naps a  day.  As toddler gets older, his nap will become a bit later, let’s say 12:30pm.  Around then, I can play around with baby’s nap as well – he can either stay at noon or move to 1pm, depending on what his morning nap is like.

Bedtime for Two by Yourself

When I was pregnant with C, I was so nervous about what I would do when alone and putting both kids to bed (J plays soccer once a week, teaches at certain times during the year, etc.)  The first 2 months were simple because C didn’t have a bedtime and I could just put him in his swing and put A to sleep, and A’s bedtime routine is not super lengthy.  Now C does have a bedtime routine AND he goes to bed first, so there is a little bit more involved but here is what has worked for me so far!

  1. Skip baths for the night to make things easier.
  2. Get baby in PJ’s and diaper and swaddle or whatever baby wears
  3. Get toddler situated either in crib with toys, in playpen with a video, whatever.  You could also bring toddler to baby’s room with you with quiet toys or books while you put baby to sleep (but that wouldn’t work for my energy ninja).
  4. Take baby to room and give bottle and help put to sleep.  Then, play with toddler until his/her bedtime.

Easy Bedtime Routine

I’ve used a variation of this bedtime routine since A was a little baby 🙂

  1. Bath
  2. Hygiene (this depends on how old your baby is – night diaper, brush teeth, comb hair, lotion, stuff like that)
  3. Pajamas (and swaddle or sleep sack if using)
  4. Sound machine on and lights low
  5. Snuggles and stories (and feeding here if baby is young, but once baby is a bit older I like to feed before bath)
  6. Kiss goodnight and put in crib/