Can you please share your toddler's bedtime routine?

James is almost 16 months and still gts a bottle at night ( ) - He loves it, DH and I love it - it's our little snuggle time with him every night. DH and I alternate doing his bath/bottle every night.

I know we're going to have to eliminate the bottle at some point - I just don't know if *I'm* ready to eliminate it, KWIM?

As of right now, we give him a bath at 7 every night, then it's PJ's on, bottle and then bed. He's asleep by 7:30 every night.

If we take away that bedtime bottle, how should we change up the bedtime routine?

What is YOUR bedtime routine like?

Re: Can you please share your toddler's bedtime routine?

Ty is 14.5 mnths.

No more bottles for him. I was sick of them and wanted them all out of my house.

At around 5:30 he gets a sippy of milk. Sometimes he drinks it all right away, sometimes I have to keep putting it in his mouth.

5:45 he gets a bath with his brother.

6pm - I take Tyler out of the bath, put him on my bed, snuggle, and get him dressed.

6:15 He is in his crib. 6:30 he is sleeping and Jack comes out of the bath to get ready for bed.

ETA: Let me think back to Jack since he was a first child and things were done differently.

Timing was the same. We used to come up to his room, sit in his glider and sing songs from Music Together. Read a book, then bedtime. He just sits up with a sippy cup, versus laying with a bottle.

Message edited 1/4/2011 11:22:58 AM.

Re: Can you please share your toddler's bedtime routine?

V - don't feel so bad. We got rid of it at 17 months and I thought it was going to be a NIGHTMARE, but it wasn't at all.
Just do the "snuggle" time without the bottle.

I started to transition the milk in the sippy in the mornings b4 daycare. He only gets it downstairs in the kitchen b/c sippy cups aren't as good as bottles keeping the milk in.

Anyway... now he gets dinner around 5:15PM then he gets his cup of milk after.
Playtime from 5:30ish to 6:30PM
bathtime at 6:30
after bath he gets in his PJ's on our bed while watch Nick Jr, Yo Gabba Gabba or whatever.
Snuggle till close to 7PM
brush teeth
stories and I lay him in the crib a little after 7.
He goes to sleep on his own.
We've been doing this for months and it works. I was worried b/c he liked his milk room temp, but now is fine with it cold in his cup.

Re: Can you please share your toddler's bedtime routine?

DS is 23 months and still has a bottle before bed. Ped said it's fine...I know he is not ready to give it up...neither am I. Bedtime is "our" time, b/c it's the only time it is me and him alone. It's our cuddle time...DH stays with younger DD while I put him to bed.

We do a bath every other night. I read books while he drinks his bottle, put on the sound/projection machine and stay with him until he falls asleep.

I guess once he is off the bottle, it will just be a sippy of milk while we read books.

Re: Can you please share your toddler's bedtime routine?

AJ had a bottle until 2, then we went cold turkey. Not nearly as bad as I thought. Instead of a bottle we gave her a sippy. It took 3days to really get into the groove. So weekend and it was over.

She goes to bed REALLY late by comparsion to just about everyone on here but the routine is mostly the same.

Bath nights - its bath, lotioned, cuddle, tv, then cuddle with sippy until crash

Non bath nights, its last change, then cuddle, tv, cuddle with sippy until crash

by TV I mean barney or mickey mouse etc. about a half hour or an hour. We just know when she's ready to crash is all I can say.