Wednesday 13 February 2019

PARENTHOOD: Our Bedtime Routine with a 1 and 3 year old

PARENTHOOD: Our Bedtime Routine with a 1 and 3 year old
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Our bedtime routine has always been part of the day I really treasure, as we wind down from the busy day and spend some quality quiet time together. Since having two children our bedtime routine has changed, but the main components have stayed the same - bath, book, bottle, bed. While Poppy is still young she has a bottle before bed, whereas Isabella will have a glass of milk at dinner time instead now. We are planning on phasing Poppy's bedtime bottle out soon and replacing it with a glass of milk at dinner time, like Isabella has. But for now it is still part of our routine and one of the only precious one-on-one times I get with Poppy.
Bedtime always looks the same in our house; we do the same thing every single day. Both Isabella and Poppy thrive off routine, so ensuring we are consistent is really important to us and them. Although, they don't have a bath every night if they do then that is the first step in the bedtime routine. They both absolutely love splashing around, pretending to 'bake' and making 'snow' by clapping handfuls of the bubbles together. Once they are both washed then it is always Poppy who gets out first and Isabella enjoys having the extra space in the bath. Then it's Isabella's turn to get out, dried and then dressed into her pyjamas. Some days she likes to do all of this herself, whereas others she'll ask for help. 


After the bath it is time for brushing their teeth, which we do while singing 'this is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth, this is the way we brush our teeth on a cold and frosty evening'. A recent addition to our bedtime routine that the girls have loved has been the BABY Born Bath Wash Basin (£29.99). It is the perfect BABY Born Soft Touch Doll (£49.99) accessory for supporting bedtime and teaching children how to be slightly more independent. There is a mirror, towel, working tap, duck plug, toothbrush, tooth mug and all the magical lights/sounds any little one could want. Isabella really enjoys taking the time to brush the doll's teeth, wiping her face, cleaning the tooth brush with the working tap and then reading her a story before bed. To get the tap working all you have to do is put a small about of water into the basin, let it drain through the plug and then the tap works by pressing down on it. An ideal way to teach children about self hygiene, how to brush their teeth effectively, not to mention a fun addition to play with. 


The next stage in our bedtime routine is to all go into Isabella's bedroom for a story. She chooses a story, then we all snuggle up on her bed and read the story altogether. Sometimes Isabella will 'read' the story, but most of the time I read it. Once the story is finished the girls will give each other a hug/kiss goodnight and I'll take Poppy into her bedroom. I'll pop her into her sleeping bag, turn off the lights, switch on the white noise and give her the bottle. While I'm doing this Isabella is either reading another book in her room or playing. 
Once Poppy has finished the bottle she will lay straight down in her cot and put herself to sleep. I'll then go back into Isabella where we'll tidy up her room and then go into my bedroom to snuggle up in a bed and watch two episodes of children's tv. At the moment this is usually Vamperina and PJ Masks, sometimes with a short Peppa Pig thrown in for good measure. While feeding Poppy is my precious one-on-one time with her, this is my precious one-on-one time with Isabella. We'll talk about the day, but most often she won't want me to talk over her tv programme!
After the two episodes have finished she will go into her bedroom, I'll tuck her up in bed, turn the light off, turn on her monitor with classical music playing and kiss her goodnight. She'll then put herself to sleep and our bedtime routine is finished. It's then downstairs for me and time to get all the jobs done that I haven't had time to do throughout the day.  


What is your bedtime routine?


Feel free to leave a comment - I love reading every single one :)


Helen x
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18 comments

  1. Always interesting to read people’s bedtime routines. We only have one child but our daughters routine sounds similar to our eldests.

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  2. I can imagine it is hard to get to bed with 2 kids. It is always interesting to see how people do bedtime in their own homes.

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  3. Gosh, my bedtime routine takes me long enough as it is without factoring a child into the equation, hehe. I'm not a very maternal person.

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  4. We used to have bedtime routines here when the kids were younger, it is so important for them as well.

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  5. Bedtime routines are so important. Both my teen and 8 year old still have their own bedtime routines, they need it otherwise bedtime becomes disorganized and upsetting for them both.

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  6. It is hard to remember back as my girls are 11 and almost 13 now. I do remember the only way I could get them to sleep was to have them both fall asleep on the sofa and carry them to bed. My husband used to work nights so I was alone and did whatever worked at the time.

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  7. We used to try the bath, story bed routine just to get them to wind down. It worked most times but not every time. bed times are tricky.

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  8. It's nice that your girls have such routine in their evenings, I only have me to worry about and even then I struggle sometimes x

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  9. Bedtime routines are vital when you have little ones and this one looks so lovely. Your photos are gorgeous.

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  10. Ihave a routine with Pickle but it has gone a bit astray since Christmas! I must rethink it actually. Lovely photos. Kaz

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  11. Our bedtime routine is roughly dinner at 6, bath at 7, lights out at 8 - with a bedtime story somewhere in between bath and lights out. My boys are 4 years apart, and the younger one gets to go to bed later than his brother did at that age, just because it's easier doing them both together.

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  12. Aw they are cute - my daughter seems to like playing with dollies and enjoys pretend play, I should check this out for her.

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  13. This sounds like a nice routine to wind down at the end of the day. Im due my second baby next month so I’m a bit scared about trying to adjust routines to fit around a newborn!

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  14. I am due to be a first time mum soon, so have not thought about bedtime routines just yet. Interesting though!

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  15. The baby born toy set looks like a great way to teach a child about hyigene, and bedtime routines! Very cute xx

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  16. It's great to have a set bedtime routine I really think it helps children to settle. Our grandsons are now 7, 10 and 11. They love reading so rather than me having to read a bedtime story to them the youngest two will read their books to me.

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  17. Our bedtime routine has similarities to you although we only have one child. Before we moved it was dinner, bath, book and bed but with bath time closer to bedtime. We now have showers right after dinner before our son can watch half an hour of TV. We turn it off 25 minutes before bed time so we can chat, do his teeth and star chart before stories in bed. He was good about nodding off himself but he's developed a fear of the dark so we tend to either stay with him or check him every 5 minutes until he's asleep.

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  18. We tend to double team at bedtime. I will do Kipper and my husband does Monkey that way they both get some time on their own with a parent. Although when he’s traveling I then really struggle!! Xx

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