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This is how we begin a successful nighttime routine, starting from birth, and without sleep training.
One huge tip is to keep nap-time and nighttime routines separate–at least until a nap time schedule is more concrete, but more on that in a moment.
Bed time:
The key is consistency. (I know, you have probably heard that a million times before.) The twins’ bedtime is around 8PM so I was hoping that L’s would be around that time, as well. So the first day he was brought home was when we began starting a nighttime routine. (As time has passed, following him and his awake times, he’s usually ready between 7:30 and 9:30.)
-First, toilet (we began elimination communication when L was a few weeks old) and change into night clothing.
-Close the curtains.
-We then read a book with E and V and sing their good-night song (a routine we’ve had since they were newborns) in the living room on the new rocker that allows us all to sit comfortably.
-L and I then head into his room, turn the lights off and the sound machine on.
-Nurse in the chair in his room.
-I then put him in his nighttime sleep sack and lay him down on his floored.
When he wakes at night and needs me, I keep lights off, only using the light from his sound machine and a little motion light. Change him and then nurse. Sometimes he’s sleeping when he goes back onto his floor bed and sometimes he’s a little awake.
Currently, I sleep in the same room (sleeping on a Nugget couch), so if he needs me to assist in falling asleep, I’m there. This has rarely happened and I usually just listen to him babble until he’s sleeping again.
Since one month old he’ll frequently wake once a night and put himself back to sleep (he would look at the red Nanit lights or the side of his bassinet). If he didn’t begin grunting, a sign he needs me, I let him do his thing.
Nap time routine is different because, due to nap variations, there’s no consistent time, yet.
Because of this I don’t treat it with the same level I do bedtime.
At nap time we use a different sleep sac, one that L’s great aunt made him.
We don’t close the curtains and I don’t use the sound machine.
Also, I do contact naps whenever I’m able because we love it.
As his nap times become a bit more regular, I’ll start to close the curtain and use the sound machine but will continue to use a different sleep sack than used at night.
At three months old he is starting to get a regular nap routine down (one is the same time as his sisters’ quiet time), but we still love our cuddles.
While L has been sleeping through the night, most nights, since 1.5 months old *knock on wood*, this isn’t typical. He was 11 pounds at birth and that plays a role. E and V, on the other hand, were both colicky newborns and didn’t sleep through the night more regularly until 6 months. Regardless, I always kept to a nighttime routine–albeit I would end up sitting with E and V, lights off and music on, most nights the first few months, until 4 in the morning.
Do you have a nighttime routine? If so, when did you begin?
*Still in the process of finishing up his room. Once complete, I’ll make sure to share a post. Here’s a previous post of E and V’s room when they were infants.