Nightly Routine

Every night around 9:00 we start Hayven's nightly routine. I've been pretty big on this schedule, and it has been working! I read somewhere to start a baby on a nightly routine, like a bath, then bottle, then bed so they relate bedtime to something. So when she gets a bath, I think she knows bedtime is coming & she falls asleep easier. We start with a bath. Usually Bull or I get the water ready in her bathtub and put her towel in the drier so its warm when she gets out. Spoiled much? Maybe, but anything to not have her screaming crying. She is NOT a fan of the cold at all. She used to hate even getting in the bath, but now she loves it. She still doesn't like getting out, but it's getting better. We still give her a bath in the sink. It's so much easier to reach her.

 

 

Daddy always gets her towel out of the dryer and quickly wraps her up.

 

 

Then, we get her dressed. This is her least favorite part. She does not like changing her clothes or putting on clothes one bit. 

Now, it's off to the bathroom. We then warm her up with the blow dryer a little bit. When someone gave me this advice to keep her from crying I was a little apprehensive at first, but she LOVES it. It usually almost puts her straight to sleep. Of course we make sure it's on warm and low and doesn't get it too hot.

 

After that, we swaddle her. She used to be able to not stand her hands away from her face, and I'd have to make sure her hands are right at the top, but she doesn't mind much anymore. She usually does get mad right when I start to swaddle her, but I think it's because she just got comfy after being blow dried and gets mad.

 

Then, it's time for a bottle & she usually can barely hold her eyes open by the end of it.

 

Finally it's bedtime. She usually falls asleep by the end of her bottle, but usually ALWAYS wakes up when I lay her in her bassinet. I think she knows that her paci puts her to sleep, so she spits it for a little while on purpose, and I have to put it back in. I always crack up because right when she starts to doze off again she ends up spitting it out. Eventually after playing this game for about 10 minutes, she's usually out. She is the best sleeper, praise the Lord. I guess she loves sleep like her mommy. By around 11:00 she's asleep. She sleeps through the night and will usually wake up around 7:30. Of course, there are nights where this doesn't always go as planned, but for the most part it does. I couldn't imagine my life without this little munchkin. She's such a blessing.