Good Night. Mama and Daddy Love You

For every single nap time and bedtime, we have a routine. One that we attempt to stick to as closely as possible, one that doesn't change. One that we just started about three weeks ago.

When Addie was first born I kept reading about having a routine. Even though establishing a routine early won't be beneficial to the baby, it will definitely be to the parents. It will give some stability. Plus once the baby starts forming habits (by 6 months, by the way), the parents already have a routine done and won't be having to form a routine and break bad habits all at once and quickly. When I was first reading all of this, I thought it was a little crazy. I couldn't figure out how to get a baby on a routine (a daily routine is a different story and for a different day). I felt like bed times and naps times were pretty much a free-for-all and whatever happened happened and we really had no control, so why even try.

But as she got older, I got more frustrated. We had no schedule. We had no routine. We had nothing that could even be in the same category as a routine. I struggled every day with naps. And bed times were a complete and total disaster.

I recently wrote about how we decided to cry-it-out or at least a modified version of cry-it-out (read about it here), and that has completely changed our world in getting her down to bed. I do have to say I still struggle with naps (but that is not a tale for today, my friends!). At the same time we started our modified cry-it-out, we started a bedtime routine. And that is the routine we stick to and do exactly the same very single nap and bedtime.

The first thing we do is make sure she is well fed and has a clean diaper. If she is hungry or has a dirty diaper then she is either going to wake up early or not go down at all. So after those are taken care of, we use only her lamp in her room for low-lighting to start to settle her. Then we choose a book. Depending on how tired she is depends on how long the book is. We usually read a different book every nap and bedtime. After that book, we read her her bedtime book: The Going to Bed Book. Yes, I have it memorized now. After we finish the book, we turn off the light and rock gently while singing her a song. We usually stick with either 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' or 'Rock-a-Bye Baby.' Why those two songs? Why not?!

After we finish the one song, we put her in the crib, swaddling her with her left arm out (we aren't quite ready to not swaddle her at all yet). Then we kiss her and say: "Good night. Mama and Daddy love you." And with that we walk out. No more songs or books or talking. We leave her to go to sleep.

Mostly at night, we don't hear another peep from her. Naps are a different story all together. Those are more definitely more of a fight to get down. But that doesn't mean her routine changes. We keep to what we were doing before. We read her two books then rock and sing then a kiss good night and that's it.

So do I think a routine is silly now? Definitely not. It definitely gives a sense of stability to at least that part of our day.