During my pregnancy one of the most daunting things I constantly thought about was sleep training. I felt SO much pressure to have my baby sleeping through the night. Literally all the mama’s I know tried to lend me a different sleep training book, or give me a detailed list of what they did to get their baby to sleep. I tried reading a few of the books, but I wasn’t really sold on anything. Once my baby came ( horrific reflux baby, so quite the screamer) I just wanted to sleep and a lot of the golden rules went out the window.  At 2 months I decided were going to rock the crib, no matter what. I wanted at least some sort of normal schedule and a little alone time with the hubs. One thing that was consistent with almost everything I read was having a bedtime routine. This was the first thing we started doing consistently, and I really credit it for helping Averly become the wonderful sleeper she is today (7:30- 6:30 in her crib-HELL YES). By no means am I an expert this is just our personal experience and what worked for us. Again, every baby is different and it’s OKAY if your baby doesn’t respond well!

7:00- Bath time.

Averly has always LOVED the bath.  My husband doesn’t get home until almost 6, so since Averly was little he usually gives her baths. It’s a nice bonding time for them, and allows me to run and around like a lunatic getting all of her bedtime stuff ready to go! Since Averly has reflux we have seen a need to bathe her everyday. She vomits A LOT. We use soap every other day, so it is not too harsh on her little skin.

7:15-

– Night time diaper on (I use pampers swaddlers, she peed through SO many diapers until we switched to these at night)

– Lotion and baby leg and belly massage. I then lotion Averly’s little legs and belly and give her a little baby massage. It usually calms her down. Don’t get me wrong, she is a wiggle worm, and tries to roll all over. While I’m lotioning her I let her “brush her teeth” with her training toothbrush and swallow safe to toothpaste. She usually uses this as a teether, but it keeps her occupied and staying semi-still.

 

• We brush her hair

• Put on pajamas

• Put on sleepsack ( We used the Nested Bean) Highly recommend!

• Feed her bottle in rocker, while reading Goodnight Moon

• Sing Bedtime song while she finishes bottle
• Sound machine on ( we use the Hatch Sound Machine)

 

7:30- Baby in her crib!(awake)

7:31- Pour glass of wine!

Bedtime Items I LOVE.

Nest Bean Sleep sack.

 

Pampers Swaddlers.

Hatch Sound Machine.