Hey guys! Welcome back to another post about baby Joey! These are really some of my favorite posts to write because I personally love reading and watching other moms talk about their baby routines and what is helping them. I have shared so much about Joey already but I thought I would do a post on our night time routine. I have read countless times that a good nighttime routine (doesn’t have to be long, even just 3 simple steps you do in the same order every night) can be very beneficial to your baby. We started implementing a nighttime routine basically from the moment we brought Joey home. It has been switched around slightly, since Joey is obviously not a newborn anymore but for the most part it has remained the same. Joey seems to be liking it and it works for both Joe and I, so we are going to be sticking to it!
Here is what we do:
We start by giving Joey a bath every night between 6-6:30 (really depends on when he wakes up from his last nap). Joey is at that age that he is starting to recognize patterns and repetitions so as soon as we start undressing him he gets SO happy! He loves bath time and he’s starting to splash around in the tub. Seriously the cutest thing ever!
We are usually done with his bath in about 10-15 minutes, so we then take him out of the tub and bring him into our room to get him ready for bed. This is when I put on his diaper, lotion, comb his hair, put on his owlet sock and get him dressed. We have been using the Aveeno lotion and shampoo/body wash ever since he was born and his skin has not had any problem with it. The smell is not super strong and it is gentle on his skin (we use both the regular and the vanilla calm scent) in case you might be wondering.
Once Joey is dressed, Joe brings him his gripe water and I give this to Joey before taking him to his crib for the night. I have talked about this before but we have been giving him the Wellements night time gripe water every night since he turned one month. It seems to really help him calm down and he has not had a colic since!
Once he is finished with his gripe, I then take him to Joe to say goodnight. After they are done snuggling (it is usually already between 6:30-7) I will take Joey into his nursery for the night (Joe in the meantime cleans up the bathroom and our room).
The first thing I do once we are in the nursery is put Joey into his sleep sack. We have recently bought the woolino and we love it. We were on the hunt for a warmer sack so we didn’t have to put as many layers on him and this one is really great. It is lined with wool and we have the one that is made to fit babies from 2 months until 2 years. I highly recommend trying this if you are looking for something similar. Once we are settled, we turn off all the lights and turn on our hatch sound machine. We then sit down together in the rocking chair and I feed him his last bottle of the day. It usually takes him 10ish minutes to finish and once he is done eating he is usually pretty drowsy. I give him his pacifier (if he needs it, some nights I can tell that he will be able to fall asleep without it) a goodnight kiss and I lay him down in his crib. We also have a separate sound machine attached to the outside of his crib (so there is no way he will hit himself with it in his sleep) that I turn on once I lay him down for the night. This one automatically shuts off (after 15 minutes I think haha) but we have noticed that the extra noise while he is trying to fall asleep helps soothe him a little more and makes it easier for him to settle down. Once that is turned on, I walk over to our hatch and switch it from the light, to the noise that he has going all night in his nursery. We have it set to a lost TV signal because it seems to be his favorite one! I then finally head into our room and hope he stays asleep 🙂
Just like that Joey is down for the night, I might have to go in there and give him his pacifier if he is not settling but most nights he drifts off to sleep!
Now I know all babies are different so find what works for you and your baby. This is just an example but I do think that routines are good because it helps your baby recognize what time of the day it is. Joey does really great with this and we plan on changing it little by little as he gets older.
Thank you for reading and I hope this was helpful!
-With love, Kasia
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