Bedtime Routine

Bedtime routine

Let's talk bedtime, that time from 6.30pm-8pm at night that has parents on the countdown to the cup of tea in peace.
From the chime of the 'In the Night Garden' theme tune lights are lowered, baths are run, jammies and comforters layed out.
The bedtime routine is a fine art and once you've nailed it it can be traumatic to consider anything that would disrupt it.  Think of the fear that builds every year on the run up to the clocks changing!!! 

After a volatile relationship with sleep Joel now loves his bed. At times he requests 'You lie down beside me mummy?' But this is often shortly followed my his sleepy muffled voice saying 'Go away from my bed, get out!'
So I expect you all now want a glimpse of our magic bedtime routine? 

6.30  - Prepare him that bedtime is approaching. Turn off big light in favour of softer lighting, warn Joel toys are to be tidied up soon. 

6.40-7pm - Bedtime tv or bath time depending on days snot levels/amount of dinner stuck in hair.
'Nooooo hairdryerrrrrrrr' meltdown optional.

7pm - Pyjamas and daily asthma medicine obstacle course including world champion hiding naked under table marathon. 

7.10 - 5 minute bedtime warning

7.11 - Unreasonable demands -
'My want cup of tea biscuit!!'
'My sandwich'
'Just ONE playtime'

7.15 - Dummy bribery.  

7.20 -  Hugs and kisses and story and chat about the day
Eg, 'You were a great boy at helping mummy today, I was so happy when you got nappies and wipes for mummy when Nuala needed her nappy changed.' 
'BUT mummy did not like it when you did a wee in the middle of your Octopus Socktopus book and tried to hid it under a mountain of other books. Let's make sure 'wee wees' go in the potty tomorrow ok?' 

7.30 - Hardcore negotiation 
'One more story'
'More kisses'
'You lie beside me'
'More hugs' followed by physical restraint.
'ITS MORNING TIME'

7.40 - Pointless discussion about difference between morning time and night time. 

7.45 - Final 'night night' and kisses and go downstairs. 

7.50 - Mummy my drink!!! 

7.55 - A monster

8.00 - Noise of toys being tipped from toy shelf
Go to his room using 'I mean business' footsteps while I hear the shriek of excitement and the doofdoofdoof of him running and hiding under his bed.

8.05 - FINAL night night and kisses. 




Get the kettle on. 

What's your night time routine? 

The Journey from Cot to Bed

I'm often puzzled by episodes of the video clip show 'You've Been Framed' which often has a segment of clips showing exhausted toddlers and babies asleep in ridiculous places.  A heart warming reel of babies face first in their chicken nuggets or propped up on a family pet or snoozing on the potty.  This is not an occurrence in our household.  Joel only sleeps in bed or at times falls asleep in his car seat during a journey.  Even on long days, exhausted by a full activity rota at day nursery, after a walk home in bad weather Joel wouldn't close his eyes until tucked up in bed.  Albeit after a stormy overtired dinnertime, him covered in food, snot and tears and I, camera poised, disappointed yet again that there was no heartwarming moment worth £250 to capture.  Joel is partial however, now and again, on insisting on falling asleep on your face.  This usually happens when he is sick and at his snottiest.

When I found out we were expecting Nuala back in spring of 2015 our delight was succeeded by mild panic about the impact this would have on our golden boy.  Just over 2 years old Joel was still a baby in our eyes but already my mind was racing towards getting him out of a cot and into a bed, getting him potty trained and getting rid of dummies all in preparation for the arrival of the new baby. 

I didn't want Joel to feel like the new baby would be arriving and stealing his cot, making him sleep in a bed and so I felt it was important that we make the cot to bed transition as soon as possible. 

I  then began worrying that taking him from his cot would somehow traumatise him, that he would feel uprooted and insecure. 
While debating the perfect time to begin this delicate process and considering what emotional impact it would have on him Joel learned to swing his leg over the side of the cot and so that was it, the time was now!!! 

Joel was not a peaceful sleeper, rather he would flail about in all shapes throughout the night, a trait I put down to the fact he was such and active toddler. So I was worried that without the security of the cot bars Joel would flip right off the side of the bed and cause himself and injury.

So my husband and his mate Google came up with a solution. Montissori bed, also know as 'mattress on the floor' 

Image from Google images showing mattress on floor Montessori Bed

See how glamorous Google can make things look?

No longer at risk of climbing out of cot and injuring himself but also no risk of him rolling out of bed while her gets used to the absence of cot bars. Taadaa! 
Joel, totally unphased by the changes happily hoped in his new 'bed' and went to sleep. Dead easy! 

And so mattress on the floor became the norm, and during a period of time of getting work done to the house he moved his mattress on the floor into our room and slept happily there too! 
When the workmen left he hopped right back into his own room again. No worries. 
While the work was being done to his room we striped off his old blinds and chucked them in the bin, only realising when he was going to bed on his first night back in the room that we had nothing to cover the window! Cue a bit of hokery pokery with a bin bag and some celotape and window was sorted and Joel was fast asleep.

Mattress on floor, binbag and towel window dressing.

It's amazing how quickly one adapts to window Binliner and floor mattress as the norm. This state of affairs continued for about 2 months.  However reading the horrified look on my co workers faces one day when describing his room spurred me into the next stage of bed progression.....mattress on bed base!!! As well as lovely new blind put up by father in law (put the phone down, no need to ring social services!!!)

Joel and daddy built the bed base together and after his first night in his new big boy bed I was left wondering what all the fuss was about. I don't think Joel needed all that fuss with the transition, perhaps we did? 

The best thing about this transition is the bit of freedom it gives him in the morning time.  With a stair gate secured to him bedroom door he can hop out of bed and play with his toys and books when he wakes in the morning before deciding to give the morning wake up call.

Joel has fallen out of bed once ever. But we put him back into bed, gave him and kiss and he was happily asleep again. 
Another time I've found him sleeping  on the floor but I suspect this was due to a secret midnight play mission rather than falling out if the bed! 

How he hasn't fallen out of bed more often is a mystery!!!

So, what do you think?  Is mattress on the floor a waste of time?