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Old 11-23-2008, 07:36 AM
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robandjulie robandjulie is offline
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Agreed that it's too early in her homecoming to assume this is going to be the normal.

At the FF, Jorge slept from 8:30 or 9 PM until 6AM but we suspect that was mostly due to the schedules at their house and close proximity of bedrooms to living spaces. Within a month of him being home he'd was going to bed at 6:30-7 PM and sleeps until 7:15-8 depending on the morning.

But...the first few weeks we were all going to bed at 9PM after lots of chaos and then waking up a dozen times and up for the day at 6 Am and we were sure we were going to lose our minds within 2 weeks.

Find a nighttime routine that works for you. It varies by kid and parents, just find what you all like and can stick to.

For DS he adores baths so we eat dinner (5:30 or 6), play quietly for a bit in a room with just a few lamps on (the hour or two leading up to bedtime should be quiet and peaceful and dimmed--limit the dance parties or playing tag to the afternoon) then we run a tub and he practically runs upstairs. He's in the tub until 6:15 or 6:30, then into PJS and with just a low lamp and his CD player playing his Spanish lullabyes we rock and read books while he takes his bottle. As soon as he done with his bottle we go brush our teeth and I turn off the light as we walk out (trying to break the bottle to sleep connection which has worked pretty well) and when we come back it's a dark room with just his music. I grab a blanket off his crib rail, snuggle him and sway around a bit while I sing 1-3 songs and he relaxes onto me. When he's really relaxed I put him down and pat his back for the rest of a song or so, and say good night.

DD (3) hates baths and always has; and she refused to take a bottle ever. By this age she was done nursing so she had a very different routine. Her routine at that age was to wipe up after dinner and play quietly a bit, then as we walked upstairs I always sang the same song. She got her PJs on and we'd cuddle into the rockign chair in her room and read 2-12 books (ha! eventually we got into the 3 and only 3 routine) and then dim the lights the rest of the way, turn on her music, and rock and talk a bit about her day. With her we've always recapped her day ("gosh what a day! we went to the park and then had yummy mac-n-cheese and ...") and tell her about our plans for tomorrow. Then another song that I always sing and she goes to bed.

The first month or so that he was home we had to rock him all the way to sleep and transfer him to the crib. Once that was somewhat consistent we started putting him down drowsy. I highly recommend "the no cry sleep solution" by Pantley if you run into any issues.
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DD (bio) DOB 6/10/05

DS of my heart
9/28/07 Referral: DOB 3/3/07 (almost 7 months old)
10/16 Our baby boy dies. In our hearts forever.


DS DOB 01/27/07
10/18/07 Referral (8.5 mos at referral)
9/20/08 Home Forever as a Family! (20 mos at homecoming)
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