Getting Oscar to bed lately has been incredibly rough.  Some nights he would go to bed without crying at all, but on other nights he would cry for hours.  It was time to make a bedtime routine for him and stick to it every single night.  No more staying up until 11pm!  His new bedtime routine starts at 7pm.

Oscar’s Bedtime Routine:

– Turn on Sleep Sheep
– Change Diaper (sing sleepy Oscar time song)
– Put on body cream/massage
– Wash face and hands
– Put on pajamas
– Read books
– Nursing (no sleeping!)
– Burping (sleepy Oscar time song)
– Bedtime

Last night was the first time I went through this new bedtime routine and it went really well!  He even seemed to pay attention when I read him his bedtime stories.  I think my biggest mistake had been letting him fall asleep while nursing.  Apparently, if you let them fall asleep it’s like a catnap and they can then stay up for hours because they feel energized.  I discovered that coughing scares the crap out of Oscar when he’s starting to fall asleep, so it’s my new secret weapon.

He still cried when he realized he was going in his crib, but I put him in his sleep sac and gave him his giraffe blankie to chew on.  Not even 5 minutes after I closed his door the little man was asleep and he slept for 8 hours straight! However, since he’s not used to getting so much rest, he was wide eyed and ready to get up at 4am.  I just left him in his crib, hoped for the best, and he fell back asleep until 6am.  I was so not ready to get up so I brought him into my bed for a cuddle…

Hopefully it goes this well every night!