Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Bedtime Routines

Before I became a mum I had no bedtime routine. I went to bed whenever I felt sleepy.

After I became a mum, I couldn't go to bed whenever I want, not even when I am sleepy!

I guess I became a mum the moment I became pregnant. Sleep was evasive then. I had bad morning sickness that lasted all day and all night. In the later stages of pregnancy, I had to get up several times a night to visit the toilet. It was also difficult to turn and lying in the same side position was tiring.

After the baby came along, I lost the concept of day and night. The days went by in a blur of feeds, milk expression and more feeds. There was no proper sleep routine as I had to feed baby every 2-3 hours.

It was only after the baby hit toddlerhood that some semblance of bedtime routines returned.

The kids are 4 and 6 now and our bedtime routine goes something like this....

  • Milk & Supper
  • Brush Teeth, Pee, Wash Up
  • Change to pyjamas
  • Get the beds ready and comfy
  • Storytime or Chat time
  • Lights off

The entire process takes about an hour. Sometimes I wish, I could just jump straight into bed without going through an entire hour getting everyone ready for bed. Oh and I mustn't forget the daddy too must I? Usually I make a hot drink for him and then give him a foot massage while he winds down by watching a show. That is if I still have the energy left over for him after the one hour getting the kids ready for bed. Poor daddy. Poor mommy.

How long is your bedtime routine mommies and daddies?

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14 comments:

  1. well, about the same, an hour into their dreamland.. but we are not used to story time. only chat time with the lights off. hehe.

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  2. What a lovely mommy and wife you are :D I think ur routine is very good.. yet would prefer daddy to do it also beside everytime plain old mommy do the bedtime stories.. ahahaha.. I just think that daddy should help too mar... right?

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  3. ling,
    Storytime just means reading from their storybooks thats all. Hehe. Sometimes, I read their Science or Moral books to them at bedtime when I don't have time to teach them during the day but they love it because it still sounds like stories to them. Haha.

    mag,
    Oh, daddy does it too on the occassional weekend when he feels that mommy needs the sleep, the story reading part that is, mommy still has to get the kids ready for bed before that. Hahaha.

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  4. Just the story reading part?? No foot massages from the hub? LOL!

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  5. Daddy has been long forgotten in my case. Certainly no hot drink and foot massage.

    My bedtime routine is the same as yours. Sometimes I wish I can just plonk into bed without doing all that.

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  6. vien,
    Oh yah hor. How come I never thought of that. Hmm.... must do something about this. *plotting*

    elaine,
    Hahaha. Try the hot drink and foot massage for one night and see whether he drop off the bed or not? ;) hahaha.

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  7. Yes, it takes about an hour for us, too. You're a very nice wife to do the drink/massage thing for hubby.

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  8. same here, about an hour and sometimes even more... at times I will doze off before my girl, hehe...

    wow, your hubby is so lucky to have all the massage :)

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  9. asianmommy,
    These days, they're getting rarer and rarer because too tired. Hahaha.

    martini,
    I'm one of those type which finds it hard to doze off unless EVERYONE sleeps first. Haha. Hmm... I think I should print out this comment and show to hubby. Lol!

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  10. You very good liao la, give foot massage to hubby. After I gao tim my kids, I go gao tim myself with lots of creams and knitting, hubby put aside first. LOL!

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  11. It's great to hv a good routine...

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  12. Bedtime routines for me is reading to my two kids - my girl is twelve but love to listen to anything that I read for my 7 year old - then we would chat and laugh before calling it a night.

    Then comes some catching up time between me and hubby and depending on mood and what's on tv (LOL) our tog time could be as short as 20 min or as long as 2 hours. ;)

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  13. updated mom,
    That sounds like a wonderful routine. :)

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  14. It's along time since I put my children to bed but I now have a grandson who stays sometimes. He is two and I always give him a bubble bath and then some warm milk then we sit for a while and look at books and discuss what we are going to do in the morning (usually 7am!). After that we say "night night" to Grandad and he always goes straight to sleep. I think a relaxed routine is the best plan.

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