Bedtime Successes

It may be too early to say, but I think we found a bedtime routine that works miracles.

A few nights ago, after dinner we decided to give Elijah a bath.

And then we decided now would be a good time to put his pajamas on.

And then it seemed natural to read a story.

And then he was looking a little sleepy, but not yet fussing, so we swaddled him up.

And within 10 minutes, he was asleep.  No bottle, no nursing, no hysterical crying and arching his back.
Just sleep.  At 7:30.

And the next morning, he woke up at 6:30 a happy, well-rested baby.  Oh, and did I mention- he didn't wake up once in between?!

So we have decided that this was our new bedtime routine.  It has worked beautifully.  In the past, we have just sort of waited until Elijah seemed tired and then decided it was time to put him to sleep.  Some nights this was 7:00 (which I thought was way too early) and other nights it was 9:00 (which was definitely way too late).  Most nights, by the time we decided he was ready for bed, it was too late.  He was what most people like to call overtired, but as Daniel doesn't believe that's a "thing" we'll call it cranky instead.  He would cry and thrash around in our arms.  Most of the time we ended up feeding him which calmed him down enough to fall asleep.  Occasionally Daniel would suffer through the crying for about 30 minutes while bouncing, swaying, rocking, and shushing until Elijah would eventually succumb to sleep.  By this time it was way later than we intended to put him to sleep in the first place.  But with this new plan, he is in bed by 7:30 every night.  Last night for example, he didn't really seem tired.  But we swaddled him up anyways.  I put the classical music station on the radio, and Daniel rocked him for a good 15 minutes.  His eyes were still wide open, but he was staring at the ceiling completely quiet.  So Daniel put him in his swing and he drifted off to sleep quietly on his own.  That is the miracle I'm talking about.  Since his newborn days, he has never fallen asleep anywhere but in someone's arms.

Ready for a few more miracles?  He has slept through the night every night since we instituted the new bedtime.  AND he has woken up in the morning on his own, right around the time we used to have to wake him up.  We should have done this a long time ago.