The Bedtime Routine

So you've read here that my daughter Charlie has had some difficulty with her normal bedtime routine since welcoming her baby brother home from the hospital. Well, I had a theory, and it seems that Super Nanny concurs.

About 4 nights into sharing her home with a new baby, Charlie began refusing to go down quietly after her bedtime routine. No less than 5 minutes after we would put her down, she would begin screaming at the top of her lungs, hysterical. Completely not like her at all. She has been an incredible sleeper since she was 1-month old.

We spent 4 or 5 days laying with her in her bed to get her calmed down, thinking she was sick, spooked, hot, whatever. Finally, we decided that laying in bed with her to get her to go to sleep was a terrible habit to start, so we started thinking about WHY she was doing this.

My theory almost immediately was that she was trying to stay awake because she felt she was missing out on something. You see, her little brother was always AWAKE when we put Charlie down for bed, and even though she is only 20-months old, I just felt like somehow, she knew exactly what was going on.

So we did some research and found in Super Nanny's book, the EXACT scenario we were experiencing. She suggested that we allow Charlie to participate in WILL'S bedtime ritual, and help us put him down to bed BEFORE we do her routine. All well and good, but Will is only 16 days old, so we're just building his routines and often, he's not ready for bed by Charlie's bedtime.

What we decided to do is just before we begin Charlie's routine, we make a big deal out of Will going to bed. We let Charlie say goodnight to him, and kiss him, and then either Beck or I will take Will from the room (out of Charlie's sight) and close Will's bedroom door before taking Will downstairs to the basement... out of view and earshot.

The other one of us continues Charlie's normal routine and puts her down. This HAS WORKED the past two nights like a charm, so once again we're knocking on wood here.

That Super Nanny sure is pretty sharp!