Mommy Moments | Mason’s Bed Time Routine

With majority of Americans working from home right now, I took the opportunity to use the time to transition my son to his room. He has been in our bed since he was around three weeks old, and now almost 2 year old Mason is a wild sleeper and even snores sometimes. I have tried to do this on several occasions, but now was the perfect time to get him on a routine and practice it daily so he learns to love his room.

Previously, I learned that while doing this months ago, Mason was not liking being confined to his crib. Not being able to come and go and get up and get out of bed as he pleased would make his room least appealing to him. His father and I had many discussions on purchasing a toddler bed, but I finally took the jump and bought it as well as put it together. My husband is team Co-sleep With Us and I am team Reclaiming My Bed, so I knew he would drag his feet getting this room together lol.

Mason loves Mickey Mouse, so it was a no brainer on what his Big Boy Room theme would be. Disney Channel is life around my house, so I got Mickey and friends stuff to accent his big boy room.

Shopping Links: Mickey bed, Mickey Bedding

I will be doing a separate post on Mason’s Room Transformation. I am using this down time to get it all together so be on the lookout for that!

With the bed up and ready to go, I needed to get Mason on a schedule. I have learned that putting a routine in place helps him to wind down and get in the mode to turn down and go to sleep. Consistency is key people! So Mason’s schedule this past week or so has been:

6:30 – 7:30 p.m. – Bath time (He should at least be in the tub by 7:30. I wash him up first, then allow him a little play time to enjoy his rubber duckies and paw patrol swim toys lol)

7:30 – 8:00 p.m. – Greasing Mason up and putting on PJs (We always vaseline him down fresh out the tub before putting on his PJs. Disney Channel, ZaZa ft. That Girl Lay Lay – That’s a No No, or Will Smith – Just The Two of Us is normally playing in the background these days)

8:00 – 9:00 p.m. – Dinner time (We normally put Mason is his high chair and allow him majority of this time to eat. He is a slow eater that is very easily side tracked, so we have learned to just let him take his time.)

9:00 – 10:00 p.m. – Potty Time and Screen time (Lately with COVID-19 having us in the house, we have started potty training Mason, so we utilize this time to let him sit on the potty with his iPad and a sippy cup of milk. If he uses it, we celebrate! If not, we put him on a fresh diaper and prepare him for bed.)

10:00 – 11:00 p.m. – Bed Time (We brush Mason’s teeth, wash his face, and put him in his bed. We may read him a book or 2 or let him watch his iPad a little longer, but then it is lights out and nature sounds on trying to doze off. My husband or I will sit with him for a little bit to make sure he is laying down and preparing to close his eyes. He usually dozes off in about 15-20 minutes.)

He started out waking up and crying in the middle of the night. The first night, he woke up 3 times, and we came to his rescue 2 of the 3 times. The 3rd time, we let him self soothe. On the 2nd and 3rd night, he woke up once and we allowed him to self soothe. From there, he slept all night with no interruptions. Now, he may wake up crying once, but we are to the point where we don’t save him. We allow him the space to go back to sleep.

I hope to eventually get to a place where Mason can soothe himself to sleep and not need us in the room to doze off, but for now it is working and I am happy with that. We plan to put a TV in his room in the future and have Disney + in full motion lol, but for now he is happy looking at Mickey on his bed and iPad.

Advice I would give other mommies/parents working on this:

Be patient. Rome was not built in a day. Every kid has their own ways of adjusting. As I said before, consistency is key. Keep at it! Don’t give in and say screw it! Any progress is great progress!

Do not always go to their rescue! A child’s 1st instinct is to cry and whine when they want you to come tend to them. On the 1st night, we as parents were ready to come running when he cried, but after the 2nd time, we had to allow him to figure it out. Now there is nothing wrong with setting a threshold. For me, if he cries longer than 5-7 minutes, then I need to go tend to him, but most times, Mason will cry for 3 minutes at most then lay back down. They have to realize mommy and daddy will not always come so they have to do some independent thinking.

Having a routine in place gets them in the groove easier. This routine was put in place during COVID-19, so I hope to keep to this when we all go back to our normal day to day. I notice that the more we keep at it, Mason almost knows what to expect. I have even caught him going to the bath tub like “Hey ma, aint it time for me to get in?” Kids are so smart! Don’t downplay their instincts.

Team work makes the dream work! My husband and I tag team the routine we have set in place. With both of us working in somewhat demanding careers, we understand one another’s workload. If my husband has some work to catch up on or needs a little down time, I will kick off the routine and he will jump in when it is time for Mason to go to bed. If I have blog work, things to wrap up from career work, or just want to catch up on Boomerang or Twenties, my husband will kick off bath time and I will jump in for dinner time or bed time. We both made our son, so we both should work together on any of Mason’s endeavors. Now do we always see eye to eye every time? Of course not, but that is the joy of parenting and marriage! lol Being a petty couple, we stay trying to explain whose turn it is to do something!

I hope this helps! Let me know how things work out for you! Now is the time to decide parents! Is today going to be one day or Day One!?