Nicholas’ Bedtime Routine At Five Months Old

This post was created in partnership with BJ’s Wholesale Club. I’m partnering with BJ’s for the next several months to share how BJ’s is helping our growing family. All images and opinions are my own. #BJsSmartSaver

At around a certain age, maybe four months, questions about your baby ultimately shift to how well they are sleeping. You’ll get the question from just about everyone- how is he sleeping? Often times the question is quickly followed with their advice or a statement that their baby (or their friend’s baby) slept through the night early on.

Well I’m not going to pretend to be any sort of sleep expert, but because I’ve had so many people ask I thought I’d share a little bit about Nicholas’ bedtime routine. Once Nicholas was at an age and weight where he could go longer periods of time without waking to eat (make sure you connect with your doctor on that!), we established a routine  after reading about the importance of a nightly routine in so many sleep articles and books. We try to follow his “routine” each night and it makes for a much more predictable night and also has helped us when traveling and going to bed in a new place. At five months, Nicholas is now consistently sleeping from 7 PM to 7 AM most days (with one quick wake for a dream feed around 9:30 PM) which is great!

Our routine starts with a bath and following the bath, a clean diaper (with a fresh coat of Boudreaux’s butt paste just in case!) and a little baby massage. Nicholas’ has eczema and sensitive, dry skin so his before bed massage is super important to keep his skin moisturized- we love Aquaphor ointment for this. After his massage, we get him dressed in a pair of footie pajamas while singing some of our favorite pre-bedtime lullabies. MJD laughs at me because I sing the same song over and over- it’s kind of how I am with new music, I play it on repeat until I get sick of it and I guess I have the same approach to lullabies too! Nicholas loves music though so singing while changing helps him stay relaxed during this part of the routine especially if he is tired and fussy. Once in his PJs, it’s time to read Goodnight Moon and nurse. Since going back to work, Nicholas is primarily eating via a bottle, but I nurse him before bed time as it is really soothing and relaxing for him (plus nice for us to connect after the day apart!).  After my little man is done eating, we put on his sleep sack, place him in the crib and put on the white noise. I rub his back for a few minutes as he gets settled in. Once he is comfy (not necessarily asleep), I turn off his nightlight and sneak on out. We found having the room pretty dark is best for Nicholas’ sleeping and since we live in the city, there is a lot of light sneaking in despite the blackout shades so a night light is not really needed!

When shopping for Nicholas’ bedtime routine essentials, like Babyganics Shampoo and Body Wash, Boudreaux’s Butt Paste Diaper Rash Ointment and Aquaphor Baby Ointment, BJ’s Wholesale Club is my favorite place to shop. The prices are so much better at BJ’s! I actually bought the Boudreaux’s Butt Paste and Aquaphor at a pharmacy down the street because I needed things in a rush after a doctor’s appointment. I basically can get two Boudreaux’s at BJ’s for the price of one at our local pharmacy and the Aquaphor is 25% cheaper at BJ’s plus comes with a bonus travel size tube which is perfect for your diaper bag. It makes me so happy to know how much I am saving when shopping at BJ’s and I’m so glad they’ve started newly stocking some of our other favorites like Babyganics too! If you want to have that happy shopping, but saving money feeling too, you should absolutely consider a membership to BJ’s Wholesale. If you are interested in a membership, you can join and get a $25 gift card by clicking here!– trust me, the membership fee is easily worth it, especially with if you have a little one!

If you are a mama (or dada!) what has been part of your little one’s bed time routine?

xoxo, Jenna