Very Spirited, activites before bed?

[lyndsy_p]

I have a very spirited 5mnth old and I am at a loss of what to do before bed. I bathe every 2nd day which she loves... The days that I don't bathe I am limited at what activity we do because she is so spirited. Most of the time I prepare dinner and she sits in her swing, but there are days that I don't need to prepare anything...such is my dillema. She can stay up an average of 2.25hrs before bed.

During the day we do these activites:

Jolly jumper
Tummy time with toys
Sit in swing with mommy singing *torture I know*
Exersaucer
Looking at herself in the mirror
Sitting in bouncy chair with toys while mommy pumps
Sitting in high chair with toys while mommy eats breakfast
Practicing standing on mommy's/daddy's lap
cuddles with mommy/daddy...she is quite squirmy with this one unless we are walking

About 15mins before winddown we read a story...which sometimes I skip because I think it will work her up more.

Currently winddown is...walk around house for about 2-5mins saying "night night" to everything...go upstairs, draw blinds, then curtains, turn on her sounds sheep (waves) then lay her down, and put on her growbag. Turn her on her side (sometimes she is trying to do this before I have her bag done up) she grabs her lovie and "kneads" it. I do a modified shh/patt on the bum...and slowly reduce the volume of the shh and the strength of the patt as I see her relaxing and her eyes are closed. She moves her top arm continuously until she is VERY relaxed.

Ideas?
Thanks
Lyndsy

[RyansMum]

Personally for me I had a wind down routine of at least 30 minutes and I bathed lo every night (still do).

My routine when my lo was your los age was, sitting in bouncer with toys while Mummy cooked dinner, then while Mummy and Daddy had dinner put on a Baby Einstein video (good way for them to relax, be engaged and a little educated at the same time). Up stairs while bath running, get undressed, bath, cuddle and dry in bedroom, a small story (gentle sort, poem style works well, short) (or we skipped story), bedtime milk, say night night to animals etc in room, into cot and then just calming for bedtime sleep. From the time of going upstairs to getting in the cot took 30 minutes but he would also have the 30 mins of DVD to calm down to before hand.

HTH!

[lyndsy_p]

thanks for the reply...my mom is sending me a Baby Einstein DVD this week...so I will get a chance to use it!

Lyndsy