ACTIVITY > Activity Time & Toddler Activity

Pre-bedtime activities to help 4mo wind down

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annesmama:
I love the stickied thread with ideas for activities, but I'm wondering which activities are good for the stretch before bedtime?  We're really struggling with BT, wondering if it's OS. She's pretty spirited.

Activities she typically does:

1. Lie on blanket and wiggle as babies do. She usually rolls onto her tummy until she tires herself out and starts clamoring for help.  (But she JUST rolled tummy-to-back for the first time, so maybe she'll stop doing that soon...)

=> Is rolling too stimulating? Should we be trying to keep her more still?

2. Lie on blanket and play with a mirror (along one side of the blanket) or toys hung from an IKEA activity gym

=> The IKEA gym isn't super colorful and only a couple of toys are hanging from it, but is that still too much?

3. Read books on mommy or daddy's lap

=> We try to do the ones with soft pastel pictures (like Guess How Much I Love You), but she does seem to get really excited about books and I'm wondering if it's too much.  Maybe would it be better to read to her without any pictures?

What are less stimulating things we could do?  Would sitting on the back step blowing bubbles be too much?  Going for a walk?  Are activity songs (like Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes) stimulating?

creations:
My DS was/is not spirited but was very alert. To be honest all of the activities you've listed sound very stimulating to me.  My DS would have been very stimulated by them and they are all things we would do earlier in the day (early in A time) rather than right before BT.  My DS didn't even have BT stories until he was about (oh hard to remember properly right now, I'd need longer to think) erm, let's say 5 years old.  He started reading before he turned 3yo so it's not like he was starved of books, he had plenty, hundreds, but not just before sleep.
Things I would suggest would be:
- sitting on your back step but just sitting, maybe quietly chatting, maybe just looking at what is out there and listening to the birds
- cuddling and perhaps looking out the window
- one single low stimulation toy which doesn't make noises or reflect light
- massage if your baby likes it
- calming lullaby type songs rather than heads shoulders knees and toes (although that too can be slowed and turned into a calmer version)

annesmama:
Ooooh, oops! Will give it a try. I feel like she gets bored of sitting quickly during the day, but maybe it'll be different in the evening.

creations:

--- Quote from: annesmama on June 07, 2017, 19:59:43 pm --- I feel like she gets bored of sitting quickly during the day,
--- End quote ---
Yes, sounds like mine. He liked to play right up to nap time and have a very short wind down before naps, usually it was as short as a nappy change, into the bed room and one song then put down and walk out.  If I tried to do a 20 min wind down he would get really agitated like I'd cheated him out of his stimulation, learning and play, he was SO interested in learning and experiencing things.  In the evening though, quite different.

Do you have a sleep thread open for the problems you are having at BT?  It could be that a routine tweak could help as well as considering the level of stimulation.

annesmama:
Yep, here it is: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=286558.0

TLDR: Routine tweaks have helped us a lot with getting her to go down quickly at nap time -- I used to feel like I spent as long getting her to sleep as she spent actually sleeping, but it's much better now.  Shush-pat actually works sometimes.  She still needs me to hold her through transitions most of the time.  Bedtime is getting better (as in, she goes to sleep before 10pm usually now) but night sleep is getting worse (as in, she used to wake only 2-3 times a night and now it's... more than that).  Some of these issues are probably developmental and some are probably because she's rolling so we had to cut swaddle cold turkey a couple weeks ago.

We're trying less stimulation in the evenings, haven't noticed a difference yet, but we'll keep trying.

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