Our Toddler's Bedtime and Bathtime Routine at 21 Months Old

A few months ago, we decided to change Lee’s bedtime, pushing it back from 6 PM to 7 PM. Lee was waking up earlier and earlier, so pushing back his bedtime actually helped him to sleep in a little later (to a luxurious 7 AM). As we adapted his daytime schedule to accommodate this new bedtime (pushing back lunch and nap times) and ultimately got an evening bath time routine down pat. 

Here are our 21-month-old toddler’s bath time and bedtime routine. 

6:35 PM - All done with dinner!

We make an effort to always eat dinner with Lee. Thankfully now that he’s going to bed a little later, 6:15 PM is a more reasonable time for us to sit down together as a family than Lee’s previous Early Bird Special at 5:30 PM. 

Dinner with a toddler is not usually a long event, maybe 20 minutes. Lee is getting better with asking to be excused and occupying himself so we can finish eating. Some nights he stands in his learning tower and splashes around in the sink. There are other times when he’s pretty worn out (and therefore acting out a bit) and asks, “Lap? Lap?” (Lee-speak to put him in my lap) to only then climb over me and wriggle his way onto another chair or slide down my legs onto the floor. 

We usually wrap dinner up for Lee at 6:35 PM and then switch into bath time mode.

6:40 PM - Andrew prepares the bath while I undress Lee.

Andrew leads the charge on bath time. To make the routine flow smoothly, Andrew prefers to lay out everything he needs before Lee gets into the bath. While I change Lee out of his diaper in Lee’s bedroom, Andrew puts Lee’s towel in the bathroom and a clean diaper, onesie, and sleep sack on our bed; draws the shades in Lee’s bedroom; and pulls out all of Lee’s stuffed animals.

Once the water is running, I will hand Lee off to Andrew for bath time. Lee has been strongly favoring Mama’s attention lately, so we make this hand-off exciting and fun (“Oh, look at all the bubbles! What toy do you want to play with in the bath?”) to keep Lee from whining and screaming for me from the bath. 

During Lee’s bath, Andrew will usually FaceTime his mom (Grandma to Lee) and say good night. It’s a nice way to bookend the day: chatting with my parents in the morning and Andrew’s in the evening.

Meanwhile, I clean up the kitchen after dinner. It sounds like such a chore (because it is, I suppose), but I personally find it relaxing and will usually listen to a true-crime podcast while I clear wash dishes and wipe down the counters.

6:55 PM - Time to dry off and change into pajamas!

Lee loves the bath, so it can be a challenge to get him out; there are times when Andrew needs to fully drain the tub in order to get Lee out of the bath. (There was a brief period in which Lee despised the bath and would have a meltdown at the prospect of going in the tub. If you’re curious to learn more about that stormy period, check out our blog post on it here.) 

Our bathroom is really small, so there isn’t room for Andrew to comfortably dress Lee. Instead, Andrew wraps Lee up in a towel and dries him off on our bed, a more comfortable height for Andrew.

7 PM - Lee enjoys a final bottle before bed and then brushes his teeth.

Still with Lee on our bed, Andrew finishes drying Lee off and offers him his bottle. As Lee drinks, Andrew dresses Lee in pajamas and bundles him in his sleep sack. Then it’s back to the bathroom to brush Lee’s teeth!

Andrew is very fastidious about maintaining Lee’s oral hygiene and, through Andrew’s patient persistence, Lee is similarly picking up how to effectively brush his teeth. Usually, Andrew will let Lee wield the toothbrush to begin with, and then he takes the toothbrush back to finish the detail work. Lee brushes with this double-sided toothbrush from grabease which we found to be easier for Lee to handle versus a traditional toddler toothbrush.

7:15 PM - Good night, Lee!

After his teeth are brushed, Lee pops a pacifier in his mouth and Andrew carries him to the bedroom. Once I hear the two of them head into Lee’s bedroom, I leave the kitchen clean up for a good night's kiss.

I usually give Lee a kiss and then immediately dip out with a quick, “Good night, Lee! I love you and I can’t wait to see you in the morning.” We find that if I leave without much fanfare it keeps Lee from stalling bedtime with asks for more hugs, kisses, and books… We used to read Lee a book or two before bed but found it wound up drawing out his bedtime as he used it as a tactic to stave off our departure.

Andrew then turns on Lee’s white noise machine and does one final good night kiss before leaving Lee to doze off. 

There will be the odd night when Lee will whine as we’re closing the door, but we hold firm that it’s bedtime and not the time for us to lay down with him. He usually stops whining by the time we’ve fully closed the door. And there are very few evenings in which we need to go back in (usually it’s because Lee can’t find his pacifier in his bed).

We hope that sharing our family’s evening routine can help other parents who are looking to standardize their bedtime routine. If you’re curious, here’s a look at our family’s morning routine, too!