Bedtime Trouble - Redding,CT

I don't know if your kids have separate rooms or not. This will only work if the older child is in their own room. My husband has to travel often for work and bedtime can be so hard! I started letting my oldest watch a kid cartoon (20 or 30 m long) on my laptop on his bed while I put his younger sister to bed. Then I would go into his room to put him to bed. Sometimes he would be asleep and sometimes not. I wish you luck!

Wow. I can't imagine handling bedtime with 3 kids those ages. We just finished a YEAR of very bad bedtimes for our eldest who is now a little over 4. Just 1 kid giving us a hard time, bedtime would last forever. My younger son goes to bed really easily, but I am dreading the day we take him out of his crib.
I liked CarrieT's answer about letting the older one watch a short show while you do tuckin. One other thing to consider is your kids napping. My 4 yr old naps at daycare and doesn't nap on the weekends, and bedtime is MUCH easier (and an hour earlier) on the weekends.

Well some do not appreciate my idea bvut it worked like a charm. Movie to go to sleep to. After the bath routine, and reading a book, one child picks the movie. NOthing to exciting. A nice mellow movie. My daughters favorite was the fox and the hound. Turn the light off sit with them for a few minutes then they go right to sleep. But like I said many do not like the tv but a single mom needs some down time too. Also its a good punish ment tool in that if they mis behave to much I say thats it no movie for bed wow you see how fast they fall inot line lol

Oh man I feel your pain! I have a 6, a 3 and a 10 mos. old. One thing I do sometimes that makes it easier, especially when my hubby has a late meeting, is to have them get in pjs before dinner (if it's not too messy), then brush teeth before a little more play time, then by the time it's time to be in bed for a story, everything is done but not all once. But it's tough. Oh man.

And as far as positions in bed, maybe rotate, first night kid A is in one spot, kid B in another, kid c in another and everybody rotates clockwise the next night. That way they can't argue with the "system" and they all know they'll get the "good spot" soon.

I only have 2 girls, 3 years apart. We would give them a bath together. Then the older one got PJs in the bathroom while little one still in the tub, brush teeth, ready for bed, but she gets a few minutes in her room with her dolls. Then get the little one ready for bed. Once they are both in bed in their own rooms I sat in the hallway between the rooms and read a story. Then I would sing a few songs. Then I would kiss both good night, and sit our own bedroom folding laundry while watching some tv. Our house is small so the kids' rooms are close and they could hear me and see the light from my room. Later they first did tubs alone, then the older one started showers (maybe age 10) and the little one was still doing tubs. The main thing for me was to be calm and soothing and to have the bedroom ready for them to just roll into bed (I used to put on a heating pad in each of their beds for about 30 minutes and as soon as they got into bed I would turn it off, but it made for a nice warm bed to crawl into. Occasionally we would do the "family bed" where after the tub we all sat in one bed reading stories, but I found having them warm and sleepy in their own beds to begin with was easier.

Wow, you have your hands full! I feel ridiculous for ever having been frustrated with getting my one little singleton to sleep. That said, here's what works for me.

Toward the end of bathtime, I start in on this big routine about how tired *I* am. As in "Wow, I am soooo exhausted. I might fall down and sleep right here on the bathmat. I don't even care what PJs I wear; I just want to snuggle up and sleep. I sure hope I have the energy to read you a bedtime story, because I might fall asleep in the middle of the first page. Maybe if you get your PJs on riiiiight now, maaaaayyyybe I can read a little bit. Ohhhhh, yawn." Etc. My son finds this hilarious, even though I do it every single night, but he's also young enough to be suggestible, and he'll promptly decide he's tired too.

In terms of PJ options and bedtime stories, you might also try making their options more, well, boring. With my guy, I basically get him into PJ bottoms and a shirt for the next day, to minimize the ridiculous, rushed drama of getting to school on time. But it also eliminates huge, endless discussions of which PJs are acceptable. We also read the same bedtime story every single night -- Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book. And that's it. No other options. I actually have visions of my son bringing me to college with him, so I can read about Van Vleck & the County of Keck on a nightly basis. But mine is older, and reads on his own a lot, so this doesn't really cut into valuable reading time.

Anyway, you've got 3, all under 5. The fact that you ever get them to sleep, ever, proves you're an amazing, incredible mom.