Bedtime Routines

Kindergarten the kids went to bed about 8:00. They are older now and go to bed about 9:00.

For the bed, we never used a toddler bed, but started by putting a regular mattress on floor and eventually put it onto it's frame after a few weeks.

Instead of feeding her right before bed, give her her drink and/or snack about an hour before bedtime.

Dawn,
When my youngest was just over a year old, I stopped giving him a bottle before bed. I replaced the bottle with a 4 oz cup of yogurt. He wasn't sure about the texture or the taste at first, but it only took a couple of days and he ate it up. He never fussed about missing the bottle, either.

I don't have a kindergartner yet, but I also give my 3 yr old the same 4 oz yogurt shortly before bed. Here is their routine:
Both kids in the bath by 6:30 or so. Kids watch Dora from 7-7:30. Yogurt around 7:30. Then, brush Zachary's teeth, give kisses from everyone, and put him right to bed. For Isaac, brush his teeth, have him potty then put on night diaper, then he picks out one book to read, then kisses from everyone and put him to bed. He is in bed anywhere from 8 to 8:30 every night. This works out great for me being a SAHM and having my hubby gone for 4 days during the week.

A. M.
www.homewithmykids.info

My 6 year old goes to bed between 8 and 9p. We normally
start around 8p.
He brushes his teeth, puts his pj's on, we read a book & have cuddle time, say a prayer and tuck him in. I put his music on, turn on his night light, leave the room and he's out in 5 minutes or less 98% of the time.

I don't have a kindergartner yet, so I'm no help there. It's not the cold milk you need to worry about, it's anything other than breastmilk after brushing teeth. You can warm milk just like you would breastmilk or formula, but you always need to brush teeth after. Otherwise, maybe you can transition to a bit of water or just cut out liquids (this will make potty training easier down the road anyhow if you aren't giving liquids right before bed).
Our routine for both a 2.5-year-old and a 1-yr-old:
Diaper/PJs
nurse
story
teeth
songs
bed with classical CD to fall asleep to

My husband reads while I nurse both and we brush they teeth at the same time. Then we alternate nights and we each take a child for a couple songs and cuddling before putting them down.

8:30 is bedtime for my kindergartener & my 3 year old. It seems to work well for both of them! =)

Our 5.5 year old usually goes to sleep around 8:00-8:30. (8:00 is the target, but not later than 8:30)

With our oldest, we'd offer her the choice of a bottle (of milk) or a bottle of water (we usually did this upstairs, and have a dorm fridge and microwave in our laundry room upstairs) with a straw. One night (she was about 20 months), she asked for water and never turnd back.

With our 2 year old, she still wants that bottle at bedtime, and that's the only time she wants it. I'd say if she'll drink it cold, more power to ya! If not, heat it up, no harm/no foul.

Basically just keep offering options- that's worked best for us.

Good luck!

I don't have a kindergartener, but I do have a two year old! Our bedtime routine is fairly simple. She is in bed by 9:00. We start our bedtime routine right after dinner. We do a nice long bath with lots of play time, then jammies. She gets a cup of milk (cold cow's milk) about 8:00. She drinks that while we read books. After she's done with her milk we brush her teeth. Then it's off to bed. We've never had any problems with the cold milk hurting her belly. We never really warmed up her bottles though. Once she hit about 10 months, I just used hot tap water. I honestly don't understand why people feel the need to give their kids warm milk once they start eating regular table food. Our daughter LOVES cold drinks and always has.
To get her off the bottle, we started with a weaning process at about 12 months. She was down to just right before bedtime when I finally took it away. It was best for us to just go cold turkey. I told her for about a week that she only had X amount of days left with the bottle. The day we took it away cold turkey I just kept telling her that she was such a big girl because she didn't need the bottle. I let her stay up a little later that night so she was good and tired. She feel right asleep and we never had any problems after that. We were pretty lucky!

we go to bed at 8 or 8:30. the recent time change screwed things up a little... but we're mostly back on track.

we made a cd for bedtime, it's the greatest thing ever! we have a song for brushing teeth, one for pajamas, prayer, and lullabies. it's really helped get the kids to do the routine on their own and enjoy bedtime.