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Bedtime Nightmare.... any ideas....?!

Hello,
I really need some help..!! Harry is 7months old and has got himself into a real pickle with his bedtime....
Here is a quick outline..
The day goes well... he naps well and is a very very happy little boy.
We start bedtime routine at 5pm with his supper (he is fully weaned)
Then we have some playtime together, then upstairs to start nappy off time, bath then bottle and bed.
Then it goes to pot....! He has his bottle and then screams the house down when we put him into his cot., so we end up rocking him to sleep.... now it has moved onto another stage.... He will fall asleep whilst having his bottle and will now wake up after 40mins and scream and if we don't get to him within a few mins, he is sick and we are talking huge sick. He then is in such a state we have to bring him downstairs and wait until he is sleepy again before giving him another bottle and then he will finally fall asleep.... its a nightmare....
Can anyone shed any light on what we can do to help him get out of this cycle... as it breaks my heart to see him so upset and then being so sick.
Any help would be so hugely appreciated.
A xx
also posted in Born in Jan 2010

Replies

  • This might be a daft question but how much time is there between dinner and his bottle? Maybe he's a bit over full after having it and therefore has a bit of a sore tummy? Or maybe its just a bit too early for him? Perhaps try putting him down an hour later and seeing how that goes?
    Sorry am, not being much help, my LO played up with bedtime for a while but controlled crying finally sorted it out but seeing as your LO is being sick then thats probably not the best idea!
    Hope you get to the bottom of it soon.
    xx
  • Oh hunny. We had this for a while with one of the boys. Alfie would get himself so wound up that he would be sick, even though he was never sick on bottles during the day. I dont really know what we did differently, although we did used to make sure he always went down awake, so when he fell asleep on the bottle we would wake him to wind him and put him in the cot awake. I would then read a story and shush pat for a little while. We also used to have to bring him downstairs some days as he was waking Ryan, although this didnt last long.

    Does he have a dummy? The boys have a dummy to go to sleep then spit it out. We have also recently given them muslins as they really like wrapping themselves up (I know, weird children! lol)

    Sorry ive been absolutely no help, but the boys are now 9.5 months and I havent bought him down for ages, except when he has been poorly. He just seemed to grow out of it, as I never did CC or anything??
  • Thank you for your reply... I think maybe you are right, there might just be too much in his tummy... I have wondered about this.... perhaps I am just giving him too much... Can I ask how much you feed your little one and timings..?
    xx
  • Hi Gemmiebaby
    I'm so pleased to hear he grew out of it...but sorry that he went through it too if that makes sense..!
    He has never used a dummy, I sometimes wish he had...! But he does have his Bunny in his cot with him and he chews his ears..!! Its just so upsetting to see him so distressed after being sick.... and I have to admit the mess is getting worse..! We have to change him, change us and scrub the carpet....!
    I will try waking him up before I put him in his cot..... he still seems to scream the house down.... perhaps I just need to sit with him and sit it out... if that makes sense...
    Oh dear...! wish I could wave a magic wand..!
    xx
  • Heya image my lo is 7m too and his bedtime routine is similar to yours. 5pm dinner then he stays in his highchair getting to play with toys untill his plates are cleared and bath is drawn. His changer and bottle are made up and put up the stairs slightly hotter than he eats it at and he goes into his bath with toys-that's where he has his playtime. Afterwards he goes right up to his room and is changed into his jammies then he gets two books and his bottle. I cuddle him for five mins and he's usually rolling his eyes by this point so he goes in his cot then, turned on his side and given his bear to hug. It works 100% of the time...if he's not teething that is!

    I would suggest no playtime. It's still stimulation and could be exciting him and he needs to wind down - that's why I give him toys in his bath now as it kills two birds but the hot water still has the drowsy effect. I told my MIL about my routine when she was looking after him one night and she didn't bother listening and brought him down to play after his bath and he screamed and screamed later when he was tired just like your lo does. I also find if I rock lo to sleep when he's not tired and he dozes off, when he comes round for the lull he screams and screams so maybe he's not actually tired when you're trying to put him to bed?

    When is his afternoon nap? How long is it for? Is he teething? Does he have reflux maybe? Has he learned a new skill? - my lo has learned how to crawl and he did wake himself up occaisionally and had erretic sleep whilst his brain dealt with learning the new skill.

    I hope you find an answer soon! X
  • I feed my lo dinner about 4:45pm and then play for a while, he gets his bath about 6ish then he's brought back to sit quietly with us for a while and given bottle about 7:15 then straight down in his cot awake. He gets a proper mashed meal (he's 10 months now) for his dinner then 7oz of milk before bed.

    xx
  • How long do you have between dinner and bottle? My lo has his full dinner at 5 then his bath at 6..story at 6.30 and bottle 6.45...does that sound like yours too? X
  • Hi Princess87,
    Thank you for answering, your routine does sound similar but maybe I have to be a bit more tough..!
    I got a bit confused with one thing you said... His changer and bottle are made up and put up the stairs slightly hotter than he eats it at and he goes into his bath with toys-that's where he has his playtime
    what is a changer... and do you mean you make his bottle up a bit hotter than usual... sorry for being thick..!
    Also what time do you actually give him his bottle ? and then turn the light out ..?
    Sorry for all the questions but I think I need to be a bit more like you..!
    Thank you
    A xx
  • Hi Princes87
    I do ...
    Supper 5pm (how much do you give...?)
    5.30pm upstairs, nappy off and lying on mat until I have run bath cleaned up etc...
    6pm sometime closer to 6.30pm Bath
    6.30 -7pm pj's on and bottle...
    in theory this is how it should work... most nights it does... then it goes t**'s up..!
  • Lol sorry I'm on my iPhone! I make his bottle a bit hotter so when I take him up to his room I don't have to come bac down to make it, and by the time I finish bathing him it's cooled down slightly iyswim. His changer is his nappy box with all his creams and stuff and a changing mat that I move downstairs in the morning.

    I draw the curtains before he goes into the ro so it's quite dim but light enough to look at pictures of a book...I'm lucky that I have a window that allows light into the room if I leave the door open..so when he goes into his cot and I shut the door the place is nice and dark.

    I give him his bottle, brush his teeth and cuddle him untill he starts slow blinking which usually takes no more than 5mins after his bottle lol. Tonight he was sleeping for 7pm x
  • Grant gets half a jar of stage 2 of a full jar of stage one (depending on teething), a full pot of stage one dessert, a bit of fruit or a rusk and water.

    I think that maybe the time between dinner and bath is a bit long...maybe put him in his bath earlier with toys and he can have playtime in it instead? X
  • right that makes complete sense..!! perhaps you are right ... we need to speed the whole process up.... supper, bath, book and then bottle...
    thank you so much for all your help... I will try and change things a bit more...
    Can I ask one more question... how much sleep does Grant get during the day...?
    A xx
  • Ohhh, thats interesting!

    We give the boys dinner at 4pm, bath, books, bottle, bed asleep by 6/6.15pm, so 2 hours from dinner starting to bed asleep. Maybe by sleeptime he has become overtired?? Alfie is an awful overtired baby, and always has been. (Can you tell I have one 'easy' twin and one more difficult one! lol)
  • Well it worked for me anyway as it was so hard and such a battle getting lo to sleep! And after I started this it's never failed me (she says now haha)

    He gets up at 7..goes down at 9.30..gets up at 11..goes down at 2.30 and gets up at 3 or 3.30 so around 3hrs.

    Guidlines on BE said there should be 3hrs of naps and 11hrs of sleep on average for a 6month old but they're all different I suppose! He's also dropping his 10am bottle and only has 3 7oz - one at 7am, 3.30 and 6.45 x
  • I'm sure he will - like I said grant did the same! I think it had something to do with nap times decreasing and stuff. Fingers crossed you find what works and let us know how it goes! X
  • Ohhhh, its all so confusing... just as soon as you think you have it all worked out... it all changes again.... Harry was so settled in his routine, which sounds pretty much like yours and then something switched and then now its all messed up...
    I think I just have to take control of the situtation...!! and work our way through it by changing bits and pieces...
    thank you all so much for all of your help... its all really interesting and I hope he works through this phase soon..!
    A xxxx
  • Heya how did tonight go? X
  • hiya, thanks for asking.... well the night I was posting was a nightmare and he was sick everywhere... and we did the normal and brought him downstairs etc..
    last night he did his normal waking after 40mins, but then we sort of took control... after hearing from you lot on here and then speaking to a good friend who has 3 children... I realised that I was being wrapped around his baby finger..!! so we did his routine earlier, left a longer gap between supper and milk/bed - didn't stop the 40 min waking but when he did wake, we didn't lift him.... we did a bit of controlled crying, mixed with soothing and for 2 and a half hours we worked through it.... but the end result was he wasn't sick and he didn't leave his cot, and he calmed right down, so he ended up playing in his cot with bunny which is fine with me, and the self settled with me sitting in the corner where he couldn't see me... or just outside the door....
    we are going to do the same tonight and just work through it... we feel like we have taken control which really was what was needed...he had his morning nap and now his lunch time nap in his beddie which makes me very very happy...!
    Thank you so so much for all of your help... and I hope you have a lovely family Sunday.
    A xxx
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