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what's your bedtime routine?

its getting to boiling point for me now with bedtime! she just wont go to sleep on her own!! its not crying either it's screaming. shes also waking during the night every couple of hours and im back at work on tuesday. :cry: and the past few days she's stopped having a monring nap and instead falls asleep soon after lunch.



so what are your bedtime routines with your los? mine is 9 months old.

Replies

  • My LO is 8 months and we've had the same routine from a couple of months old (I should add, think that it's more luck than judgement that it worked out that way!). Anyway, after her dinner we take her up to her room, we have a play while I get her bath sorted, then she has a bath, into pjs, light off, cuddle and milk.



    We've been lucky in the fact that she has always gone down straight away. The night wakings are a different story! She started sleeping through just as the damn clocks changed and now we are stuck with an odd 5am feed. Luckily, she goes back down until about 7am. We did do some sleep training though to get her to the point of sleeping through (I know this isn't for everyone before anyone thinks about shooting me down for it!!!!) :roll:



    HTH x
  • After dinner, DD plays for a while. Then it's bath or get into sleepsuit (bath every other night), milk, book then lullaby and into her cot.



    Like Kayecee, we did some sleep training to help her self settle when she was 4 months. She's 8 months now and has gone down by herself ever since.
  • Oh Mrs image hugs to you, there is nothing to push you more than something like this.



    Ours is as follows:



    weetabix at 6:45

    bath at 7

    bottle at 7:15

    into grow bag wee song sung and then into bed



    How long does she cry/scream for? have you tried any of the pupd or cc techniques, you could find that her 'bad' bedtime habit is now following onto her naps just like it does the opposite, if they go down well for naps usually bedtime follows or vice versa.



    I would also be very strict with my routine the rest of hte day and I think that this helps IE: ds2 eats and sleeps at the exact same times every day, activities etc will vary but for me sleeping and eating, imo, should be at the same times as your body naturally falls into sleep and hungry routines (not saying you dont do this as I think you do if I remember rightly )



    I did try pupd around 6 months but for me it just made ds2 escalate in his crying and it went on far more I used cc and 2 naps and he was sorted, each nap was 13 minutes from he was put down until he was sleeping and he only actually cried in the last few minutes of that time period but I do remember with ds1 after he was sick at about 1 and a half and obviously was spoiled rotten and slept with us etc etc having to listen to proper crying for a good 15 minutes which was awful image again though it worked very quickly, also when ds2 wakes from his sleep he'll faff about a bit but if I'm not quick he will cry to say 'hurry up ma and lift me so the cc has not 'smothered his ability to shout for me xx



    hope you get sorted xx
  • ive tried the pupd but hubby just isnt on board. we've had many a row with me shouting at him not to bring her downstairs after he's "tried" for 2 mins to settle her! the other night when she was waking constantly, i told him at 4am it was his turn. he went to the cot, picked her straight up, and put her in bed next to me saying "i need my sleep." the other issue is i have fought my parents since she was born as they insist on putting her in the pram for naps and pushing her round the living room. they are the childcare 4 days a week. no matter how many times i tell them not to, they still do it. my mum stopped talkng to me for a week a few months back after i yelled at her (as talking wasnt working) to stop shaking the moses basket!!!!!!!



    what i do now is:



    dinner at 5.30pm

    bath at 6pm

    waybaloo at 6.30pm, then she turns to me for her milk when she's had enough of waybaloo.

    she falls asleep around 7pm, but wakes up within the hour.

    she'll fall asleep for the night (or it used to be for the night) at 8.30pmish. but then she doesnt wake up until 8am in the morning.



    she'll scream for A LONG TIME! Until she's picked up. we'll be there shush patting but she keeps screaming.



    ive started reading the baby whisperer book again and i'll have a look at kaycees thread in bia. ive thought about changing around waybaloo and bath time too and see if that helps. its just she loves bathtime, so gets excited and waybaloo is calming.



    maybe im trying to gether to sleep too early, if she naturally falls asleep at 8.30pm and wakes up at 8am? but the getting up in the night is still an issue.
  • we do - 530pm solids - porridge/veg/yoghurt (just started weaning a month ago early so taking it slowly)

    6pm - short play then nappy off time in the living room, rolls about etc (well, tries to!)

    615/20pm bathtime

    640pm baby massage with light show/lullabies on in the dimmed bedroom

    650pm milk feed 7oz (though doesn't always take it all)

    7pm down in cot.

    we've done the same thing ,bar the solids since she was 8 weeks old more or less (she's now 25 weeks). She is almost always out like a light, but if she's wide awake for some reason at 7 after her milk feed, we read her a story, offer her some more milk to check she's not hungry and if she isn't we put her in her cot with her Ted, and stick her light show back on, say the same things to her each night and come downstairs. It's quite rare now that she needs resettling before about 5am unless she has genuine teething pain or a bad cold/cough.

    I do a very similar routine for naps bar the nappy off time and the bath. We put her in her bag downstairs, she chills with me on the floor for five minutes, then I offer her a small top up milk feed in her dimmed bedroom, cuddles and in to her cot.
  • To be honest it sounds to me like you are doing all the right things but the other people in her life are sending her the mixed signals. If some one is prepared to rock her to sleep twice a day 4 days out of 7 she is going to want it and if daddy is going to shush pat and bring her downstairs or lift her and bring her to bed with you then this is what she has learnt which is so bloody frustrating for you as your the one left with the issues and very selfish of the rest of them as clearly she is unhappy to be crying and they are the cause of it.



    I think that whatever you try to implement is going to be affected by these other things, I am 100% with you I would have well shouted about it by now too no wonder. My mum did offer to go part time and take my kids but I politely declined and this is why as she is like your mum, I actually said to her mum thats a lovely offer but our relationship is a fragile one and I am very fussy with my kids and like things done my way, her reply, 'but I would just tell you if you were being silly!!!' eh I don;t bloody think so my kids my rules lol down side is we have to fork out ??600 a month childcare but we can afford it by cutting back on other things which I am prepared to do (but understand this isn't an option for all)



    Perhaps when she is screaming at nap times and waking through the night ring your mum and let her here, see how she likes getting up at 12 2 4 etc etc etc OR point blank lie and say you went to see the 'HV sleep specialist who took details of her sleep etc and immediately said, ' main causes are her being rocked to sleep in one house and not in the other etc etc and unless they stop they will continue to make her unhappy - go for the jugular!!!!



    hugs chick as your in a catch 22 image
  • i love that book. major major lol. :lol: i must read it again when... well i guess when baby is 12!!!



    anyway, tongiht we had dinner at 5.30, then play time as she wasnt tired at all, bath at 7pm, followed by a story and milk and her night night song. she went to sleep but woke up as soon as i opened the bedroom door. eventually she fell asleep through shush pat at 8.30, then woke again at 9.45 but went straight back to sleep when i led her down. shes started sitting up in the cot crying! such a big girl now!



    my parents were babysitting while i was at first aid class trough sept / oct and i once got so fed up with them ignoring me i took the pram with me!!! so they just cuddled her to sleep instead of pushing in the pram :roll:



    thanks for all the words of advice!



    my parents are retired. i cant afford not to work and work wont let me go part time :x guess i need to get pregnant so i can go on mat leave and not have to worry what my parents are doing!!!



    i thnk if they continue to be a pain in my arse i will definitely phone them everytime she wakes during the night!!!! :lol:
  • i love that book. major major lol. :lol: i must read it again when... well i guess when baby is 12!!!



    anyway, tongiht we had dinner at 5.30, then play time as she wasnt tired at all, bath at 7pm, followed by a story and milk and her night night song. she went to sleep but woke up as soon as i opened the bedroom door. eventually she fell asleep through shush pat at 8.30, then woke again at 9.45 but went straight back to sleep when i led her down. shes started sitting up in the cot crying! such a big girl now!



    my parents were babysitting while i was at first aid class trough sept / oct and i once got so fed up with them ignoring me i took the pram with me!!! so they just cuddled her to sleep instead of pushing in the pram :roll:



    thanks for all the words of advice!



    my parents are retired. i cant afford not to work and work wont let me go part time :x guess i need to get pregnant so i can go on mat leave and not have to worry what my parents are doing!!!



    i thnk if they continue to be a pain in my arse i will definitely phone them everytime she wakes during the night!!!! :lol:
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