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Night routine for Breastfed baby

Hi

Can anyone give any tips for getting a breast fed baby in a night routine, my little one is 7 weeks old and will now not go to sleep until about 2 am, I'm shattered and so is my other half.  As she doesn't have a regular feeding pattern I find it hard to get a routine.  Does anyone have any advice please?????

Replies

  • I used to go up to bed around ten.Get me and baby into pyjamas.I had a dim bedside light on,and the tv on low.I made myself a comfy "nest" and I'd feed baby as long as she needed,while watching telly.Darren got used to the dim light and the telly was only just audible(I feel it a miniscule sacrifice on his part).I had enough pillows so I could sleep comfy enough sitting up if I dozed off.I also always fed her wrapped in a flannelette sheet,winded her on a muslin and waited till she was in a deep sleep before putting her in the crib,with the muslin too.The wrapping plus the muslin helped her move from me to the cot.The muslin carries your smell and became familiar to help settle her.I felt because I was actually in bed by 10 ish even if I wasn't sleeping I was resting and it just became routine.Then I could just flop into bed without too much effort myself.If she was sleeping,I used to actually wake her for the ten o'clock feed,or feed her while she was still sleeping, because it meant the long stretch of sleep at night for me
  • I found that it's important that your baby knows when it's night, at that at night we sleep. We also have a dim light on, and make sure we are quiet etc. Most importantly, once he's in bed, he doesn't leave the bedroom, no matter what; and we only take him out of his cot if we really need to, eg. for a feed or change or if he's screaming and really won't settle at all and needs cuddling.

     I read somewhere that you should begin by taking baby to bed at the same time as you, and then move it forward 15 minutes each night. I thought that 15 mins a night was a bit fast, so move it forward whenever he seems sleepy a hile before bedtime.

    River's bedtime routine is a bath (currently at 7 o'clock), gets dry and pjs on in the bathroom, then into the bedroom where i sit (or lie) on the bed and feed him until he either falls asleep or has had enough. I then take the hot water bottle out of his cot which was put there before his bath (so the cot's warm and he doesn't wake up after coming away from the warmthof cuddle and milk), put him in his cot, and if he's still awake give him a dummy and put his lullabies cd on.

    Hope this is some help to you, and good luck surviving the sleepless nights!

  • what I tried was from around 7 in the evening just feeding every hour even if they are asleep and keep doiung this till around 11. then put them down. Its a pain but it gave me around 4-5 hours sleep. trick is to go asleep as soon as they do. Dont be tempted to try and do the dishes or tidy up. That can be done in the morning. hope that might help it helped us
  • only sign of a rountine we have is 3am lola finishes her feed athon and sleeps until 9am then quick feed and wriggle nappy change and naps until 11-12 depending on the noise jacks making about the house! going to start creeping earlier next week
  • thats good laura for a breadfed baby. I hope I have a good baby this time
  • In the early days we went with the flow then when she was 8 weeks old( i know still early days but we had got to know her a little)  we started a bed time routine of bath, pj's,milk, swaddled and in bed. Then she would wake around 10 for a feed then 2am and 6am. Then as she got older she dropped the night feeds and the last one to go around 4 or 5 months ( can't remember fully!)  was the 10pm feed. For a while i would wake her for her 10am feed or she would wake in the night. When i thought she could manage all night we dropped the 10pm feed.I do have to say though it was 6/7 months before she slept through all night. Now at 10 months old she gets cranky and ready for bed at 6pm we do the same routine but have added a bedtime story and she settles no problems and sleeps until 5am-6am ( i know she is an early riser but i can't complian really as we have all evening to ourselves!)

    xx

  • I don't remember when I got my ds into a routine, but I saw some good tips and recommendations about this on the Sleepytot Blog - http://www.sleepytot.com/blog

  • Wow catherinesmummy, I envy you! River's 6 months and he's only just gnoe down from 5ish night feeds to one or two!
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