Forum home Babies Baby

Bedtime Routine for 5 week old

we have just started to try and get Amy into a bedtime routine, hubby baths her at 7pm and then i feed her and put her down at 8pm. she wriggles and kicks for another hour (think she wants to play) but i ignore her-which is hard!

my problem is i put her down in her moses basket in our room - what do you do then???
Stay with her and watch telly v. quietly or is she too young to be left alone with a baby monitor?

How old was yours when you left them on there own to sleep?

thanks xxx

Replies

  • Its good your trynig to get her into a routine early, but she may be too young to understand it. try not giving her a bottle or a nap for a good few hours before her bath, and baths usually tire the baby out. after you've fed her put her in her basket and let her know your there by whispering to her or singing! (quietly and gently ofc), then when shes asleep she should be fine on herown with babymoniter. xx
  • OK am I bad mummy here? Lol

    I've ALWAYS left my lo to go to sleep alone - as in, from birth! I don't have a baby monitor, because our room is downstairs anyway, so I just keep going in to check on him.

    Since about 2 weeks old I have put Gabriel (now almost 12 weeks) down awake. He doesn't cry or if he does then after 5 mins, he settles. (I know he is fed and clean.) I've never left him cry or anything as at this age they're 2 young for controlled crying.

    Gabe is put down at about 8 o'clock. If he's very tired he will sleep within 5 mins (I check him at 5-10 min intervals...just peep in the door, then about 20 mins once he's asleep) but sometimes he's up for up to 45 minutes wriggling and sucking his thumb. I just leave him...it's not mean at all! Babies need winding down time, if I played with him constantly then he'd be wired up and not sleep.

    I am SO glad I started doing what your doing, and you will be too! I used to worry that my lo wouldnt love me if I didn't cuddle him or rock him to sleep but its much better in the long term to let em sleep alone

    As long as Amy is not crying, hungry, or dirty, then it is 100% fine to leave her!!!
  • I'm another bad mum lol! Barney is 4 weeks and since a couple of days old I have been putting him in the crib after his last feed to settle himself. I turn his musical mobile on and leave him with the monitor on. If he cries properly I go straight back up and settle him, if he winges I leave him to see what happens. He usually goes off to sleep really well. We bath him every night before bed because he loves it and it seems to help relax him. Must be doing something right as he sleeps for up to 7 hours from his last feed at 7.45 and I am bfing!!
  • I just want to assure all the ladies that have replied to this post that what they are doing works. My lo is 15 months now and has slept through from being 8 weeks. We have always left him to fall to sleep on his own (obviously with some checking on him now and then) and it has payed dividends. We now put him in his cot at 7pm and he may have a little whinge as we leave the room but then he either drops straight off to sleep or chats to his teddy and tells him all about his day. You can hear him doing this in the night too and, as long as he is happy, we leave him to it. Eventually he just drops back off to sleep and finally wakes up around 8am. There is no harm in leaving your baby alone to settle as long as you know they are safe and fed.
  • Cameron is also 5 weeks, we arent in a strict routine but at the moment we bath him at 6.30ish, then bottle then we put him to sleep downstairs with us about 7.30 and take him to bed when we go up later on. he then wakes at 1 and 5 for a feed and gets up around 7.30. I havent been able to put him to bed upstairs yet and leave him, think i'd be up there checking all the time. once he goes in his cot i will though, in about 4 weeks when he's too big for moses basket.
    x x
  • nessellis, I have learnt from my mistakes lol. Millie is 2 and as a tiny baby was always rocked/fed to sleep. She was a dreadful sleeper and when she was 7 months we had to teach her how to fall asleep using controlled crying. Never again!!! This time we were determined not to fall into the same trap so Barney has been left to fall asleep more or less from birth.
    xx
  • HI
    Sounds like you are doing really well and I think starting to get them used to a different routine at night all helps them understand the difference btwn their daytime naps.
    I have bathed mine (6mths now) every night since I sarted a routine at about 5 wks. Then I breast fed him in his nursery in the dark (hard to see at 1st!) then put him down with some music and then with monitor on left him. Sometimes he whinged and I used some controlled crying, then patting his chest, sitting in dark with him and so on. Now he knows cot is bed and will oten just shut his eyes as soon as I put him down!
    But diff things work for diff babies. Don't beat yourself up about it, some nights it works, someimes it doesn't!! But keep doing what you are doing and i am sure it will pay off x
  • thanks ladies, i did leave her on her own yesterday for a nap whilst we sat outside and she was fine then last night left her once she fell asleep i know she is fine and quite happy its just me being paranoid!

    Think i shall leave her tonight see how we get on.

    our baby monitor has a speaker thing that we can talk to her from downstairs, whilst i was drifting off yesterday hubby started making noises down it which woke me up thinking it was Amy - he thought it was funny - it wasnt!

    xx
  • I've started with the Gina Ford routine today....hasn't gone entirely to the book, but am hoping it will help in the night-time in the long run! Also, i don't think its completely practical unless you stay indoors 24/7 so will be adapting it to our needs/wants!
    As much as i love my son dearly, i don't want to end up with a baby that needs constant attention just to fall asleep or one that is clingy as they grow older!

  • all of you who can put your lo down and they can fall asleep are soooooooooo lucky!

    if i put my lo down and she's not asleep she will cry and then scream!
    i have tried to leave her in hope she'll stop and settle but didn't work

    during the day she'l only sleep in her moses basket for about 10mins too......although today she fell asleep in her chair - she was sleepy when i put her in it so i could use the bathroom and brush my teeth, she slept for nearly an hour.

    as to sleeping in same room, my lo will be 3 weeks on sat, at the moment her moses basket is right next to bed, i couldn't have it anywhere else first night at home after having her sleep there in the hosp too, it is easier for me to take her out and put her in for feeds.

    now i find i wake less to check on her while she's asleep next step is to put it at the bottom of he bed before putting her in her cot in her own room. She was born a very long baby and is already soooo much longer i dont think she'll fit in her moses basket for very long!
  • SO far the most of a routine I have managed is too bath her around 7pm and then breastfeed until full and then hubbie comes in and reads her a story before we put her in rocker with us downstairs. She wont sleep that particular sleep unless downstairs with us. Besides easier cause then we dont have to keep going upstairs when she cries image But then she comes to bed with us and sleeps in her bed next to ours image

    Hoping to get more routine over the coming weeks image
  • Well Amy had only one feed last night!!!

    She was bathed and fed at 7.30pm (took about hour for her to settle tho) she then woke at 1am when hubby gave her a bottle of expressed milk and she only woke up at 6.45am!!!! although she only fed for 10mins and now at 8.15am she is having her morning nap!

    routine seems to be working image

    xxx
  • Hi. Do you have lights tv on and talk etc ? Do you put him in moses or hold him? And are you breastfeeding or formula? Thanks

  • Hi niknox, you happen to have posted on an old thread which means your post might get lost. Can we suggest you start a new thread with your questions in? Just click the pink Start a Thread button at the top of the page. If you need any help, let us know. 

Sign In or Register to comment.

Featured Discussions