Whats your bedtime routine?

Ems101 · Dec 18, 2009 10:41AM

Now we're at six weeks we want to have a firmer bedtime routine and just wondered what you did and what time...

Em x

rosiepants · Dec 17, 2009 6:20PM

We are 5 weeks now and have been trying this for the last 10 days.We have tried to have a bedtime routine, timing depends on when baby is due feeding but we try to keep it to 7-8pm. He has a bath, then gets taken into our room where he sleeps, gets dressed and put into his sleeping bag and then has his feed.We then put him down in his moses basket, slightly awake and leave him to settle himself, going in if he crys. It has sort of worked but we have a few nights where LO has wokien up and wanted to play.HV recommeneded we started this kind of routine and get it established before trying any other routine.A friend of mind also recommended soft music, the same everytime, to ,let them know its bed time and giving a feed even if not due so it keeps the time and routine the same.Hope this has given you some ideas!

summer_76 · Dec 18, 2009 5:38AM

i keep toby awake between 4pm and 7pm - though it is abit tricky.

He has a bath about 6.30pm then up to his room where the light is dim for change - sleeping bag - feed (all night time feeds are in his room) then into our room for night time. We normally have to return about 2-3 times in about 30 minutes and then he is off till 11pmish. Then he wakes between at about 3am and then again at 6am (would love to stretch this to 7am but cant at the moment.

whilst this works most of the time now - it is dependant on wind, tummy, cold etc good luck x

bubbletoes123 · Dec 18, 2009 7:14AM

We started off trying to implement a nighttime routine from day one including a bath, feed, sleeping bag then put down awake in his crib in our room. However with the craziness of the evening (trying to cook and eat ourselves) and the fact that Finn has really dry skin - aggrivated by a daily bath - we changed it slightly.

Now his routine is a feed at 7:30 with daddy then nap/babble to himself in the front room until 9:00pm whilst we cook and eat, then at 9:00pm we wake him with a nappy change, top and tail, massage with baby lotion to help his skin and fresh PJs, then at about 9:15pm into our room, into his growbag and his last feed in bed with us and dimmed lights. Then we put him down awake in his crib. This seems to be working for us as he will be asleep by 10pm and sometimes sleeps through till 4am before waking for a feed. I know eventually we will need to move the routine forward to nearer 7pm but for now this is working for us.

The period from 7:30 - 9:00 seems to be key with Finn - he starts winding down then to get ready for bed - we used to try and keep him awake and play with him during this period but he ended up being over tired and cranky!

Inka2012 · Dec 18, 2009 8:24AM

Hi,

I noticed for the last week Scarlett was going to sleep around 12 midnight then woke around 4 -5 am and again 7-8 am, which meant I was getting a 4hr and 2hr block which was sort of manageable, BUT last night I was so tired took her to bed with me at 9pm, took her 2 hrs to finish feeding and sleep but then she woke every 2 hrs through the night so was not as good for me!

At the moment I couldnt possibly put her down early evening as evening seems to be one of her most awake times that plus first 2-3 hrs in the morning. I asked the HV yesterday and she said she will fall into a pattern and best to start around 12 weeks as Im still feeding on demand would be too soon any earlier..

I wish she would feed more at each sitting, she seems to have regressed to feeding for less time but more frequently which is tiring and painful, has anyone else noticed this?

Inka xxx

Ems101 · Dec 18, 2009 9:39AM

Lots of ideas there ladies, thank you.

We've tried to keep things quiet and sleepy in the evening with a feed - to - sleep before going down in her basket for the night. This was eventually at around midnight. A couple of times shes been really upset and unsettled and ive left her with daddy and gone to bed for a couple of hours, with the idea that id take over when she needed another feed. Every time this has happened, shes gone down for 4-5 hours which is great compared to her usual 2-3 hours sleeps at night.

Im just going to try and follow her lead, and as inka is, im still BFing on demand, so im not going to get to stressed over it.

Also, now i think about it, she has reverted to sip feeding a bit from time to time, i think this is more for comfort rather than anything else!

Em xx

Baa1234 · Dec 18, 2009 10:41AM

I am with you Inka, Poppy seems to stay awake until midnight, or just after, then wakes again 4amish then again between 7-8am. I am also breast feeding on demand and as wondering when to try and get into a routine. I have also started trying to put her back into moss basket once she has finished her feed during the night, rather than letting her fall complelty asleep on me first.......had to do this originally otherwise she wouldn't settle!!! Have also found that she sometimes just once a short drink whilst other times we could be feeding for an hour!!really lookng forward to getting into ome kind of routine!! x

Rachy and Poppy (6 weeks today)

[Modified by: Rachy123 on December 18, 2009 02:43 PM]

Whats your bedtime routine?

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