Bedtime routine

[Lulu_Laroo]

When should I start getting LO into some kind of bedtime routine so she can start to differentiate between night & day?
At the moment, I'm staying up until 4am every night with her downstairs in the moses basket 1) To let OH get some sleep because he works and 2) Because I find going to bed and then having to wake up every two hours really difficult - I find it much easier if I just stay awake all night to do the feeds!
I know this sounds terrible and isn't doing me any good
Should I be trying to get Poppy into a bedtime routine this early on (she's three weeks old)? I'm all over the place at the moment, no routine whatsoever but beginning to feel like we need one. How does everyone else do bedtime/nightfeeds?

 

[Lacey's Mummy]

I started charley's routine straight away from day 1 so he would know the difference between day and night.
During the day, keep it light and noisy while she naps, at bedtime, do everything with minimal noise. Pick a time you want her to go to bed around every night. You could do a bath, bottle, bed routine. I didn't include a bath in my routine as I didn't want to bath him everynight so I take him up stairs to the bathroom, top and tail him, put into night clothes, go into dimly lit bedroom, bottle while he's in cot, quick kiss goodnight, night show on, then leave room.
It took about 2 weeks for him to get used to it but now he goes down fine every night.

 

[ippa]

I started from about 5 weeks when we finally got out of hospital for good! would have done earlier but was difficult in hospital!
I give him a bath, put night clothes on him, read him a story and then a bottle, he then goes into his cot and within about 10 mins he is asleep! He has slept through the night since about 12 weeks!
XxX

 

[Corrinne37]

Good luck Lulu!
I remember my midwife saying from 6 mths, but I think this too late. As my son was a nightmare for ages (and still can e and hes 2!)
So I agree the earlier the better, then they no no different and thats just the way it is, they say kids feel more secure in a routine and I know this is true.
By the way,the pic of your little girl is gorgeous, she is truly adorable - enjoy her. xxx

 

[Yodabo]

Straightaway I tried to get Drake used to night routine. Like laceys mummy, kept it loud and light in the day (from about 3 weeks I got him dressed in normal clothes for the day too) at night tried to keep to the same time, change, bottle and bed. I kept it dark in our room and when he did wake up for night feeds I didn't talk to him, had little eye contact, kept it dim and I only changed his nappy if he pood. He's always gone straight back down afterwards.

 

[jennilisanne]

Straightaway! You not getting sleep won't help her!
Have a little routine, we do bath (not every night), close the curtains together (I mean, the two of us, not just close them so they are together, lol!) teeth (even before they came through), feed, bed. So far there's been no fuss about bedtime.

 

[hugsy]

Im along way away from this stage but interested all the same, Can I just ask when you put them in the cot do you stay with them till they are asleep or just pop them in and walk out? Me and hubby dissagree on this when we talk aobut how we will set routines lol im for leaving him/her awake he thinks get them to sleep then leave

 

[Roo3]

We started from about 3 weeks. At 8pm Jake does tummy time for 10 minutes, then we turn him onto his back and let him just have a kick about until 8.30pm. Then he has a bath, bottle and bed. We put him in his crib awake and leave the room. He'll then get himself off to sleep within 15 minutes.
When he wakes for a night feed, I don't talk to him, keep eye contact to a minimum, and leave the lights off. Again he goes back to sleep quickly after his feed.
I'm trying to bring his bedtime forward at the moment, as I'd like him to be asleep by 7-7.30pm eventually.
Good luck!! xxx

 

[Roo3]

Im along way away from this stage but interested all the same, Can I just ask when you put them in the cot do you stay with them till they are asleep or just pop them in and walk out? Me and hubby dissagree on this when we talk aobut how we will set routines lol im for leaving him/her awake he thinks get them to sleep then leave

I'd definitely leave him/her to self settle to sleep. When Jake was first born, OH and I wouldn't put him back in his crib unless he was asleep for the first couple of weeks. We would sometimes be awake for 2-3 hours trying to get him to nod off. One day OH just said put him down awake and see what happens and within 15 minutes Jake was out for the count.
If you get into the habit of waiting until he/she is asleep until you leave the room, they'll never be able to fall asleep without you there which isn't ideal for anyone! xx

 

[hugsy]

Thanks for that hun, Will be printing and sticking to hubby lol

 

[KellyHook]

Charlie is 3weeks old on monday and pretty much from day 1 we get Charlie ready for bed at the same time as Brooke, they have a bath and then into their bed clothes, Charlie has his last bottle at 11.30pm and take him up after, he goes straight down whether awake or asleep, and he goes straight off to sleep! And then he wakes up between 3-4am and then between 6-7am and after each feed he goes straight back to sleep! So its working for me so far!

I don't know how you can stay up till 4am... I just couldn't do it, I'd be absolutely knackered!

I would try to get into a routine asap! It really does help! Anything is worth a try if its going to make it easier for you hun! Xxx

 

[Lulu_Laroo]

Thanks girls. So it's ok to put her in her moses basket to sleep and then leave the room even though she's still so tiny? I'm such a paranoid new mum, I feel I should be constantly watching her! So you would all say it's okay to do this? x

 

[ippa]

I would say that's fine hun! Just check on her when you wake up, as no doubt you will a few times, which is totally natural, but it will get less and less when you realise she is fine!
I hope you managed to start getting a bit more sleep now hun!
Good luck!
XxX

 

[Piglet's Mama]

Charlie is 3weeks old on monday and pretty much from day 1 we get Charlie ready for bed at the same time as Brooke, they have a bath and then into their bed clothes, Charlie has his last bottle at 11.30pm and take him up after, he goes straight down whether awake or asleep, and he goes straight off to sleep! And then he wakes up between 3-4am and then between 6-7am and after each feed he goes straight back to sleep! So its working for me so far!

I don't know how you can stay up till 4am... I just couldn't do it, I'd be absolutely knackered!

I would try to get into a routine asap! It really does help! Anything is worth a try if its going to make it easier for you hun! Xxx

Brooke has found a routine very similar to Charlie's. She has her last feed between 11pm-12.00am, we change her, get her in her bedtime clothes, I have a little fuss with her (optional I don't think she needs this, this is more for me!) and then we put her down. She is now starting to go 4-4.5 hours between her feeds so she only wakes once in the night; she's normally v.sleepy for this feed so will have it, we change her and put her back down all within about 20-25 mins. We are in the room with her the whole time in the evenings though but Al & I have always spent a lot of time in our room because our big telly is up there, plus we don't think it's a bad thing getting Brooke used to noise. And she's such a fabby sleeper she doesn't seem to give a monkey's where she sleeps or what's going on around her,

I personally wouldn't leave Brooke alone in the room in the Moses Basket but that's just me; even if I'm downstairs I only leave the room for a few mins. But like everything, it's what suits you hun.

Also, you deffo need to try & get some kip if you can when Poppy is sleeping. I waited up for Brooke to feed at 3.00am the other night and she didn't wake until 5am...! That was the first & last time I will be doing that! x

 

[Lulu_Laroo]

To be honest I really don't feel comfortable leaving her in the room on her own just yet so I won't be doing that at the moment. We've just bought a baby monitor with a sensor pad though so might start using that in a few weeks time.

One last question! Do you ladies share nightfeeds/nappy changes with OH? At the moment I do all feeds & nappy changes throughout the week and then OH will do it on a friday and saturday night to give me a break. Do you think we should share it out more evenly through the week as it can get so knackering?!

 

[Piglet's Mama]

To be honest I really don't feel comfortable leaving her in the room on her own just yet so I won't be doing that at the moment. We've just bought a baby monitor with a sensor pad though so might start using that in a few weeks time.

One last question! Do you ladies share nightfeeds/nappy changes with OH? At the moment I do all feeds & nappy changes throughout the week and then OH will do it on a friday and saturday night to give me a break. Do you think we should share it out more evenly through the week as it can get so knackering?!

While Al has been on leave we've been taking it in turns but as of now (he goes back to work tomorrow) I'll be doing Brooke's night/early morning feed. I imagine he'll do one of the weekend feeds, prob Friday night and I know he'll prob do one of her two evening feeds when he gets in from work in the week too. It's still all trial and error I think x

 

[pinkymum]

She was probably about 3 weeks I started a routine but she also had colic so it wasn't a rigid routine. She was 3 weeks old when I started to put her to sleep upstairs on her own. She was getting over stimulated with the tv on or me going about doing things. I always made the difference between day and night like LM's said. I don't bath every night I get her ready for bed and. Bottle downstairs usually between half 6 -7 unless we've been out and just get home at 6. Then we'll sit and play quietly or I'll sing to her but just calm stuff till about half 7. Then into her cot and she's usually asleep by 8pm. I put her in her own room when she was 5 weeks old - maybe seems really early but we were both keeping each other awake she makes lots of noise in her sleep and I snore. It was a bit scary the first night but I have a good monitor and sensor mat. My day and night routine isn't rigid, but it's kind just fallen into place. Sometimes like just now she's been quite grumpy and clingy, there always seems to be changes just as you think you've gotten used to the way things are baby goes through a growth spurt etc. Steep learning curve for us both hehe x

 

[riotfox]

We started a proper bedtime routine around 2 weeks old. At 7pm we give Lucas a bath, he then gets a massage and his bedtime bottle. He normally falls asleep on his bottle. We are always done by 8pm. OH always does the night feed while I do all the sterilising etc. Gives his time to bond with Lucas as he is at work all day. I do the night shift Sun-Thurs and OH does Fri and Sat as he is at work Mon to Fri. xx

 

[inky]

Just to buck the trend lol

We didn't have a strict routine until LO was about 6 months old, we had a Moses basket downstairs in the living room and another by my side of the bed. He slept when he wanted to, but always slept in his basket, be it downstairs during the day or upstairs while we were sleeping at night. He naturally started to sleep for longer periods during the night at about 2 weeks old, he woke approx every 3 hours at first then it gradually stretched to 4, then 5 over the course of a couple of months.

When he was 6 months old he kind of found his own routine, and started to get sleepy at the same time every night. We now do dinner at 5, bath at 6, bed and fast asleep by 7. He sleeps til 7am usually. I know I may be jinxing it by saying this but because we let him lead the way rather than enforcing. Routine that suited us, we've never had tears at bedtime, we know his sleep cues (sometimes he wants to go to bed earlier than 7) and he enjoys the process of winding down before bedtime.

I can totally understand why anyone would want a strict routine from a very early age bt I really do feel that a baby should be allowed to follow their own course x

Oh, and no, OH didn't do any night feeds or changes because I breastfeed and didn't want to give LO a bottle so couldn't express for OH to feed instead. Suited me fine though, I secretly miss my night time cuddles, it's such a special time

 

[Babystanden]

Our little mans bedtime routine really kicked in at 6 weeks once we moved him from his Moses basket into his cot in his own room. He's now 15 weeks and the last 3 week he's been sleeping right through from 8.30pm to 7am brilliantly we bath him at 8, dry him off and get him into his sleepsuit, milk, kisses and bed x