Bedtime routines?

[Rachaellius]

At what age did you start getting your LO into a bedtime routine? And what was/is your routine?

At the moment Phoebe has a bath every other night, sleepsuit on and a bottle and goes to bed in her moses basket whenever me and OH go up to bed. If we're not ready for bed by the time she's had her bath and bottle she'll sleep downstairs for a while and we'll carry her up.

She also always wakes between 12/1am for a feed, so we don't normally go to bed until after we've done this feed.
And then she'll wake again for a feed around 4am, but after this feed she just will not settle and most nights I'm up until 6am with her trying to get her to settle. We've tried not stimulating her like keeping the lights down low, not talking to her etc but nothing seems to do the trick.

So I suppose what I'm asking is, is too early to be trying to get her into a routine and are there any suggestions on how I can get her to settle better after the 4am feed?

xxx

 

[Hayley1608]

Hi lovely

We began a bedtime routine from the day we got home from the hospital and just altered it as she got slightly older.

We began bathing at about nine and bottle and then bed by about ten. Savannah always woke similar hours to those that you have mentioned and she was a nightmare to get off to sleep after her four o clock feed. We decided to bath her later at about half past ten then bottle then bed and we found that she only woke up once about 3 for a feed and seemed to go off easier and would sleep for a few more hours. Once she was settled into this we moved the bath and bedtime 15 minutes earlier and let her settle into that for a while then move 15 minutes earlier again. It seemed to work for us and by a month old she was sleeping through from ten until about 7 but we were very lucky.

Now she's four months old and has a bath at half eightish and is in bed by nine.

It's difficult to know what to do as different things work for different babies. As tiring as it maybe sometimes the only thing that works is trial and error.

Sorry for the lengthy post most of it probably didn't make sense!

Hayley x

 

[Xcitedmum]

I started the routine when my lo was 2weeks old. The sooner you start it the better. We had a camera above her cot so we could keep checking on her rather than running up and down stairs. Each night we put her to bed around same time, the room would already be darkened prior to her getting to the room. At this very young age I may have rocked her for a few mins to relax her but I was soon able to stop that and just put her down.

I go to bed every night at the same time (10.30) so I would have got up when she needed fed during night. At the start I would have fed her in our room but I struggled to stay awake so then started to take her either into nursery or downstairs for night feeds. We stopped night feeds when she was 8wks.

I never got into the bathing either every night or every few nights, the nurse told me once a week is plenty so I always bath her on a sat morn. I think of a bath as a stimulant to be honest!

In terms of what you could do to settle her after 4am feed, maybe a wee gentle rock for a few mins with no touching her face or stroking nose etc? If you are doing the feed in your room, maybe go to a different room for that feed?

My LO is now almost 5mths old and is well into a routine where she is in bed every night round 7ish. It can be hard but stick to it, it def pays off!

Something else you might consider, does your heating come on round 4ish, maybe she is harder to settle cos she is too warm/cold?

To be honest when they are so young it can be hard to figure everything out but it all comes together with a strict routine, some time and lots of patience!

 

[Lacey's Mummy]

I got my son into a routine by 4 weeks, I used to top and tail him every night, into night clothes, in my room, dimly lit with bottle then into cot, leave room.
When in the room doing last feed, try not to talk to much and make sure there's hardly any noise.
Charley's always been fantastic at bedtimes and still is at 14 months.
When he was having night feeds, again room dimly lit, no talking, feed and straight back in cot so they know it's sleep time.
It might take afew nights but stick to it xx

 

[Lisa_85]

Ive just started Issac into a proper routine, he gets bathed, and a lullaby cd is played through this he is then dressed and fed in my room and put in his crib, i have a shirt in the crib with him so he smells me, his next feed is about 12 when I'm already in bed then between 3+5 and again 7am... I'm quite lucky because i feed him in bed and he can stay in the bed with me from 7am for a feed and cuddle and then he is ready to get up at 9..

I'm planning on having Issac in his own room earlier than 6months as its proving difficult to have the same routine between two houses, so that is my reason for starting a routine now xx

 

[littlemiss83]

Put my LO into a routine from day one, it kinda came naturally, bath & bottle around 7/8/9 & straight into crib (in our bedroom) we have a tommee tippee sensor monitor so didn't need to worry about seperate rooms (it was only for a cpl of hours til we went to bed anyway). She slept fine & woke around the same time as your lO - over the next cpl of weeks he gradually went longer & longer between feeds & now he's sleeping right through 8pm -8/9. Occasionally he wakes for a 4am feed.

No routine is really needed, just a warm bath bottle & dark quiet room

 

[positivity :)]

great thread.

my lo is only 2 weeks and 5 days old but i think i need to start thinking about it. at the moment he has a feed at around 9pm, i then lay him on my chest and he goes into a deep sleep, we then put him in his basket in the living room with us until about 12/1 when he wakes for his next feed. i then change his nappy again, have a cuddle and put him into the moses basket and take him into the bedroom. from what i read online, me cuddling him to sleep is a bad idea, so i'm going to try from tomorrow to change, feed him and then put him straight into his basket...and straight into the bedroom. think i'm gonna miss the cuddles more than him lol! but keeping him in the living room until 1am can't be the right thing to do. xx

 

[Constantstar]

At about 12 weeks we started. Currently it's:
6.00pm bath
6.10 pm cream and dressing
6.15pm bottle
6.30 bedtime with lullaby music

No night feeds now and he wakes about 6.30 am

 

[Jo.1]

Hi, when my LO was about 3-4 wks I started giving him a bath (didnt always need one but he enjoyed it and good for a windy tummy) at 7.15ish then into pj's and bottle by 7.30 in bed by 8pm upstairs in dark rm. even if I had to go back a few times to settle him he soon got the idea that it was bedtime and soon didn't need to settle him at all. The night feeds would then just stretch out from 8 getting longer and longer gaps untill he was sleeping through at 12 wks. We were very lucky with him but I do believe the bedtime routine made a huge difference.
It also give you an evening!
Hope alls well with everyone
Xx

 

[tinks77]

Started Grace's at 4 weeks, bath at 7:30, bottle in dark bedroom with lightshow & music. In to bed and normally asleep instantly but always by 9pm. Wakes between 2-3am for a bottle then up for the day between 6-7am x

 

[littlemiss83]

Hi, when my LO was about 3-4 wks I started giving him a bath (didnt always need one but he enjoyed it and good for a windy tummy) at 7.15ish then into pj's and bottle by 7.30 in bed by 8pm upstairs in dark rm. even if I had to go back a few times to settle him he soon got the idea that it was bedtime and soon didn't need to settle him at all. The night feeds would then just stretch out from 8 getting longer and longer gaps untill he was sleeping through at 12 wks. We were very lucky with him but I do believe the bedtime routine made a huge difference.
It also give you an evening!
Hope alls well with everyone
Xx

Exactly the same for me, Kayden is 9 weeks & when he wakes he can settle himself back to sleep w/out crying. When he cries in the room id go in every time & settle him in his cot & leave when he was settled (rather than lifting him out then back in, which I found disturbed him more)..unless he's screaming in which case I cuddle him for a few mins then put him back