Bedtimes for a 4 month old

[loz]

Hi - Emms is still mainly sleeping through the night which is a real Godsend, infact she is still asleep now after finally going to sleep at 11.30.

Are there any tips about getting babs to go to bed earlier in the evening? It is still 11ish when Emms will finally sleep. Sometimes she will have a kip in the evening for a while but usually only if I'm next to her. Ideally I'd love for her to go to sleep earlier and then give her a last feed at 11pm, then for her to sleep until morning, but no matter how I've tried, it is still 11pm!!

I'm starting back at work in mid September and would like for us to be in some kind of routine by then if possible. I know I'm really lucky but just wondered if there was anything that might help. We've tried the bathing, feed then try and sleep routine but Emms just wants entertaining and is wide awake!! Even when we've tried bottles of expressed milk, it is still the same!!

Grateful for any tips . . . .

 

[CoreysMummy]

At about 9 weeks old I set my LO's bed time at 10pm, and would get him changed and fed in time for that, this also meant no sleeping after 6pm to ensure that he would go to bed at 10. I guess I was really lucky because by 11 weeks I could'nt keep his eyes open past 8pm, so thats his bed time now... I will be moving it to 7pm however, and I was planning on moving it forward 15 mins every 3-4 days. I have hurd this is one of the best ways to bring bed times forward. I would also cut out that evening nap if I was you, just to ensure that LO is knacard.

By 4 months a baby is capeable (this dont mean they WILL) sleep 12 hours a night. So if your LO goes to bed at 11pm I woudnt expect her up before 10am really. My Lo has his last feed at 8pm, then wakes at 5am for milk, and straight back to sleep til 8am. Once you introduce solids you may find your LO will sleep longer, this is what I am hoping, to cut out that 5am feed.

 

[Kylie1007]

I found that when Finn reached 3 months he was rubbing his eyes around 7ish so we decided that would be his bedtime. Now he has his dinner about 5ish, bath around 6ish and around 7 I try to put him down in bed!

 

[littlepip]

I wanted to ask exactly the same thing actually!!! Ryan goes to bed at around 10.30-11pm and wakes at around 7 and has a bottle then sleeps till 9 which is great because i love a lay in but it means i get no time to myself in the evenings!! So say if i put him down at 10pm do i just let him cry till he falls asleep?!?!!?! Then obviously i would get his bedtime earlier and earlier but bit by bit

 

[loz]

I wanted to ask exactly the same thing actually!!! Ryan goes to bed at around 10.30-11pm and wakes at around 7 and has a bottle then sleeps till 9 which is great because i love a lay in but it means i get no time to myself in the evenings!! So say if i put him down at 10pm do i just let him cry till he falls asleep?!?!!?! Then obviously i would get his bedtime earlier and earlier but bit by bit

This is the problem as I dont think controlled crying is advised until at least 6 months. I have tried putting Emms to bed earlier, but she just cries. Maybe she will settle into it herself as she has with everything else!! Maybe you just have to take their lead . . .

 

[debecca]

I started bathing Connie every night and putting her to bed straight after that, and just made it earlier and earlier... she's now asleep by 8pm every night the routine aspect really helps though. Because we do EXACTLY the same things every night she knows it's bedtime so we never have any problem with her going to sleep (must admit we did a bit of controlled crying for the first couple of days but as soon as we put her dummy back in she went off)...

 

[LisaJ1986]

Our bedtime is 10pm. If she isn't in her cot by then she kicks up a stink, but she won't go to bed much earlier. It's fine fr us as we go to bed at the same time. But we have stepped backwards with night times so i can't really try and get her routine in yet.

 

[Nicola g]

I think they just fall in to a routine if you follow one.

I dont bath Dafydd everynight but he has a wash/bath bottle at half 5 and then in bed at 6 he sleeps through till 5 in the morning which he's been doing for around 4 weeks now, he just adjusted himself to it.

I dont mind getting up at 5 as i have older children to get ready for school. Dafydd usually goes back to sleep after his 5 o clock feed till half 8 when it's school run time.

 

[AnnaR2B]

i agree with hertsmummy and debecca, Ted is in bed and asleep at 8pm and can sleep through till 6.30/7am (although having tricky 4 month patch where he's waking at 2am and 5am!) he can settle but i just bought him a v-tech lullaby projector thing, its ace...he watches these teddies circling on his ceiling as if in a trance, and as well as lullabies it also plays natural sounds.. may help? Got it from mothercare for 19.99

 

[loz]

i agree with hertsmummy and debecca, Ted is in bed and asleep at 8pm and can sleep through till 6.30/7am (although having tricky 4 month patch where he's waking at 2am and 5am!) he can settle but i just bought him a v-tech lullaby projector thing, its ace...he watches these teddies circling on his ceiling as if in a trance, and as well as lullabies it also plays natural sounds.. may help? Got it from mothercare for 19.99

Did you find that he naturally went to sleep at 8pm or did you have to let him cry the 1st few times? Normally with Emms, she will just cry and cry and I cant leave her like that. I think partly it is as I am BF, she stocks up gradually over the evening, so that she can sleep through.

I am going to start adding a bottle of formula soon as I need her to get used to it by the time I go back to work part-time, so whether that might make her a bit fuller in the evenings I dont know?

 

[fifi211]

Charlie is usually in bed by 8-8.30 but we are still giving him a dream feed around 11pm but he literally has his bottle and straight back to bed without us waking him. Hoping to stop this bottle soon but hv said he may not be getting enough milk if we do. Do any of you still dream feed?

 

[loz]

I started bathing Connie every night and putting her to bed straight after that, and just made it earlier and earlier... she's now asleep by 8pm every night the routine aspect really helps though. Because we do EXACTLY the same things every night she knows it's bedtime so we never have any problem with her going to sleep (must admit we did a bit of controlled crying for the first couple of days but as soon as we put her dummy back in she went off)...

Does Connie sleep all through the night from 8pm? I love the name Connie by the way, so lovely.

 

[laracomps]

Yep, we're still dream feeding.

Phoebe normally goes to bed anything between 6.15 - 7.30. She sets this time herself, I just foller her lead really.

We then dream feed her at 11pm. She still wakes at about 5 for a feed, then she'll go back to bed till 6.30 - 7ish. If Toby's home we'll get up with her then, if he isn't she comes into bed with me - she will generally fall asleep again an hour later for maybe another 40 mins.

So she doesn't do TOO badly to be honest. I don't think she can go without the dream feed just yet.

Now... ask me about day time sleeping, and thats a whole different ball game

 

[daftscotslass]

My LO dropped her 10/11pm feed about 3 weeks ago. She had been going to bed between 7 and 8 till about 5am with a sleepy feed at 11ish. We went on holiday and decided not to bother giving her the 11pm feed (truth be told we were zonked from travelling) and we all slept through till 5am. This has continued and she is sleeping until about 6am now. She has a bottle and then sleeps another couple of hours.

She rarely sleeps for more than an 30 mins-hour at a time during the day unless she's had injections etc! She does tend to have a short cat-nap at about 5pm (less than half an hour) but starts to get cranky beyond about 7.30.

 

[Sherlock]

Have you tried moving the time back a little every few nights. 11pm then 10.30 for a few till she is happy with that time, then 10pm etc. Make sure you draw the curtains early in the house so she can't see daylight and then start bathing and getting her ready for bed at the same time every evening. Make it say 8pm. Keep her active a while till her next feed time then get ready to pop her into her cot. Make sure its very dim lighting when feeding and its always the same place, same routine, don't talk to her too much, don't make too much eye contact, keep it quiet and calm as you would during a night feed. And make sure she can't see daylight outside. All being well eventually if you repeat this she will slowly adjust to it. It might take a few weeks.

Then to bring it forward some more, move bath time to 7pm and other times earlier.

Also then in the morning I'd be inclined to not let her sleep in so late. Even if you start slowly waking her half an hour early each week, gradually bring her waking time forward as her sleeping time gets earlier. I'd think that as she goes to bed earlier she'll start waking sooner anyways. Galen is like that. If he goes to sleep at 8pm he is wide awake by 7am the next morning. If he doesn't settle till gone 9pm he usually sleeps in till 9am.

Of course if you've tried all this and its not worked then I'll have a rethink.

Also music and something to look at can be good to settle a baby. We use a mobile with music for Galen and have done since 6 weeks when he went in his cot. When he goes in there he is awake. Within 20 minutes he is out for the count. He usually has a feed around 8pm and then sometime before 9pm is in his cot. If he is restless around 11pm I'll dreamfeed him and he usually goes through till 6am ish then. If I don't dreamfeed he often wakes around 3-4am for a feed and then again around 6.

 

[Happybunny]

I think Sherlock's advice is great. My little one seemed to have got into a 11pm - 10am sleep routine (with two/three feeds in the middle)

Now we are doing what Sherlock suggested (dark house, doing the bed/bath routine a bit earlier every few days and waking April up earlier in the mornings. It seems to be working a treat. She was in bed by 9pm today

 

[monster_munch]

Green Bean goes to sleep at around 7 to 8 ish, it depends on what mood his sister's in as they share a room. There's no crying involved as they entertain each other until they fall asleep!

Up to a week or so ago he slept until 7, but not wakes up at 4 or 5 for a feed, this is my fault as my boobs were getting so sore that I had to feed him (too lazy to go downstairs and express, plus as he had lost a little bit of weight, I wanted to top him up a bit) well now he expects it, but it's not too bad

I'm very lucky to have 2 good sleepers, just wish I bloody well was!

 

[AnnaR2B]

Did you find that he naturally went to sleep at 8pm or did you have to let him cry the 1st few times? Normally with Emms, she will just cry and cry and I cant leave her like that. I think partly it is as I am BF, she stocks up gradually over the evening, so that she can sleep through.

To be honest he's never really cried when we put him to bed (i know we are lucky) he seems to have really got into the routine well and after a 7oz of formula he really is knackered. However the odd night he is a bit grizzly so I sshh and pat him in the cot until he sleeps, i never lift him out if he moans as i don't want him to rely on me to cuddle him to sleep (much as I want to!!) this usually settles him. But listening to other people I know we are really lucky. Keep trying different things hun

Fi - i dropped the DF a while ago as we found he would sleep till 5am/6am whether we DF him or not, sometmes he would wake earlier if we did DF, i wondered whether it was breaking his deep sleep so we stopped and he slept through

 

[loz]

I tried Emms with some formula yesterday and she wasnt having any of it, but I'm hoping that if I find one which she likes, it might knock her out a bit in the evening and help her to feel a bit more satisfied. We have had another horrible evening of her crying ++ and feeding on and off all evening.

 

[AnnaR2B]

Which formula did you try hun? We use aptimil, I find it really good