Newborn night time routine

[Rachel11]

I know it's a little early but I'm interested in what everyone did or does to get their baby into a routine at night time.


I haven't put anything into place with our 3 week old yet, but is is worth giving it a try or leaving it u til she is a few more weeks old?

 

[Kiagirl]

I started at 6 weeks, bath bottle and bed. Yes she was up again for a feed 4 hours later but I just didn't bring her downstairs but had video monitors. But since she was born I have had an obv day/night like always opened the curtains when it's time to get up wash her, dress her in clothes brush her hair and then pjs, lights low on a night and I've never really had a major prob with her not sleeping. My LO thrives on routine but they are all diff x

 

[blondy13]

Ooh good question I was wondering when to start. I think it was 6 weeks ish with dd and it took a few weeks to sink in haha. Its all such a blur ..

 

[tinselcat]

My parents have been helping me with this since I moved here with him at 3 & half weeks old. Play during day, quiet at night. Baby gets changed into white sleepsuit for bedtime & colourful one during day.

When baby has had last feed of the day, I take him up to bedroom which is quiet with minimal lighting. If he is awake, I sing him to sleep or put on ewan the dream sheep and rock him off. Swaddling seems to help him keep asleep as he startles a lot.

During night time I minimise stimulation so avoid eye contact, try not to speak and keep it to a whisper if I do or shh him much more, lights and noise as off as possible (except white noise from ewan).

It must have worked as from 7 weeks he's gone to sleep after feed and only woken up mostly for the next one a couple of hours later, whereas in the day it's impossible to get him to sleep more than half an hour if we're lucky and he finds it very hard to settle then.

Good luck xx

 

[Rachel11]

Tinsel cat I like the white babygrow at night and colourful one in day I will defiantly be doing that!

 

[littlemonkey]

There's nothing wrong with giving things a go, like the whole differentiating between day and night. I really wouldn't worry too much about timings etc right now cos they will change so much. I'm also not a fan of Bath bottle and bed, my LO was always much worse at night after a bath. It doesn't really matter what you do before bed, it's more repeating the same activities that helps settle LO. We just gave him his last change and feed before bed upstairs which worked just as well.

 

[Mackmummy]

I tried from the start with Oscar, not so much because I thought he'd pick it up but more to help me so I had my own routine and knew I was getting everything done before he went to bed. I tried the bath bottle bed initially from 6. Whether he was just too young or it was too early I don't know but it didn't work at all! Some nights it was taking 6 hours to get him to sleep! Daytime naps are definitely linked to a good night sleep, I later changed his routine (only about a month or so ago - he's now 6 months on the 10th) I make sure he has at the very least three 30 minute naps in the day (he doesn't nap much!) when he was younger I would ensure he slept every two hours, he does do that sometimes now as Thats all babies can handle without needing a sleep. His routine now is porridge at 6.15, bath at 7.45 (if he's having a bath) pyjamas on at 7 then in the night garden until 7.30 (usually earlier as he gets tired now!) he goes to sleep straight away just usually needing to he settle twice but is out for the count by 8. He doesn't wake until about 3/4 for a small feed then gets up at 7.30 ish. That's abother thing that helped a lot, nk matter what I get him up by 8, it sets his clock for the day. Sorry gone on a bit, but I had so much trouble Getting A decent routine or any sleep out of him! But making sure he has naps, gets up early and has good triggers for bed will hopefully help you!

 

[CARNAT22]

Only thing I do is feed in the dark at night.

We have shutters on our living room windows so they block a lot of light (even in daytime and I close them if James is sleeping) but I make sure I leave lights / tv on in daytime so baby knows.

Bee doesn't like our bedroom and she wails in the crib so most nights we end up on the sofa - baby in her bouncer. I'm so desperate for any sleep I can get I've not yet really tackled a routine. Also bfing on demand has made things a lot more unpredictable... by this point with James I'd moved to formula and he was easily going 5 hours + without a feed. Bee goes 3 hours at an absolute maximum.

Finally we don't bath the baby often. Once a week at most.... did bath, bottle, bed with James and it was too harsh on his skin.

So in short I have no routine whatsoever. I do agree that sleep breeds sleep so I encourage Bee to nap as much as she can. Although she's napping now so I'm expecting another late night.

X

 

[Applecrumble]

I have only just got my head round routine...it was something that bothered me since 6 weeks..(Imogen is now 14weeks)...my personal adviseis try to not let it stress you out, as it did for me...i thinks its really hard to get a baby into a routine if bf...im only now begining to notice patterns.

I think we started exploring routines from 6weeks...but found it really frustrating and ruining the evening with oh...as it typically ended with one of us upstairs with her..
We have a routine of taking her upstairs, nappy free time with a particular music (music box) and teddy bear..then a wash or bath and change followed by story and feed. (All upstairs and she remains upstairs)... We also did noise and light differentiation. The one tip i would say is, dont set a clock to it, if bf especially...if you do the routine at 9pm one night and 7pm the other night it doesnt matter..

Honestly i wish i had chilled out about routine till about 10-12 weeks...fx you will naturally fall into a rountine instead of like me trying to find one...for a couple of weeks we were trying something different everynight...but this is all just my opinion and experience...not text book. Also we were luckly we had a good baby that settled and slept well!

 

[LaceyKeo]

I always took DS up for a bath for 10-15 mins, got him out wrapped up in a towel and gave him a bottle.
Once he was down about half the bottle, I'd unwrap him and give him a baby massage, nappy and sleep-suit, then give him back his bottle and take him up to bed.
Mobile on, kiss and "I love you", and out.
This started between 5:30, 6pm.

That'd be him asleep for a good few hours then. His dad was practically nocturnal anyways, so I'd feed him around 10ish and go to bed, his dad would feed him around midnight and 3am then go bed, then when he'd wake around 6am I'd get up an feed him.

Same as others, I always made sure to differentiate between night and day. Night time was quiet, dark, general "shhh, baby sleeping". Daytime he'd just nap in the living room, daylight, I'd hoover round him, clatter around in the kitchen... Did that pretty much from day one. Started bedtime routine around four weeks.

All in all though, I think I just got lucky there, and that was how he was happy. The best you can do is try the things we've all said here, see what works/doesn't, and go from there with whatever fits your LO. Xx

 

[Hoping for no2]

My second has gone to bed at 7 from 4 weeks. He fell into this naturally really but also think I was just a bit more clued up to his natural cues this time. Be consistent and I've found doing the bed time routine in a dimly lit room with no stimulation helps. X

 

[Rose83]

My little girl is 11 weeks and breast fed so feeds every three hours. I basically didn't try to put her in a routine and just let it happen. She now has a feed at 7 or 8pm and goes in her cot fast asleep, if she isn't quite asleep I put on ewan the sheep and her dummy in. Then I wake her at 10 or 11pm for a final feed and she is still dopey and I have low lighting so she doesn't wake up properly. In the last week she has started sleeping until 4.30 when she wakes for a nappy change and then goes back to bed til 7.30am. Previously she had been feeding every three hours through the night still but gradually was taking less and going longer periods through the night until she got in this routine. So I haven't had any problems and she just kind of made her own pattern which I'm happy enough with at the moment x

 

[Anna.Femm]

We got advice from the hospital to differentiate between day and night so we did it from birth. I keep the bedroom door open and the lighrs on in another room so there is enough light to pick baby up and nurse. If he's awake, we look at each other and smile but I avoid talking or if I have to, I use a very soft voice.

In the beginning it took me up to 4 hours to get him to sleep because he was cluster feeding. Our routine has been to change diaper, get into PJ's, sing a little if he's too fussy, reduce sounds and lights and move to the bedroom. I use to start this every night at about 7:30 and he'd sleep at around 10pm eventually. He has now been feeling tired earlier so the night routine starts at 6:30 and he's in dreamland by 7:30 almost every evening without much trouble.

By the way, this with moving him to the bedroom has really worked amazingly with fuss during nursing. He gets really frustrated and refuses the breast when he's too tired and hungry, but when I move him to the bedroom and keep it more quiet, he'll start feeding without needing a lot of persuasion and doze off within minutes.

 

[MissLauren]

My LG is 7 weeks and I havent introduced a routine, she is still a bit all over the place with her feeds, only just now after changing milk is she going 3/4 hours between feeds at night, sometimes during the day she can be going 2/3 hours. I'm demand feeding (formula), so I feel like until I can predict feeds consistantly I can't put a routine in. She varies day to day so much.

Having said that, I do differentiate between day and night as others have said - opened curtains, lots of natural light, noise, getting her washed and dressed, we have 'nursery rhyme time' and tummy time. And then at night, dimming the lights, lowering tv volume etc.

I wouldn't worry too much tbh! You might find that she settles into her own routine and if not, its never too late to introduce one a few months down the line xx