Appropriate bedtime

Kelly - posted on 12/16/2009

My daughter has her own set schedule at the moment, and aside from last night and tonight (hasn't been feeling well), she's kept herself to it now for a couple weeks.

She feeds about 5-5:30, sleeps until somewhere between 9-11pm depending on how well she fed at the earlier one, and then I won't hear a peep out of her until somewhere between 3-5am (she's been going more towards 5 lately). She'll go back to sleep and up again around 8am.

Crystal - posted on 12/15/2009

I would agree with the routine comments,I have ready Save Our Sleep also but decided to have a less regimented routine but basically with the same FEED/PLAY/SLEEP approach.. my LO goes down usually at 6.30pm, dreamfeed around 9.30-10.00pm and she wakes up around 3am then up at 7am for a feed and play..

The bedtime routine is important too, do everything exactly the same ie bath, read, bed etc.. so she knows it's bedtime.. it worked wonders for me.. :-) Good luck!

Danni - posted on 12/15/2009

Hello sweetheart ..

I have the same problem with my little girl Olivia .. "



Right what i did was :-



* Halve seven -eight she has a bath :) She is out of the bath and in her pjamas at bout eight depending on how late she is bathed "!



* She has her bottle at about halve eight " !

* Has an hour sleep - i put her down on the sofa for a cap nap than i have time to sort out her night feeds etc etc ..



* She wakes up for around halve nine and has her final feed and she is in bed by ten halve ten latest and she sleeps through atm till ten to about ten to seven or even earlier lol ...



but occassionally she plays up .. but you know thats little girls for you - she hates her crib too but your in control don't let her think she is in control of you .. :) "xx

Erica - posted on 12/14/2009

I would check out the Dr Sears website. It has great information about infant sleep patterns and why most babies wake up the instant you set them down:)

Jesse - posted on 12/13/2009

my son goes to bed between 8 and 9 and is up between 8 and 9 and wakes up twice once on a good night

Jessi - posted on 12/13/2009

I am a firm believer in routines. Mine right now is breast, book, bed. Keep on the routine too. just don't do it for a week or two and give up. I started Henry at 5 weeks and just at 10 weeks does he respond well to the routine. Now, he'll fall asleep while I'm reading the book. Another thing to think about is maybe she doesn't like the crib. I have heard from multiple mom's that the baby absolutely won't sleep in the crib. Then they switch to a regular bed for the baby and the baby is instantly sleeping by themselves. It may work, but I have never had to do it.

Emma - posted on 12/13/2009

I am a fan of Tizzie Hall's Save our sleep also. I put Megan, now 12 weeks, to 7pm every night. She used to protest for upto an hour or more some nights but now it is lucky to go on for 10 minutes if at all. She has a dreamfeed around 10.30, but sometimes I have difficulty getting her to drink so it can end up being 11.30 before she latches on. She then wakes at 3ish for a really quick feed and nappy change that takes 20 minutes at most. I get her up at 7 every morning. We have a feed play sleep routine and this has stopped her puking in bed. She has two sleeps of around 1.5 to 2 hours then a maybe a little nap around 4.30 before her bath at 6. We have the same routine before bed every night so she knows that it is quiet time and she needs to have a big feed before bed.
I had wondered how much impact this was having on her, saying good night to the pictures of winnie the pooh characters on her wall every night after I swaddle her. I was so surprised after being away for a few nights, she was grinning from ear to ear when we got home and walked into her room and she caught sight of tigger and eeyore. She looks up at them all the time when there is a little light in her room as she dozes off.

Cindy - posted on 12/12/2009

I call mine a "bean burrito" when she's swaddled too! how funny!

Kat - posted on 12/12/2009

My little one pretty much rules right now when he wants to sleep. I read that a schedule now other than feeding is moot. I let him crash out any where between 9 and mid night and he sleeps like 6 hours before waking for another bottle 6 oz before bed, 4 oz when he wakes up and then he sleeps again for another 3 to 4 hours.

Jessica - posted on 12/12/2009

I give my little guy a bath around 7:30. Then after lotioning and dressing and all that he sometimes nurses (I also breastfeed) and he's always asleep before 10. But usually asleep by 8:30. But he wakes up at least twice to eat throughout the night. Then sleeps til about 9am

Marisa - posted on 12/12/2009

My daughter goes to sleep anywhere between 830-930. I dont let her sleep after anytime after 430-5 if shes already awake or let her wake up by then. She eats right before she goes to sleep and sleeps 11-12 hours at night with no getting up. She eats cereal off a spoon not out of a bottle...I don't believe in that, babies need to learn to eat from a spoon and drink for a bottle not having food in a bottle. She has the cereal at her evening feeding between430-6 then has a bottle right before bed. Excellent sleeper, she falls asleep with her binky but loses it and never fusses for it either. Both my kids are excellent sleepers!

Deborah - posted on 12/12/2009

My little man goes to bed at 7pm every night, and sleeps until 3 am, then after a feeding goes back to sleep until 5. I turn him into a baby burrito just before, and rock him until his eyes are mostly closed, then it's lights out, and the aquarium for a comfortable noise.

Jenna - posted on 12/11/2009

Do you give baths every night? My LO won't sleep until he gets his nightly bath..then I give him bottle with lights off, rock him for 10 or so min. and set him down. Sometimes I have to give him paci to fall asleep but mostly not. He goes to bed by 8:30ish, I found that if I give him bath/bottle when he starts rubbing eyes/yawning I have a way easier time putting him down. Otherwise he becomes "overtired" and does not sleep good at all. He's been sleeping about 6-8 hr stretches.

Tiffany - posted on 12/09/2009

Don't know if it will help but this is our schedule. Throughout the day she takes naps (3)for 1 - 1 1/2 hrs. No nap after 6pm. Feed at 7pm. Bath, lotion & feeding at 8 pm. Then down right after feeding (usually 8:30). I put her in her crib while she is still groggy and let er fall asleep by herself (with pacifier/thumb). Lights off, door shut, and fan (for noise) on. She is a great sleeper, doesn't feed again til 5 am and then finally up by 9 am. Typically cluster feedings before they go to bed help them sleep longer

Jodi - posted on 12/09/2009

My little one goes to bed at 5pm, her choice not mine and she does this everynight. I recomend a book called Save our sleep by Tizzie Hall it is a great book with some wonderful advice. Also using things for sleep association like grobags is great and putting bub to bed awake is great for teaching bub to self settle they do protest in the begining but I rarely have any screaming from my little one anymore and if I do its because I havent read her tired signs early enough and she is overtired.

My bub goes down at 5pm and sleeps until 5am with a dreamfeed in the middle at 11pm, she goes back to bed without protest after her feed and even goes back to bed after her 5am feed for another couple of hours which is good for me. She always gets put down awake. Oh and my little one is 14wks and has been doing this since she was 8wks old. All the best.



Jodi

Tracey - posted on 12/09/2009

I gave up trying to get them to bed any earlier as all they did was scream the house down which mostly ended in me crying too !!! Every child is different and it took me a while to just go with the flow of what the girls want. We now go to bed at 11 or 11.30 after the last bottle and they both go down quite easy ( most of the time ) but we are then up at 5am for the next feed so you are lucky to get yours to sleep till 8am !!!! I dont follow any routine at all - the only thing I do is feed regularly but apart from that we have no set times for sleep , play ect and it works out fine.

Sarah - posted on 12/08/2009

My daughter was doing the same thing. I breastfeed my daughter also. I have to pump a bottle and put baby food in her last bottle at night, around 8 or 8:30. She is usually asleep by 9 now.