How do you settle your baby to sleep?

Michelle - posted on 04/20/2010

Hi Michelle,

With Natasha, I give her 6-7oz of goodnight milk, then put her to bed ten minutes later.

From Michelle

Kilea - posted on 04/20/2010

Hi Michelle,

All babies and mums are so different but I can only say with my daughter who is 9 months old now from day one I was very routine like with bedtimes - our night time routine gradually after the newborn stage of course (as everyone knows they sleep and eat when they want) - always starts with 5.00 dinner 5.30 bath 6.00 relaxing play (read book and cuddles) 6.30 bottle 6.45 bed. I have never rocked, or soothed her to sleep and she is wonderful at going down herself. It took time though as you need them to learn to self settle, I learnt this through a book called Save our sleep (I didn't like their routines though as they were to structured. I do have a fantastic musical toy in her cot that lasts five minutes (I put that on right away so she knows its time for bed). I found www.babybliss.com.au was great for routines, infact I have followed their routines right up until about 8 months when I changed it a little to suit me. I hope this helps. If you want to chat more let me know as I know how stressful the "sleeping" stuff is a real stress area.

Katlynn - posted on 04/19/2010

I have a very set routine for my daughters bed time, she gets a nice warm bath using the "Johnsons Lavender and Chamamille Bed Time Bath" and the i give her a baby massage using the same in lotion form (the scent helps to soothe and calm for a nice nights sleep and the massage relaxes all there muscles and helps to calm her down) we follow that up with the usual story some cuddles and a bottle then its to her crib whether she is still asleep or awake with her dummy and blanky.... its generally a very regular bed time routine but the massage and bed time bath help out alot, i notice a big diffrence on the occassional busy day where we run out of time for it or she falls a sleep in the car on he way home, she sleeps through the night and later in the morning if we relax her like that

Lyndie - posted on 04/19/2010

I have a 4yr old aswell so what i do at nights is they both get their bath at the sametime, around 6:15-6:30 i take C out of the bath first and get her ready for bed to let her big sis play for a little while then go and get A out of the bath and get her ready, after A has had her supper i get a bottle ready and cooling down while i take the 2 of them up to A's bed and read a story to both of them, after i leave A's room i give C her bottle and right after the bottle i take her up to her room give her a kiss and cuddle put her down(most of the time she roles onto her stomic and cuddles down) rub her head and tell her night night, mummy loves you, then head to the door and tell her again night night, i always get big smile, and i walk streight out the room, i dont have any bother with her once she is down, she sometimes lays and mumbles away to herself then goes to sleep, but never crys, she never uses a soother or anything, doesnt even suck her thumb. I have had her in this routen since she was about 2-3months old, in the begining it was had because the only way to get her to sleep was if she was lached on to me, and she would never take a nap in the afternoon until she was 5months old, but since the routen started she has been so good at going to sleep on her own, it took a few weeks to get her settled into going to sleep without me and it broke my heart listening to her moan but she doesnt seem to mind now, as i said she gives me big smiles as i walk out the room now.

Sandra - posted on 04/18/2010

I start bathing my 9 month old son Mason around 6:30 PM. After tubby time I make a bottle for him. Soon after he finishes I read to him until about 8 PM. I place him in his crib with his binkie and blanket, give him a hug and a kiss on his fore head, say i love you and good night and he sleeps until 6:30 am. I have been doing this since he was born and it works for us. He is on point with his schedule. If at any time we are out after 8 he is not a happy camper.

Amie - posted on 04/18/2010

My son usually has his first nap 2-3 hours after first getting up in the morning....he usually gets cranky so I put him in his crib, put on his blanket (he finds it soothing to take the edge and suck on it), turn on the fan and leave the room. Even if he is crying, I leave the room because he is now overtired and fighting sleep all the way. Our routine is pretty much the same with him having a bath about 7:30-8pm and bed soon after. Not often does he take a bottle just before bed. Because my children share a room at the moment, I have to try and make sure they don't go to bed at the same time or that one of them is sleeping as they have a tendency to play if they are both awake and put to bed at the same time. My son never took to a soother or sucking his thumb to sleep....just the blankie which is ok because it is only a bedtime thing!
Good luck!

Ana - posted on 04/17/2010

My 9 month old son is breastfed to sleep. I tried putting him down on his own, but was not successful and I didn't keep trying long enough, I guess. I feed him at 5:30pm. Then I bring him into the room, turn on the nightlight and classical music, bathe him (he feeds himself and makes a mess) and try to give him a massage (he doesn't always let me), then I nurse him to sleep.

Amber - posted on 04/17/2010

We've recently had to make some timing adjustments, but our bedtime routine has always been the same. When she starts showing signs of being tired(usually around 7pm these days) I get her a bath ready, she enjoys about a 15 minute bath, then she gets a bottle, a night time story and then I just put her in her crib with her rainforest music playing. She usually falls asleep within 5 minutes, I can usually hear her talking a little on the monitor. We've had a few bad nights caused by teething, but other than that, our bedtime routine has worked very well for us. She used to go to bed about 2 hours later than she does now, still waking between 6 and 6:30am, so those few extra hours at night are very nice now!

Saskia - posted on 04/16/2010

*goes

Saskia - posted on 04/16/2010

oh my son gos to bed at 7.45 and my daughter at 8 :)

Saskia - posted on 04/16/2010

Most nights I breastfeed my daughter to sleep and if she doesn't fall asleep I put her in her cot read a story sing a lullaby put her nightlight and music on say night night I love you see you tomorrow and leave the room if she cries I leave her for a bit and if she cries for more than 10 min I go back in give her a cuddle repeat the night night and leave again if she keeps going any longer than 5 times of that she is usually still a bit hungry and wants more milk.
With my 2 year old son we tidy up, go upstairs, brush our teeth, go to bed, read a story, kiss and cuddles. I give him his cuddly dog patch which he cuddles then I get another cuddle and kiss say night night sweet dreams and sleep tight and leave. If he gets out of bed I just say it's time for bed and put him down again if he gets up more than 3 times I say nothing and just put him down
usually both of them go to bed without getting up.
I feel like the story really helps them calm down

Elita - posted on 04/15/2010

wide awake, we have music that plays all night long, cuddle then in cot dummy in and I leave the room

Vicki - posted on 04/14/2010

I feed him to sleep after bath and book.

Lauren - posted on 04/14/2010

Michelle,
Right from day one I knew how/what I wanted to be my daughter routine, being my second child Id already found things I liked or didnt like. With my eldest I always cuddled him till he was "drowsy" then put him down but as he grew it became quite inconvenient at times so vowed not to do that with my second.
My daughter gets a bottle, and then a small play, usually 5-10 min incase anything wants to come up. Then we simply put her in her cot, music on and dummy in (goodnight kisses of course) and walk away. She may make a sound for a few min but knows bed and dummy means sleep so doesnt argue...lol

Syd - posted on 04/14/2010

for afternoon n moning naps i have my daughter on my knee n bonuce her and she normall falls asleep that way and then i put her down and most the time she dosent need anything but every now and then mainly wen her teeth r playing up she has the dummy but at night time she has dinner bit of a play time then a bath a bit more play time after shes in her pjs and then a bottle and have 2 bounce her sometimes all i have 2 do is put her down with a bottle tho and thats it

Krystal - posted on 04/14/2010

I have it easy with my baby! After dinner I just let her play with her toys and her sister until about 9:30 every night. Then I make her a bottle and put her in her bed, turn out the light and pull to door too. If the door is closed all the way or she doesn't have her blanket for get it, she's not going to sleep. I got her started doing that right when she stopped breast feeding, and I think it was the best thing I've ever done!

Christine - posted on 04/14/2010

For nap time I breastfeed my daughter (9 months) and she falls asleep nursing. At night, I will nurse her again and feed her a warm bottle of cereal watered down. She will usually fall asleep with that. If not, I place her in her crib (her cot) and she usually is out within 10 minutes. She used to take a pacifier, but she doesn't anymore. She will fall asleep listening to the water setting of her toy aquarium that she has strapped to the side of her crib.

Amelia - posted on 04/14/2010

I am exhausted by 9p.m. I couldn't imagine just starting the bedtime routine at that time of night....but, to each their own. My son goes to bed at the latest 7:30 and sleeps until 8:00a.m. or later. I go to the gym at night and my husband takes care of the night time routine and we are both in bed no later than 10:00p.m.

Amelia - posted on 04/14/2010

My husband puts our 9 month old son to bed every night (has done so, since day 1) My husband sits in the chair that is in Henry's room (not a rocking chair) and feeds him his night time bottle while there is soft music playing in the background. There is also a humidifier in his room (we live in a ver dry climate) that he has gotten use to (white noise if anything). Once Henry is done his bottle, he gets put into his crib. He "talks" to himself for awhile and then puts his thumb in his mouth and goes to sleep. We took away his soother when he was 7 months old (thumb works just fine). As far as nap time goes, Henry has a nap 2 to 2.5 hours after he wakes up in the morning and 2 to 2.5 hours after lunch, and he goes to bed 2 to 3 hours after dinner...sometimes we cuddle, sometimes we don't...if he is exceptionally tired, he goes right to bed, if he is showing signs of wanting to snuggle then we do

Cheryl - posted on 04/14/2010

AWWW your routine sounds so sweet. very precious.

Jodie - posted on 04/14/2010

My son who is 39 weeks has his last bottle at 7 then falls straight to sleep after finishing the bottle but he sleeps in his pram up unitil i go to bed if i put him in his cot then come down he wakes up every 5 mins but in his pram never wakes up.My 3 year old goes up too bed at 7 watches a dvd then falls to sleep half way threw :D

Shelley - posted on 04/14/2010

I do a bath, bottle (with lullabies sung usually with the wrong words lol), and bed. My 9 month old goes to bed with a pacifier (and a few extras scattered round the cot so she can find one herself if she wakes in the night), and a comforter. She wears a sleeping bag (or gro bag) as she is so mobile in the night there's no way she'd stay under a blanket. She was swaddled till about 4/5 months which was great for her. She has been sleeping 10-12 hours a night from 9 weeks old with no wake-ups in the night except for when she's teething.

To the women not putting their babies to bed until 9 or 10, good on you! You must get nice sleep-ins :) I would probably fall asleep before the baby if she wasn't going down till after 10 though lol! Mine sleeps about 7 - 7 which works for us... and gets about 3 hours over 2 naps during the day which I think is good.

For day naps we say night-night to the stuff outside & wave bye bye (we live on a farm so it's 'night-night cows, night-night birds, night-night trees etc etc) before closing the curtains then it's straight into bed with a pacifier and comforter (and sleeping bag).

I have never rocked her to sleep, I started to let her cry it out at 8 days and she has been such a good sleeper ever since! :)

Jennifer - posted on 04/13/2010

My 9mos baby Matteo, gets full first. then i wrap in his blankie. Put his sucky in his mouth, sit in our chair, hold him in my arms, and pitty pat his lil bottom.Sometimes I sing softly to him. It's been our routine for night time since he was brand new.
Although at nap time, sometimes he doesn't go for that. When that happens, I wrap him in his blankie, put him in his crib, turn on the heater, ( he likes the sound and it's usually cold in the room.) turn on sprout channel on TV (I mute it). He's usually super tired if i have to do the room thing and he's fast asleep in no time! ;)

Cheryl - posted on 04/13/2010

my 8 month gets a bath about 915pm and then a bottle by the end of the bottle he is usually asleep ar allmost there. if he is not i cuddle him and he falls fast with his sucky.

Felicia - posted on 04/13/2010

My daughter eats ceral and baby food then i give her a bottle and bath time and use the bedtime bath stuff and then a nook(which we are starting to wean) and whatever blanket is in her crib and shes off to dream land lol

Alaine - posted on 04/13/2010

My 8 month old, my two year old and I all have the same bedtime routine every night, that way they know that when this happens it's time for bed. 15 min before 10 o'clock i make my 8 month old his cereal and a bottle and then i run a bath for my two year old. While my two year old is in the bath i give my 8 month old a bath, feed him his cereal and give him his bottle, and then put him to bed, and then I put my two year old to bed. Nap times are the same way, they are always about the same time every day, that way they know that it is time to sleep. Although it is not always easy, my two year old want to throw a fit couse he doesnt want to and my 8 month old will cry but they still get put in there bed and cry it out, but after awhile they realize that crying wont get them out of it and just go to sleep, or they cry themselves to sleep. But really i just think that it is all about a routine...once you find one that works for you and baby, stick with it no matter where you are....you and baby will be a lot happier.

Michelle - posted on 04/13/2010

So if your son falls asleep with the bottle, doesn't he wake up for it during the night?

Lisamarie - posted on 04/13/2010

I tried the bath, book, bed thing too but figured it woke them up more than anything. Now we have book and bed. My son (8 months) has a bottle to sleep and my 3 yr old still has her dummy and some water in a beaker and a night light. =)

Bronwyn - posted on 04/12/2010

and I persevered with the bath, book, bed thing for about 2 weeks and found it made no difference to her sleeping.

Bronwyn - posted on 04/12/2010

I put K down when she shows the 'typical' tired signs - grizzles when i'm out of the room, rubbing her eyes, a bit clumsy, etc. She has always sucked her fingers, so I don't need to use another association with sleep. She goes into a gro-bag now, but used to be swaddled. Then i give her a kiss on the forehead, wave nigh-nigh's and use a similar phrase every time, something like 'You go nigh-nigh's. Sweet dreams, Mummy loves you" and she usually goes off most times on her own.