Bedtime Routines

Kylie - posted on 02/03/2009

I have started putting my little one down at 7 after a full feed and she sleeps untill 7 the next morning, i did give her baby rice but she doesnt have it all the time!! i tend to keep her up some of the afternoon till she gets grumpy at about 7pm so i keep her awake from about 4 untill 7 feed her put her down and she is gone!! its heaven!! xx

Jen - posted on 02/03/2009

My son is 2 1/2 mos, only takes short 10 min cat naps during the day, sometimes one 2-3 hr nap, sometimes not... but our night time routine is simply changing into pj's, then sitting in front of a heater (our house is a bit drafty) while he nurses. He is usually asleep by the time he's done then i move him into his bed. He usually wakes up once or twice to eat depending on when he went to bed. He had been going to bed 10-11ish when we did, but i noticed that he'd started falling asleep in my arms around 830 or so so we've moved his "bedtime" earlier. He usually stays in bed until 7-730..We dont have a day time routine.

Maggie - posted on 02/03/2009

We have a night time routine that starts with playtime with Mommy and Daddy at 7ish to 9. At 9 she gets her bath then she gets dressed in her pyjamas and I feed her while Daddy reads two stories. By the time we are finished the second book her eyes are getting pretty heavy. She then goes into her crib (she doesn't fall asleep on me) and I sit and read my novel until she is completely asleep at 10ish.

Nannette - posted on 02/01/2009

Also, I've just recently started the baby massage after her bath and before the bottle with the parent's choice relaxing lotion, she seems to really respond well to that!

Nannette - posted on 02/01/2009

This is exactly the routine my nine-week old and I have fallen into. The bath before bed-time bottle seems to really trigger that it's "bed time". Once she becomes more observant we might even do book, bath, bottle bed. She's much like Mary's where there's a wake up somewhere in the middle of the night, but also like Mary it's a no frills feeding and she normally goes back to sleep. In the last two weeks on a few separate nights she slept from about nine at night to six in the morning so I know sleeping through the night is not that far away. I don't have a consistent nap routine for the day time and I'm wondering if that might help or not?

Teri - posted on 02/01/2009

Sorry i forgot to say...i feed her up quite alot in the day so she is more full up at night then sometimes she wont even wake up 4 a feed!xx

Teri - posted on 02/01/2009

Hii.. my little girl stays awake alot during the day and only has a few naps for about 20-40 mins...i usually feed her and put her to bed about 9:30pm and then she only wakes onces at about 4, then sleeps untill 9am :)

xx

Tressie - posted on 01/31/2009

My son is 13 weeks today and I started him on a routine, both night and day at 7 weeks and he has been following it ever since. This is how ours goes, for the most part anyway!

Wake up a 6:30 AM

Up until 12 PM- 1 PM

Nap anytime between 12 PM-4 PM, he usually sleeps 2-3 hours

Wake him up at 4 PM

Bath at 7:30 PM

Eat at 7:50PM

To bed by 8:15 PM

Wakes up at 2:30 AM to eat and then back to bed until morning!

I also increase the amount I give him to eat before bed. I give him 5.5 ozs before bed so he sleeps longer. During the day he is only eating 3-4 ozs each time.

Alisa - posted on 01/31/2009

My daughter has for the past week been sleeping from around 10ish to 7ish every night.. Around 7 I give her a bath, feed her, then put her to bed after relaxing with her for a little at 9 with music on and shes 8 weeks and this has been working for her. I don't give her a bath with soap every night, only every other night. So on non bath nights she just plays in the water with me so that 1. she gets used to baths and 2. she associates a bath with bedtime. Baths really help her relax cause after the bath I give her a baby massage with lotion. Great bonding too!



Hope this helps!

Lisa - posted on 01/31/2009

My son often refuses to nap for that long during the day, though he is getting better.  Between 7:30-8, he has a bath.  I use a light with a dimmer switch to feed so it's pretty dark.  Then he sleeps till usually between 5-7.  Usually if it's closer to 5, he will sleep for a few more hours.  We just have a routine...he's fed in the same place, same time every night.

Jennifer - posted on 01/31/2009

hi-

My son also does not take long naps during the day, he takes about 3 naps a day & I am lucky if they are an hour.  I am just use to it now.  I read that there are different types of sleepers, short sleepers and long sleepers and it will be a patteren as they get older. But anyway, I dont really focus to much on the naps as I do for the bedtime routine... Everynight between 7-30 I give my son a bath with the lavender bathbubble, let him play in the tub for 10 min, then I dry him off, put lotion on, and I have a bottle ready in my livingroom (which has no lights on, just the TV on low) I give him the bottle (depends on how much on when he ate last) he usually falls asleep with-in minutes of sitting down, I swaddle him in the crib (he is sleeping and in the crib by 8pm each night) I then wake him at 11pm for a full bottle, he is still 1/2 asleep, I place him back to bed and he wake up to eat anywhere from 5-7 am... But my once flaw in the plan is he wakes up sometimes because he lost his binky, but I just put it back and he falls right back to sleep.  But you should really try the bath... I really think that my son knows that its bedtime and he gives me NO problem going to bed... good luck

Keisha - posted on 01/31/2009

My little girl is very similar to Marys, Sahara will have 10-20min catnaps through the day and then a sleep between 3pm and 5pm and then is awake till 8:30pm,goes to bed before 9pm and sleeps through till 7/8am, Although I am one of the lucky ones I think it also helps that we have a nightly bed routine. Our routine consists of the 4"B"s Bath, Bondsuit, Boob( or bottle whichever one) and Bed, Once she is dressed it is lights out and I feed her and put her straight to bed even if she is still awake I find she falls asleep with 20mon or so BUT she is rarely awake when I put her down. Maybe make a routine to do every night to help her get used to what happens every night.



Good Luck

Keisha

Mary - posted on 01/31/2009

We may still be a bit away from sleeping through the night, but, at 11 weeks, things are improving! My daughter MIGHT take a 2 hr nap, in her swing from about 2-4, and smaller catnaps through the day (20-40 minutes). I have found that the more awake she is during the day, the better my night is. I do make it a point to have some interactive playtime from 7ish-9ish....helps if it's a bath night!! As long as she didn't do more than a 2hr nap (I will wake her up) in the afternoon, she usually goes down by 9pm after feeding, and stays asleep until 3 or 4...up for about 20 minutes to eat, and right back down until 7:30 or 8. that middle of the night feed is a lights out, no talking or changing or any other type of stimulation interaction Not perfect, but a helluva lot better than what it was. Twice, she has gone from 10pm -5am, & each time I woke up by 3 anyway, terrified that she wasn't breathing! Had to resist the urge to poke her. I've received all kinds of advice on getting her to sleep through the night, but I really think the bottom line is that every baby is different, and some are just better sleepers than others, no matter what you do !