Sleep routine. Need advice!

Rebecca - posted on 03/30/2010

For the first 3 months my son was a nightmare! He would stay awake for up to 7hours at a time! And he only ever slept for no longer than 1.5hours even at night! I was so exhausted all the time and constantly in tears and then we found out it was coz he was hungry and I wasn't making enough milk becasue I was so stressed it depleted my milk supply, we started giving him a formula bottle at night before bed and within a week he was sleeping through the night and waking only once! It was heaven! We still had trouble with the day sleeps but because I was getting more sleep at night I had a better head to sort out our day problems. I 'forced' him to sleep for at least 1.5hours and if he wokr up after only 30mins he wasn't allowed out of bed. Of course I made sure I sent him to bed full and clean and if he wouldn't go to sleep I rubbed his forehead in a line down the bridge of his nose and across his eyebrows, this worked wonders for us! My partner even rubbed across his eyelids to force him to keep them closed! Once we learnt this trick he would usually go to sleep within 15minutes of being put in bed. Also put a folded blanket under the mattress at the end where he has his head to give it a little lean. Our day routine was (and still is) first nap at 9, second at 1.30/2 (depending on how long he was awake for) then a 3rd nap at 5 (perfect to get dinner on!) I would only let him sleep for a max of 1hour for the 3rd nap to avoid oversleeping and not wanting to go down at bedtime! Then the night routine is dinner,play,bath,quiet time/story time,last feed and bed at 8. We wrapped our son right up till 6 months old because he refused to sleep without being wrapped, then he just outgrew having to be wrapped (which was good coz by that time we had to wrap him in a sheet because all the muslin wraps etc were too small!) Keep persevering with it, you'll both find your own rythym and learn to work together and find whats best for both of you!

Latasha - posted on 03/29/2010

oh i forgot to mention if your breastfeeding, your baby should automatically get sleeping and fall asleep

Latasha - posted on 03/29/2010

you and your baby have to create your own sleeping/napping routine. trust me on this i had problems at first to then i decided to try making my own schedule instead of going by everyone else and it going great. (change diaper, bathe, feed, bonding time, bed time).......

Mauri - posted on 03/29/2010

Well, here's my story, I hope it helps. My son started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks. We already had a routine of a bath with lavendar baby wash, short massage and rocking. Worked fine until about a month ago (he was seven months) when he started waking up in the middle of the night out of the blue. He would also wake up when I put him to sleep and the routine was stretching for hours. Since I have to leave for work by 10pm, this was unacceptable.



Some people think this method is a little cruel, but it worked for me. I did the regular routine. Then I would rock him for a little bit and put him down and leave the room. I wouldn't go back in until he had stopped crying for 10 mins just to make sure he was ok. He would be asleep by then. After a few days I noticed the time he spent crying was getting shorter from an hour (heartbreaking!) to about 10 mins 2 weeks later. When I added a warm bottle (cuz I finally figured out part of the problem was he was hungry), the max time crying would be 10 mins. Most nights he doesn't wake up when I put him down, and if he does he makes two sqwaks and then goes to sleep. I did it this way because I figured get him used to self soothing now before he can say "Mama" and really break my heart.



In terms of napping, my son rarely naps for longer than an hour, but he naps 3 times a day. I usually put him in the swing and rock him take way and he sleeps best that way. Sometimes he fights sleep so bad that if a stranger would see how hard I have to rock the swing, they would swear I was angry and trying to hurt him. Other times he's knocked out as soon as he's strapped in.

Jocelyn - posted on 03/29/2010

My son started this at about this age and we took him to the doctor, he was a happy baby other than nap and bed time, and the doctor diagnosed him with Acid Refulx, with in two doses he was going down easy and sleeping better. On the other hand we didn't listen to the doctor and put him down for the night at 830 instead of 630 and he slept through the night ever since.

Gemma - posted on 03/29/2010

You might struggle to get a brilliant routine at 3 months but this is my routine I hope it helps.
6.30pm - Bath
6.50pm - Bottle + story
7.00pm - In to cot awake with soothing music. A kiss goodnight and then leave the room.

If Matilda starts to cry I leave her for 2 - 5 mins depending on the urgency of the cry then I go into her room, cover her backover and give her a pacifier and leave the room again. I do this until she falls asleep on her own. It sounds horrible but I dont pick her up for a cuddle or talk to her as when I did this she took longer to go to sleep.

Ava - posted on 03/29/2010

By napping horribly I mean...he is not napping no longer than 50 minutes...sometimes it can be like a 20 minute nap! It sucks...for a week..he started napping really well...2 hours and then all of a sudden he switched it up.

Sarah - posted on 03/29/2010

My first LO needed a lot of helping falling asleep, but my second is much better already at drifting off on his own (he's just 5 weeks). When my DS#1 was your sons age, the routine was diaper, jammies, swaddle, nurse, and rock. Until he broke free of his swaddle and we switched his swaddle to a Halo sleepsack. And then the Halo sleepsack became part of the routine too. As he got older, we added in books and brushing teeth. It did help to set the cues that it's time to sleep now, but it wasn't a simple BAM and he's asleep. Just keep trying, and good luck.

Becca - posted on 03/29/2010

He's likely come to associate rocking with sleep so it may take a while to get him out of that habit. I do bath, breast, book, bed. In that order every night starting at 7pm. My son falls asleep now within 15minutes of me leaving the room (he's 8months). However, it wasn't always that easy to get him down. We used to have to go in repeatedly to resettle him for up to two hours while we were trying to get him used to it.
I also have a routine for naps which is a shorter version of our bed routine. I also try to put him down for naps at the same interval. When he was your son's age he would be up 1 1/2 hours before I put him down. I found that it was easier to do that than to have a rigid schedule. It has also allowed us to adjust the schedule to my son's development as he's gotten older. He now stays up 3 1/2hours before he's ready for a nap.

Jennifer - posted on 03/29/2010

What do you mean by napping horribly? Do you mean not napping at all or just takin short little naps? My daughter when she was that age only took multiple 30 min naps & then stayed up til like 10 pm or later (she still doesn't go to bed until 10 & she is 2.5 yrs old). She also was not a baby that you could just lay down & expect her to cry herself to sleep cuz all she did was scream until she hyperventilated.

Here is what we did & it worked. We gave her a bath after dinner & then let her hang out with us for a bit. Then when it was time to sleep we would take her to her room, turn on some lullaby music, turn off the lights, & rock her sometimes til she was asleep & other until just before & then put her in her crib & patted her back (she was a tummy sleeper) for a bit. After we left if she began to cry we just went back in & patted her back a bit more we didn't take her back out unless we really had too.

Not all kids can go to sleep on their own right away & don't let anyone tell you that! You will figure out what works best for you.

Joanna - posted on 03/29/2010

Hi hun, I've had routine for mine since the day they were born it is as simple as bath, bottle and story, then swaddle or sleeping bag then into cot for 7pm. It may take you sitting in the room for a little while till they settle but if there not crying i would try leaving him for a short time and pop back in to see if hes dropped of,try avoiding picking him up unless he is crying and you can't sooth him by talking to him ect, Where you rock him to sleep normally it might be an idea to put one of your tops or something you've worn in the cot with him.good luck x