Bedtime for 6 week old

[LindsayS79]

Hi all
I'd like to hear about how you other mums deal/dealt with bedtime for a newborn..!
My LO sleeps in her Moses basket next to my bed. However I keep the basket in the living room during the day for any naps (there has been NONE over the past 2 days but that's another issue!)
So my current 'routine' is to give her a feed (formula) at bedtime (can vary between 8-10pm) and put her in her basket with me in the living room. I then give her a dream feed and put her in her basket, again still in the living room.
However I'm wondering if other mums keep the basket upstairs and not have their LOs in the living room etc with them? Am I promoting a bad start to bedtime routines by keeping her with me while I watch TV/tidy the kitchen etc?!!

[nethunsreject]

She's tiny! You are absolutely doin the right thing keeping her nearby.
Congratulations on your baby and on having the wisdom to follow your instincts

[Cravingdairy]

What nethunsreject said.

[maja00]

It's safer to keep the baby with you to reduce the risk of SIDS. Most people I know kept the baby downstairs in the evening for the first few months.

[noblegiraffe]

She is supposed to sleep in the same room as you till six months (SIDS advice) so you are doing the right thing!

[GoingUpInTheWorld]

When i had dd whos now 10 months i used to go to bed at 5.30pm as i was so tired and couldnt keep awake after that time. I did have a c section though and i think part of this tiredness was my body recovering.

I would take dd up with me and put her in her pjs, and in her moses basket. She would wake around 10ish for a feed, then back to sleep, waking every few hours for a feed during the night.

I never had a moses basket downstairs as i wanted to associate bedtime with the moses basket. I also never put her in babygrows during the day, and always got dd dressed at roughly the same time every day, around 8-9am.

Not putting dd in a moses basket during the day, or putting her to sleep in the room she sleeps in at night during the day, and having different clothes for bedtime and daytime. Also putting dd n her moses basket at the same time every night which in my case was 5.30pm as that was my bedtime, has contributed massively to dd sleeping a 7-7 every night from 7 weeks old. Shes now 10 months and still sleeps through no problem.

[Rhubarb78]

I have an almost 8 week old and do the same as you, so feed at around 7 usually and then she goes in the moses basket, downstairs with us. We close the curtains to make it darker and turn the tv down so its quiet but we can still watch it. The only thing we do differently is that she doesnt sleep in the moses basket in the day, she sleeps in the pram or someones arms depending on her mood! I will be honest though and say we did put our first upstairs to sleep in our room before 6 months, once he consistantly settled in the evening as it was disturbing him taking him up when we wantedto go to bed

[Passmethecrisps]

She will be grand sleeping downstairs with you. At this stage we had a bedtime routine of bath, bottle and bed by 7pm. She would go down in the Moses basket on the sitting room floor! We did wake her at 10:30 for meds and another bottle though then we all went to bed.

I seem to remember that at that stage my DD would sleep through anything so we ate dinner and watched telly with her right there. Now she would wake but it was fine then. We did this right up to about 5 months.

[LindsayS79]

Wow, I'm so glad to hear others have done the same!
Every night is a real struggle as she suffers from trapped wind and reflux so she goes nuts from about 5pm onwards. I like to have her near in case I still think she's still uncomfortable once I try settle her. One thing I'm dreading is her outgrowing her basket though, which I think might be quite soon. I'll need to do some research on longer baskets etc as I can't fit her cotbed in my room and there's no way I want her on her own.
I'm really hoping her reflux calms down soon and I can even try her napping in her cot to get used to her surroundings in her own room, but that seems like its still a while away!

[Passmethecrisps]

Have you tried popping the basket in the cot?

I did this a few times and settled down for a nap with a book just to see how she coped.

My wee one also suffers from reflux but swaddling helped massively. This became dangerous at 5 months which is why I had to put her in her own room - no space like you.

She must be very long if she is outgrowing her basket! I might try my DD in hers just for size tomorrow!

[Passmethecrisps]

Just to clarify I sat with her in the room the first few times. At about 4 months I would leave her and get on with things. At that stage though almost all naps were in the basket in the sitting room with me. It was an occasional thing just to preempt the own room move

[LindsayS79]

I'm going to check if my basket is smaller than others,maybe she's just taken a wee growth spurt!!
That's a good idea to try her in the basket but in the cot as I need to tilt her everywhere she goes lol!! I could do that and potter around upstairs if she ever decides to blooming nap!
I too have to swaddle her but I'm trying to cut down on it as I'm not keen on swaddling and her being tilted as she sometimes looks close to having the fabric at her face.. Not good. Damn reflux!

[Passmethecrisps]

Yep yep!

My wee one was tilted courtesy of a shoe box for a long time. I stopped using the Moses basket because she was wiggling down the basket and draping her legs out. I couldn't sleep for worrying that she would tip the whole thing over. Once she went into the cot I had to stop swaddling. We did it over a week and it was fine. I raised her cot mattress with pillows initially and now, finally, it is flat!

[Passmethecrisps]

Oh, what swaddle do you use? I found the summer swaddle me wrap was very effective and safe

[Passmethecrisps]

Finally! I only swaddled at nighttime and used sleeping bags during the day. That might be a good place to start