bed time tips

[nickymorris]

My DS is 6 weeks old and we've already established quite a good bedtime routine - although the rest of the day is rather free-form!

However there is one problem and I wondered if any MNers could help.

The routine is
7pm big feed
Then naked wriggle time in the bathroom while I run the bath etc - which he loves
Bath
Basic baby massage
nappy on
go to bedroom
put on babygro and swaddling
offer boob again (never wants it)
Put in dummy
Put DS in cot
He'll then lie awake for about 30 mins sucking on dummy, watching mobile and dropping off to sleep on his own
I hover just outside waiting for him to nod off, drop his dummy and then wake up when he realises it's gone and start making grunty noises for it! Normally drops it 2/3 times before falling asleep after about 30 mins.

The whole routine is going great (feeling rather smug actually - sorry) except that when I take him to the bedroom and put on babygro and swaddling he screams the whole time. This makes me think it's undoing all the nice relaxing stuff we've done before :-(

I've tried putting his baby gro on in the bathroom which worked for one night but he soon realised what was going on and shouted again the next night when I tried that trick again.

Any thoughts?

[flourybaps]

sounds like your doing fantastic tbh, the only thing could suggest is maybe do the bath, massage etc first, get him all cosy then offer feed and out him straight down all sleepy?

[dontbitemytoes]

hi nickymorris and congrats on the birth of your son he sounds lovely. some babies just don't like getting dressed. my dd has almost always cried on the change mat, when she was a small baby i was advised to hold her hands tightly (not squeezing, but 'm sure you know what i mean) and lean close into her saying shhhhh. it worked in seconds, apparently it makes them feel more secure or something? however at 13 months, sh still screams on the change mat most of the time, and its especially worse when she's tired. i know no cure for it, and i'm still as stressed when she cries as i always was when she was tiny

sorry if this isn't any hep, i think what i'd like to say to you is, breathe deeply and learn how to relax through it as i never have hopefully he'll grow out of it, we certainly have some days better than others.

[mumma2cjh]

wow great routine and very similar to what I did - my DS slept through from 8 weeks....but the big feed came at the end...when he was nice and relaxed. Would wind him, change nappy then straight in cot.

I dont think I would bath after a big feed....bath made him hungry and tired and he'd have his feed then drop beautifully off to sleep....I kept this routine until he was 3 years old!!!!

[nickymorris]

Thanks for the tips - DS was circumcised yesterday (no comments please ) and so routine gone a bit wacky as we can't to a bath until tomorrow night. But I'll try doing the big feed after the bath. He finds having his nappy changed Very exciting so I don't think I can feed, burp, change then bed but will try bath, massage, nappy, feed, burp bed.

As an aside he slept for 7 hours last night - from 7pm until 2am. Although I suspect this is because he'd worn himself out crying after the circumcision

[Thankyouandgoodnight]

How about:
Naked wriggle time while run the bath at at 6:15 ish
Bath
Massage
In to sleepsuit and new nappy
Feed
Wind
Swaddle
Cot

Definitely feed last thing
If he gets REALLY upset by getting dressed, you could also do some 'dry massage' (i.e. dry hands over his sleepsuit etc rather than oily on to his skin) or moving straight on to the feed will sort him out anyway. Also, putting his nappy on half an hour earlier in his routine is not actually going to make any difference really.

[Thankyouandgoodnight]

How about:
Naked wriggle time while run the bath at at 6:15 ish
Bath
Massage
In to sleepsuit and new nappy
Feed
Wind
Swaddle
Cot

Definitely feed last thing
If he gets REALLY upset by getting dressed, you could also do some 'dry massage' (i.e. dry hands over his sleepsuit etc rather than oily on to his skin) or moving straight on to the feed will sort him out anyway. Also, putting his nappy on half an hour earlier in his routine is not actually going to make any difference really.

[nickymorris]

darn it - that didn't work :-(

What we ended up with was:

6.15 small feed from boob he'd had a feed from 1.5hrs before
naked wriggle
bath
massage

Into sleepsuit

Into swaddling

Attempted big feed (obviously didn't work due to crying
Attempted calming - didn't work
Lost swaddling due to extreme wriggling
Husband attempted calming - didn't work
Re-swaddled
More calming by husband, got half-way calm and I finally got dummy in his mouth
Put in cot
He's now in his cot - gradually going to sleep with me listening out and replacing the dummy if he drops it!

But how do I keep him calm and not have the shouting phase?

Is anyone else's bedtime routine 2hrs? Seems to take up a disproportionate amount of the evening and is so unpredictable that I'm getting my supper later and later, and consequently getting to bed later and later which is starting to make me tired.

Also the last two mornings he's had a good shout at 4am which at the moment I'm putting down to the stress of his circumcision on Wednesday but could be a problem if it continues.

Or am I expecting too much of my 6.5 week old DS and I should just accept this is how life is with a little baby?

[pudding25]

Hi. I know a Nicky Morris but its not you!

You are doing great.

First of all, the screaming after the bath when getting dressed gets much better. My dd used to do that (she's now 4.5mths) but when she got to about 12 wks or so, she stopped the crying and now is really happy coming out of the bath and plays with her feet .

What I did/still do is a small feed before the bath so dd is not hungry/grumpy at bathtime. bath then dressed (story time in our room but that did not happen until she was about 12wks) then into her room, lights off (light from hall to see by) and big feed.

We do this starting at 5.30pm , asleep by 7pm.

I have many friends who's boys have been circumsised and it takes a few days for things to calm down. he is bound to be unsettled at the moment.

[pudding25]

We ditched the dummy a few wks ago but before we did, we used to keep a dummy in bathroom and shove it in her mouth when she came out of the bath to keep her calm.

[nickymorris]

Hey - the dummy idea is worth a try - might trick him into calming himself before he gets worked up - if that makes sense.

Normally he's fine with getting dressed/undressed. No problems when we do his nappy or if I change his outfit during the day if we're off out somewhere and I want him to look extra cute

It's just the getting dressed after being bathed time that he gets so upset

Will try the dummy in the bathroom tomorrow and report back

[pudding25]

I think it is coming out of the nice warm bath that they don't like when they are tiny. Good luck.

[bambi06]

or maybe just releasing the last tension before sleeping..its almost sometimes that they know theyre going to bed and are so tired they want it now and can t wait so get fretful..and anyway some babies do cry before going to sleep anyway..