Bedtime

[fraggy]

Hi

My son is 4.5 months old and in general is a great baby, the only slight problem we have is getting to go to sleep in his cot at night. We have tried everything and nothing works and we usually have to cuddle him to sleep either downstairs or walk about with him, we then try and put him in his cot but he wakes and starts screaming.

I just wondered what bedtime routines everyone else follows and if they work.

Thanks
x

[teaandcakeplease]

Where does he sleep for his daytime naps out of a matter of interest? Has he always resisted naps in his cot? Has he always slept at night in the same place? Or has the resisting bedtimes become a new thing?

Sorry for the questions but it may help.

I think I've been spending too much time on Mumsnet lately as I think I've commented on a lot of threads on similar things lately. But at 4.5 months I found that as long as they had 2 good naps in the day, possibly 3 and the last nap ended no later than 4.30pm that they would settle ok for bed after bath, feed in a quiet dark room and then bed at this age. I didn't introduce a story until slightly older.

Both my LOs have resisted naps at various stages and going to sleep but once they were old enough I would do a little sleep training. It's a controversial area and there are lots of schools of thought on which one and when. At the end of the day it's your baby though and you have to do whatever feels right for you though.

Its great once they have learnt to settle well at bedtime though.

Looking forward to hearing more advice for you though x

[fraggy]

mostly he sleeps downstairs for his afternoon nap either on my knee or on a pillow on the coach with me next to him. Sometimes he will nap in the afternoon in his cot and his morning nap is always in his cot.

He normally goes down about 11 at night until 8 the next morning, we have tried to put him down early but he just wants to play. At the moment he sleeps until about 7ish at night and is then up for about three hours, when he eventually falls asleep being in the cot doesn't bother him it's just try to cutting out the crying match before hand.

I think part of the problem is he was ill for the first seven weeks of his life and we nearly lost him so it was impossible to get him into any sort of routine and as a result of that we tend to allow him to rule our lives which is not great.

x

[teaandcakeplease]

I think if you adjust his nap times in the day and lengths of the naps, he will soon settle at night at a better time, so that you get an evening to yourself, which you need so you can relax. Kids have different body rhythms to ours and they can be out of sorts when we do not adhere to them.

I think it can sometimes be good when they sleep somewhere else in the day, so they can tell daytime from night and that night means bed and sleep.

It can tough moving them into a new routine but if you persist and are consistent you'll probably find they'll settle easier at bedtime. There is a lot of advice on here for routines and things and you've probably got books and books on it so as I often say to people. I won't give you what I use. Unless you ask.

Good luck. You'll probably gets heaps more advice once the little ones are in bed, I need to go and get dinner going before I get in trouble with the other half

[danmae]

i always cuddeled mine to sleep on my knee. as he got to a few months he started to wake crying when i went to put him to his cot.

i got a soft teddy and put it between my chest and his head while cuddeling him to sleep and keep the teddy to his cheek when transfering him to his cot and he never woke up.

as he got older around 5-6 months i would put him down after cuddeling him for a few minutes, when he was sleepy but not asleep and unless he cried, i would leave him. sometimes it would take him up to 30mins to drift off but he was happy to settle himself when he had teddy.

he is now 2.3 and teddy still goes to bed for every nap. he looks for him.