11 week old bedtime routine advice

[user1484527487]

Hello

First time poster and first time Mum here. I have an 11 week old boy who I'm trying to get into a bedtime routine and looking for some advice please.

Quick background - baby has suffered with the dreaded colic since birth. He was very difficult to get to sleep during the day and would only sleep when being held. He hated the pram/carseat/bouncy chair etc and would scream unless being held. He would have very short and infrequent daytime naps. At night time, the only way I could get him to sleep was by bouncing on the fit ball and/or with him sucking on my pinky finger (often for hours!). I'd transfer him to his bed once he was in deep sleep. If he were to wake up, I'd have to start the whole routine again!

Anyway, we seem to have turned a corner this week and the colic seems to have settled (cautious optimism here!). Someone has swapped my extremely unhappy baby for a very delightful little boy. He is even sleeping well at night and having god day time naps. So I'm thinking now would be a great time to introduce a bedtime routine. I have managed to get him to sleep this week without using the fit ball but he will still not settled to sleep unless I'm holding him and he is sucking my pinky (but will stay asleep in the cot once I transfer him). Ideally I would like some 'in-cot' method of settling him so that he can eventually learn to settle himself. However, if I put him in his cot before he is asleep, he will just cry.

I have read that at 12 weeks babies start to make strong sleep associations so if anyone has any tips of how to establish a healthy bedtime routine I would be most grateful!

Thanks in advance!

[Kariana]

Have you tried a dummy instead of your finger?

It's nice to have a bedtime routine, but it won't necessarily help him to get to sleep more easily by himself. It may help him to fall asleep faster though. We do no naps after 5pm so he's tired for bedtime. Bath around 6.15/6.30 depending on how tired he is, then into his swaddle for his final feed. Once fed and winded I give him his dummy to suck and cuddle him until he's drowsy, he's usually dozing off within 15 mins. I then put him in his moses basket before he's fully asleep. He will stir at this point so I just make sure his dummy stays in and gently discourage him from flailing around whilst rocking him to sleep.

[FATEdestiny]

Ideally I would like some 'in-cot' method of settling him

I would try swaddle, dummy and sidecar cot.

Dummy is much more independant than your finger.

Swaddle must be used before 3 months if to be safely used at all, but the dampening of startle reflex and senses helps baby calm down and e still to go to sleep.

Sidecar cot (regular cot bed with one side removed and wedged up to your bed) means you can lie on your bed along side baby, snuggling close. Dummy reinsertions as needed. But be getting baby from awake to asleep all while on thr cot, by using a dummy to suck.

[rebeccaroskellthomas]

Hi user1484527487. Have you introduced a before bed routine e.g. bath, story, milk? I can't remember what age we started to do this but I think it helps them to know bedtime is coming. Sleep changes so much and we found a swaddle to really help but we used it from the beginning. Our LG would never take a dummy so she used me quite a bit but try to go with the flow if you can, as hard as it might be!