What age did you start a bedtime routine ?

[Firsttimemummy19]

My baby is only 12 weeks but I'm wondering what age I should start to introduce a bedtime routine? He's EBF btw

Did anyone decide to just go with the flow and have no routine at all?

[Aquilla]

Day one! Didnt follow the 'same room' advice, bottle fed, slept on tummies in own bedroom but did have a breathing monitor for peace of mind.

[Rowgtfc72]

Right from getting home. Fortunately she slept through from two weeks. At six weeks she was in her own room, no guidelines then. Bath, change,milk, story, light out.
Worked well but she's 12 now and can only sleep in a completely dark quiet room after some wind down time. Late nights are a killer as are sleepovers.

[feelingverylazytoday]

Right from the first day really.

[PotolBabu]

From the moment they came home from hospital. And one of us stayed upstairs with them. I was so knackered anyway it made no difference. Within a month they knew day from night. And both are very very good sleepers and even now aged 7 and 2 we have the rough outlines of the same night routine.
So roughly (all roughly) after half an hour after a 6/6:30 feed we would take him up, dim the lights, do a massage with oil, bathe in warm water, back to a dim room, into fresh clothes and nappy, a feed and the same book every bloody night for a while (Goodnight Moon) and then down for the night. All feeds between 7:30 pm to 6:30 am in the dark or dim light and minimal chatting and interaction. Both kids breastfed for a year.

[Tatapie]

6 weeks. Both of mine have slept well.

[Expressedways]

From about 4 months I left DD for a few hours with the baby monitor. She absolutely needed 12 hours of sleep in a dark, quiet room and like Celebelly I didn’t find it feasible to never leave her. I used to use naps for showering or getting household tasks done too. She’s now almost 2 so thankfully those days are behind us now!

[Celebelly]

I put her down at 8, then I tend to piddle about downstairs for 20 mins or so while she falls asleep and then I come up with a cup of tea and watch Netflix Honestly though, a couple of times I've just let her sleep for an hour or two while I stay downstairs and check on her regularly. We have an Owlet and video monitor where I can see her breathing. I don't think it's particularly feasible to never leave them to sleep for an hour or two for six months. For her day naps I often get chores done in other rooms while she's sleeping, I don't just sit there and watch her sleep for two hours!

[user1471426142]

Firsttimemummy19 To be honest I’m so knackered, I’m not far behind the children in terms of sleeping so the baby isn’t on her own for long- just about enough time to have dinner.

[Firsttimemummy19]

If the guidelines stipulate baby should sleep in the same room until 6 months, how do you get round that if you are putting them to bed earlier than you go to bed?

Most of you are starting routines very early but my baby is only 12 weeks and I feel it's too early for him yet. I was thinking around 6 months when he can go in his own room and I can use a monitor

[Expressedways]

As soon as we came home as well. Probably just luck but DD is an excellent sleeper!

[user1471426142]

Trying to introduce one now at 5 weeks. Am trying to do bath, massage, story, milk and bed. Out of 3 days, 2 have gone pretty well and she’s gone 8 until 6/7 with one feed in between. One day went horrifically with screaming frm 10 until 1 but she then slept until 6. She seems knackered by 6.30 so I think it’s working better than being downstairs with the lights on etc but this baby seems to get overstimulated very easily so a bedtime seems to suit her.

[Narya]

About 8 months

[Oblomov19]

Like pp, as soon as we came home from hospital.

[ginandnappies]

8 weeks.

[BelleSausage]

Dd was about 8 weeks when we started the whole ‘upstairs, bath, milk, sleep’ but it was very loose to begin with and has changed massively as she has gotten older.

She was an incredibly alert baby (40+10) so we did the looking at books thing pretty early.

Have a ‘routine’ but be flexible with times. As long as you can respond to their changing sleep patterns then it’s a nice way to signal sleep time.

A friend of mine used to get all riled up about how restricting our bedtime routine was. Why couldn’t we just let the baby fall asleep wherever? Why did she have to have a bath? Wasn’t it putting a cramp on going out int he evening? She took her baby everywhere.

Guess who has the better sleeper.

[Littlefroggy18]

Sorry tagged the wrong person above it was in response to @whatswithtodaytoday

[redcaryellowcar]

With dc1 around 9m, with dc2 almost immediately, but neither slept particularly well, so based on my very small sample size study, I'm not certain earlier is better. If you want gentle sleep advice there is a nice book called no cry sleep solution by Elizabeth Pantley which I would recommend.

[Onceuponacheesecake]

About 8 weeks here. A baby doesn't have a routine at 8 weeks but I needed a routine with my 8 week if that makes sense. But actually it suits him very well. This is my 2nd, it never would of worked with my 1st though.

[littlebillie]

6 months they will find their way

[Littlefroggy18]

@dinosapple I stay upstairs with her and watch tv with the volume low. I’m ready to sleep at 9ish anyway as up with her early. I do nip down to grab a brew or nip to the loo but don’t leave her for more than a few mins. Now she’s 5 months I am doing her daytime naps upstairs and leaving her though she is still in with us overnight

[YouJustDoYou]

As soon each baby came home.

[DonnaDarko]

7 months as DS started going to nursery. Before then we were just going with the flow and it seemed to work. We never really had any issues getting him to bed

[Celebelly]

DD is nine weeks and we have a 'routine' in that we have a set kind of order of things at bedtime - nappy change, baby massage, into sleep sack and feed. I've started putting her down at 8 and just waiting until she falls asleep about 10 mins later then watching TV quietly in the bedroom until I go to sleep. She's a good sleeper though and has been since she was born - she does 7-9 hours in a stretch, has a feed then goes back down for 2-4. She's kind of put herself into this routine so I expect it'll change soon enough, but I think you can have a 'routine' that's about your bedtime sequence and doesn't necessarily rely on specific asleep and wake times, as a lot of very young babies don't have any discernible pattern yet.

[MaverickSnoopy]

DD1 when she was 6 weeks old - bath, story, milk and bed at the same time every night. She started sleeping through at 8 weeks. DD2 was 10 weeks and started sleeping through at 12 weeks. DD3 gets a consistent but less enthusiastic bedtime - more like change, milk, bed. Started at 3 months but she had put herself into a structured daytime routine that we were baffled by - she has been sleeping long stretches at night of 9 hours + since a few weeks old but wakes at 4 to start her day (!). Thinking about it we should probably do a better bedtime routine, it might help!

Start it when you feel comfortable. I think different people have different ideas about what a bedtime routine means. For us its slotting in bedtime around a babies existing sleep pattern. If there's no real sleep pattern then it's harder and likely not possible.

[Woodifer]

With no. 1 we would do a nappy change, baby grow change, (bath on some days), then make lights dimmer and telly a bit quieter and into basket in lounge with us. No 2 was all a bit more ad hoc!