Sleep for 4 month old - Am I doing this wrong?

[Rootatoot]

My baby boy is now 4 months old and i don't have a set 'routine' going on really. I hear about routine but don't really know what people mean and the only book I have just confused me about the issue.

He tends to feed a lot in the evening and has been falling asleep around 10pm ish (though tonight is 9pm). We've had a few odd nights but he has had a cold so I think that was waking him up as he wasn't feeding well with blocked nose. He can go up to about 7 hours straight on a good night though.

I just don't really understand what people mean about having set bed times etc. Surely you have to just work with what your baby tells you he needs at this age? Or am I doing this totally wrong? I don't want to store up trouble as i'm back at work in 2months, but I can't see how I'd put him down for a set bed time at the moment.

It sounds like you have a bit of a routine going on anyway. My two seem to get used to a routine early on and they are both in bed by 7pm. My youngest is 5 months now. Yu can try creeping their bedtime forward by half an hour at a time over a number if weeks if you want too

If your baby is going 7 hours, kept doing whatever you are doing! (ds is 17 months and has never done anything like that!) Be aware some babies sleep goes haywire at about 4 months due to developmental stuff - maybe you won't have that though.

You don't need a routine if things are working well for you and your family. I think some people are just more comfortable knowing when they are going to be doing things or if you have more than one child you obviously have the logistics of various bedtimes to fit together.

Also if you are returning to work people may like to have a detailed schedule they can give to the person looking after the baby so they can ensure its done their way. But 6 month olds are a lot different to 4 months olds so there is time for that too.

With dd1 there was no way to get a strict routine and tbh we didn't need one as our world revolved around her. Our 13wo twins are a different story. They have a routine but seem to have got to it themselves. They were having bath, feed, bed from 10.30pm (asleep by midnight) and would go through to about 6am or 7am, but then started being sleepier in the evenings so we tried bath with dd1 at about 7pm, feed and bed by 8.30pm. We then get them up at 11pm for quick nappy change if needed and bottle feed so they get fed at the same time, then they go back in their cot until morning.

In the day I follow their lead but I tend to feed every 4 hours (which fits with them) but it allows me to know that if it's not feed time they are probably tired (their feed cry and tired cry are the same so hard to tell).

It's all about what's working for you and if it isn't working or stops working and you feel you need a change then you can, but if you and baby are happy then do things your way.