Breastfeeding and bedtime routine?!?!?

[xkatxdollx]

My daughter is almost 5 months old and I'm trying to give her a set nap and bedtime routine it's currently
8 awake
11 to 12 nap
2 to 3 nap
5 to 6 nap
8 bed

I am EBF she goes down for naps awake and does awesome but bedtime is a different story because she wants to cluster feed and does till around 11 and when I try to make her cluster feed after her last nap she freaks out then at 8 she goes to bed and wakes at 9 thinking it was just a nap and wants to be awake and eat Iv only been doing this routine for 2 days so I know it's early but I wanted to see if there were any other EBF moms with the same problem and how they over came it my daughter was a big girl born 10 pounds and 24 in long and is now 19 pounds and 26.5 in long my bedtime routine is wake feed bath feed book bed and it works great till she wakes up an hour later and doesn't want to go back to sleep I have an air purifier in her room that gives white noise and have a nightlight and was thinking about taking out the night light but I don't know please help! Also I don't like the cry it out method but I am ok with whine it out and am not looking for her to sleep through the night if she does great if she doesn't not a big deal mainly just want the bedtime routine to stick

It sounds like your lo has a brilliant routine for her age, I would try not to worry too much (and remember that it could be an awful lot worse). If your lo wants to cluster feed I'd be inclined to let her and remember, this too shall pass! It may well be connected to a growth spurt and will pass fairly soon.

As I said on your other thread, a technique that worked for me was lying on a bed feeding in a dimly lit room, to try to get dd to sleep gently. You could also start getting up earlier (say at 7) and see if you can shunt the whole routine forwards an hour.

My 6mo ds almost always wakes after 30-60 mins of sleep at bedtime. Has done for months. I just feed him back to sleep. Easiest way. However, he clearly wants to go back to sleep, which it sounds like yours doesn't. Just wanted to reassure that the first waking isn't just happening with you!

We've recently accepted that our baby doesn't always want to go to bed at around 7pm. If he gets up again after a nap, we play with him /let him watch us eat etc, and try again when he's tired. I'd prefer to have our evenings together (my partner and I) but the baby has other ideas.

Have you read the No Cry Sleep Solution?

I know her cluster feeds aren't a growth spurt because she's been like this ever since we brought her home from the hospital and the first nit of her routine she cried and ate for 2 hours straight after I fed her put her in crib once she hit the sheets she was screaming then last night fed her put her in crib she slept then would wake up every like 20 mins for a feed until around 11 so hopefully today it will go longer between feeds I read in the get your baby to sleep in 7 days article that it takes the average baby 3 to 5 days to fall into a routine so hopefully today will be the day!

She doesn't need to sleep with the nightlight. Just use it when you're feeding her. Have you identified how much of the time she's actually drinking? Have you tried a dummy for the rest?

I would weigh myself before and after feeds and it would be between 2 and 6 ounces usually 4 and she usually only eats off one boob during the day then when she cluster feeds I have no idea half the time my milk won't let down because the feedings are so close together I can't refill fast enough and when I try using a sucky she freaks out my finger works better but she usually doesn't stop crying till she gets the boob she's never been a sucky girl she always sucks on her fingers she likes it all natural haha

You weigh yourself? I have never heard of this before! I thought the question of how much a bf baby drank was one of the greatest mysteries of life??

I was going to buy a baby scale to get a better idea but I go pee and don't drink anything weigh myself feed her weigh myself again and that gives me a general ballpark of what she gets

Has your husband had any success with rocking her instead?

Mine is similar so I try to give him big feed at 7 then again at 9 (sometmes he sleeps between those feeds) and do the 9pm one in bed then transfer him to crib. He has cried a bit but I could see it was tiredness and he would cry like that even if I was holding him, he then sleeps till 1am. Trying to get as much food in i the evening should help a bit but when he does wake after an hour I just lie him on the bed and read my book (sometimes out loud) with no eye contact and he drops of fairly quickly. We were putting him down between 7-8 but he just was not tired enough so maybe go to bed later and up earlier.

Ya I think I'm going to start getting up at 7 and see if that helps I don't really want to be up that early but summers coming and I always wish I woulda been up earlier for more daylight to kill haha and my boyfriends work schedules always different he could be home at 3 or he could be home at 8 and by the time he showers I already want her to be in bed and she prefers me since she's with me all day I can usually always get her to stop crying by just holding her