What does your 7-8 week old bedtime routine look like?

[MrsB902]

Anxious first time mum here 👋

I’m hoping to start introducing a gentle bedtime routine of sorts with my 5 week old DS in the next few weeks but feel a bit unsure about how to do this. The timing of his feeds can vary so unsure about at which point to bath him - for example if he is due a bottle at 10pm would bathing him at 9 be too late?!

Also I’m conscious that it is generally advised to try to put babies down whilst they are drowsy but awake, however my little boy tends to spit up milk following his bottle so we tend to keep him upright for 15-20 mins after feeds and he falls asleep during this time. Does anyone have any advice for getting around this?

Thank you if you’ve made it this far, looking forward to hearing suggestions 😊

He is 7 weeks, just sit on the sofa and cuddle him. With DD2 I used to do bath time around 6 at that age just because she went in the bath with her older sister.

Honestly you don't need a routine with a baby this age. I never had a routine with mine & didn't start until she was 1 and was about to go to nursery.

They fall into their own routine anyway and as long as that fits in with your lifestyle then it's nothing to worry about!! Give yourself one less thing to stress about.

If you really want some form of routine then go for something like bath, story, bed.

Also drowsy but awake - some babies just aren't wired for that, mine certainly isn't!!

They are with you till 6 months anyway just hold them on the couch. No need for daily baths either it’s bad for their skin.

He's a tiny baby. For the fourth trimester I just had my babies on me both times. I co slept as it was easier with feeding and god naps they'd just fall asleep on me?!

Another one that didn't really have a routine at that age. Around 10 weeks we started to do bath and bed around 1930 but that's because that was the pattern my son had fallen into so we just went with it but if he wasn't ready for sleep he just hung out with us or we hung out upstairs with him. Closer to 5 months we started to get more stringent about routine I think.

With DS he didn't have a routine at that age. He was just cuddled and put in the Moses basket when he was in a deep enough sleep and stayed downstairs with me and DH until around 11 when I'd dream feed him and put him back down.
DD is 8 weeks and from day 1 she has had a bottle and then is swaddled and put into her Moses basket with Ewan the sheep playing white noise where she falls asleep from completely awake, but this is simply because she doesn't like to fall asleep being cuddled and I'm happy to introduce good sleep associations while she's happy to go to bed alone.

Having said that, we do bath, story, bed with my daughter (4 months) at 1900 alongside her brother and have done since she was about 2 months so you could try earlier. As long as you're relaxed with it and happy to chill out with her upstairs until she's ready to fall asleep/bring her back down it's not going to do her any harm.

@littlemousebigcheese

He's a tiny baby. For the fourth trimester I just had my babies on me both times. I co slept as it was easier with feeding and god naps they'd just fall asleep on me?!

I did this too. I was really concerned about not having a routine with my first. With my second (and last) I'm choosing to co sleep from the start and making the most of the cuddles a lot more! Congratulations on your newborn x

Thanks for your responses, it’s reassuring to hear that it doesn’t matter too much if DS still prefers to sleep on one of us or in his Moses basket downstairs until we go to bed 😊

Will maybe hang on until closer to 3 months and then try it then if he seems to be ready.

Just to say DD goes to sleep in her Moses upstairs but I go to bed with her, I just watch stuff on my iPad or scroll on my phone only because with 2 small kids I'm usually knackered by 8pm anyway and happy to go to bed 😂

Not much of a routine but with both of mine it was getting ready for bed from 6ish, feeding (bottle with oldest, managed breast 2nd time around with youngest) with Radio 4 on quietly around 7pm in our bedroom in the dark, usually Archers' time put them down in moses basket in the room c7.30 with R4 or white noise on quietly - I found white noise helpful for both of mine. Worked for us, but some babies won't stick with a routine and TBH the first 12 weeks is just all over the place, even with an 'easy' baby, so don't sweat it too much if they'll only go to sleep on you or whatever. You can't make 'habits' for tiny babies, honestly do whatever the hell it takes to get you through!

Please don’t worry about any of this until 6 months. You will stress you both out. Let him feed and sleep on you until you go to bed. It’s no big deal.
Putting a baby down drowsy but awake is sort of nonsense by the way, I’d say the bast majority of babies need to be fed to sleep! Don’t worry about it, it passes

Please please please just spend that time cuddling on the sofa. You won't get that time back - even if you have another. I found from about 3/4 months mine liked a bedtime routine (and I did put them to sleep upstairs, in our room with a monitor) as their sleep was much lighter and they needed the quiet and darkness. But for now please just enjoy this time

So early to be thinking of a routine, just cuddle him. And you don't need to bathe him every night, its not great for the skin.

Both of mine used to scream the house down all evening, get passed between me and DH while we ate dinner in shifts and then zonk out about midnight ready for 5am party time.

I wouldn't be imposing routines on tiny babies; you are setting yourself up to fail. Follow your baby's lead.

Our little one is now 5 months old, I LOVE routine and had great plans and had done a lot of research…

Poo.💩

I couldn’t even tell you what happened at night for the first 10 weeks.. a haze of attempted to sleep “safely” and actually get some sleep at the same time. It’s still a nightmare of a “routine” if you could even call it that (she clearly didn’t read the same research as me!)

You do what’s best for you and your little one OP I’m sure you’ll be smashing it 😀🙌

I always used to make the house quite and darker so baby could get used to evenings. It is very young but I enjoyed having a routine, it helped me.

I didn’t bother with a set bedtime until they were much older -like 3. When they were younger, if they seemed sleepy they would go up to bed - or fall asleep downstairs and i would carry them up.

DD just found her own routine - she gradually started falling asleep and doing her large chunk of sleep earlier and earlier, so when that started being like 8.30pm, we got a loose bedtime routine going. But that was probably about 3 months in at the earliest, possibly later.

Breastfeeding mum here so take what's useful. I held mine upright after every feed for at least 30 minutes until about 5 months old. Drowsy but awake has NEVER worked so abandoned it after I started following people like Kathryn Stagg and Lyndsey Hookway and instead happily feed to sleep.

Our bedtime routine consisted of baby sleeping and fussing and feeding on the boob 7-11, 8-12 9-1 until about 4 months whilst I tried to eat/watch TV quietly/talk to husband downstairs.

It's only been since 6 months I started doing any sort of routine: big feed, wind down before bed with low lights and story sensory book, bath twice a week, white noise on with pyjamas and sleeping bag, top up boob, milk coma, winding, bed. Endless re-settles before midnight until 8 months old. Now usually just one or two before more boob about 12.

@Bornsloppy

Both of mine used to scream the house down all evening, get passed between me and DH while we ate dinner in shifts and then zonk out about midnight ready for 5am party time.

Yeah, this!

I love routine and was very routine driven with my first - with my second, we just try to keep the screaming to a minimum and her asleep at some point in the evening!

Didn't have one at that age

Drowsy but awake is a lie, and not compatible with reflux.

Cuddle your baby :)