Bed time for baby

[GillLevey]

All my friends with babies the same age (16 weeks) put theirs to bed around 7pm and then wake them up for their last feed. I have tried this recently but mine ends up screaming until I can't take it anymore and have to pick her up. I have managed to get her to sleep at 7.30 once but I think this was more due to luck than judgement.

The problem I have with day naps is that my husband works nights and she doesn't have her own room so I have to just let her go to sleep in the bouncer in the living room during the day and the naps are never at the same time every day or for the same length of time.

I have read about bed time routines like bath, feed, bed but I am going back to work soon and don't know how practical it would be as I would end up eating really late and not getting any time to myself.

[shalaa]

Hi Gill,

My DS is 5 months and naps when he wants, where he wants, for how long he wants. It differs from day to day, we've only recently tried to make sure he goes down for his evening nap between 7-8pm. The routine is I rock him, feed him then put him in his cot when he's drifted off!

[Blondeinlondon]

Gill - don't worry too much about routine just find whatever works for you
DS is 5 mths and he doesn't have a proper routine. He usually gets a bath at some point, sometimes afternoon sometimes 5/6ish. Depends on how the day has been and how I feel!

[hermykne]

gill, getting them to sleep at 7 / 7.30pm will depend on their day sleep and when they last napped prior to bed, try not to letyour little one sleep after 3pm, and if she does drop off wake her after 15mins, a little nap before 4.30 ishould be ok if she cant help it, and then a good gap til bed should see her moe tired and ready for it,
some people dont like routines, but it worked for both of mine and my ds settled very quickly into it at about the age of your dd.

i think 3 to 3 1/2 sleep is more than enough at that age too, if shes up around 7 / 7.30

i hate to say it but the bouncer mightnt help, they have to learn to go to sleep without motion, longterm getting a baby easily settled at night will have major benefits at 1 / 2 years of age,
if u are going back to work, i'd ditch it as what will the carer do? its alot harder to get a baby settled without it .
anyway hth

[hermykne]

thats 3 to 3/12 hrs sleep !

[TracyK]

what I found helpful was to go and stay with friends who had lo's roughly the same age for a day or so - and see what their routine was and try and fit into it if it suited us too.
It gave me the confidence to checkthat I was doing the same timings etc as other people.

[Surfermum]

DD used to sleep whenever she wanted during the day, whether in her rocker or out in the buggy, and for as long as she wanted. At this age I think I was giving her her last bottle and putting her down at about 10 and she was sleeping through till 7 am, so it suited her and I wasn't going to do anything to rock that boat! She's never had a problem with going to sleep either.

I've always bathed dd in the mornings too as it suited my routine, although now she's older (2.2) we do have to hose her down when we get back from the beach. Well, we give her a quick shower anyway.

[kgc]

hi GillLevey my one year old ds has only recently started going down on his own at 7pm. Since birth he used to sit up with me and dh till he fell asleep but with a new baby coming we had to get him into a routine and quite dramatically put him in his cot at 7pm one night and he screamed the house down.....but we stuck with it and eventually after a few days he went to sleep by himself in his cot.....with some help from his dummy and milk in a bottle. fair to say it is easier to get them in a routine whilst young than later on.....but it can be difficult with little ones and we are lucky to have a 6 week old that goes down quite early in her moses basket and sleeps more or less through the night but this is rare as my other three were not like this at all!!! I do hope that you find a solution and find a routine that works for you

[GillLevey]

Thanks everyone for your advice. She sleeps very well after her last bottle (9.30pm) so I might just feed her a bit earlier. I put her to bed at 10pm last night and had to wake her up this morning. This way I'll at least get a couple of hours to myself before I go to bed.

The problem I have with keeping her awake is that she gets very irritable if she's tired. Then she won't stop screaming until she falls asleep. She is also very difficult to keep happy as she has recently started rolling over but cries when she's on her tummy through frustration because she can't move.

I think I just leave it for a while and stop worrying about what other people are doing. Thanks again.