Moving bedtime for overtired 11wk old - any suggestions?

[mandymac]

My dd currently goes to bed at 10.30pm ish after a feed in bed with me, but I want to start moving it earlier, not for my convenience, but because she is waking up increasingly early (8am ish which I know isn't early, but it for the time she is going down at the moment!), struggling to nap and hence by early evening is in meltdown from overtiredness and really hard to calm, or even feed (I am breastfeeding). I would like to try and settle her in her moses basket after her feed around 8pm, have tried for a few days, but she just cries and gets really het up once I put her down.

I want to keep up feeding her at 10pm or 11pm, as a dream feed if possible, so I don't want to start moving this feed earlier (if that makes sense). Just to get her down after her feed around 8pm. (by the way I feed on demand, so these feeds are to her timetable, not one I am imposing on her)

She won't ever fall asleep on me or dh, so can't try letting her do that and then putting her down - help!!!!

bump

Would a stroll round the block in her pram after the 8pm feed send her off to sleep? Could you then leave her in her pram asleep until the later feed (or does she have an inbuilt motion sensor like DS and wake up as soon as you stop moving)?

You really need to try and get her sleeping more in the day - then she should go down better at bed time. Babies really need a good 3 hours sleep a day.
My DS (7 weeks) has an hour ish in the morning - a bit longer at lunchtime and then a shortish nap in the after noon.
He goes to bed quite happily at 6 pm and apart from 2 night feeds - sleeps until about 7am.
Is it worth trying to enforce these daytime sleeps for the first few days (out in the car / buggy / feed to sleep) until she gets used to them - or try to let her settle herself in the moses basket when you think she is tired??

Thanks to Tessie & Noodle for your replies - didn't think anyone was going to answer (bit of a pedestrian problem compared to some ).

Did a long walk this am to get dd to sleep for an hour (was actually really nice to be in the park at 10.30am ). Then rocked her in buggy and got her to sleep for an hour at lunchtime and late afternoon. She still got really grumbly at about 7pm, but I fed her in bed at 8pm tonight and recreated 10pm conditions and bless her she has been asleep for 45mins so far , . My chickens remain an unknown quantity however! .

So will try and feed her about 10pm and then fingers crossed for the rest of the night!

Thanks again for replies and tessie on your ds's routine.

Why not try to settle her a little earlier than 8? Mine is down by 7 at the latest. As soon as I see the slighest tired sign, it's straight into the bath, then a feed and then bed. Find if I try and stretch her when she is already niggly, then it's harder to get her to bed. Have you tried leaving her to wake you for her late feed instead of dream feeding?

I think the 2 hour rule pretty much works for babies of that age - so awake for no more thatn 2 hours (sometimes less if they are getting a lot of stimulation). So before they start yawning and rubbing their eyes, put them in their cot (or wherever) and tell them it is sleep time.

It seems that the more they sleep during the day the better they sleep at night.

Jambot - Last night was the first night she had gone down at 8.30, so was too scared not to feed her at 'normal' time as not sure how that would effect the night. May give it a try if this continues.

Throckenholt - The 2 hour thing sounds about right. Not as simple as just putting her down unfortunately as from about 3 weeks ago, she seems to have lost her 'off switch' in the day time, and so I have to walk, rock her in her buggy etc to get her to nap. We are putting her cot in our room this weekend, so might try settling her in that for naps, although at the moment, she seems to hate that for daytime naps.

Know how you feel. If things improve you're too scared to try anything new in case they revert to their old ways. Sometimes I had to bite the bullet and found that dd was a lot more accommodating and flexible than I thought she'd be.

Yup, too much of a coward to rock the boat . I am trying to tackle naps too, as I have realised that these need to follow some sort of pattern, so that i can make sure she is getting enough day time sleep. Its a struggle as she hasn't settled down by herself for about 3 weeks (ever since she could see further as the world around naturally I guess seems far too exciting for her to miss anything, even if she appears to have propped her eyelids up with matchsticks ). Any ideas?