putting to bed - advise please

[ollie2]

Hi, i am going to start putting my 6 week old DS to bed upstairs after his bath and 7pm feed but he doesnt seem to self settle until his 10.30 feed.he is in a moses basket at night in our room. At the moment he is down stairs with us till 10.30 when i go up, feed him then put him down and to be fair, he grizzles for a bit but then drifts off to sleep till 2-3am.

I think I am suffering with a bit of PND as i get very anxious in the evenings and tearful and think i would benefit with a couple of hours with my DH to help me snap out of it but my DS doesnt seem to settle on his own at 7. Tried a dummy which works until he spits/knocks it out.
Do you think he is too young to go up yet or should i just persivere until he gets into the routine of bed at this time?

My second (can't remember with my 1st!) started going 'up' to bed at about 7-8 weeks. before that she was downstairs with us, asleep in a reclined chair (reflux problems).
Like your DS she didn't ever fully settle until after the late evening feed at about 10.30pm but over time she has gradually got better. Now at 7 months we have no problems with her at all, she is happy in her cot and 'knows' the bedtime routine and settles well.

To help her settle at first we put a cd of white noise on quite loud (louder than you would think) and that helped a lot and she always has had a dummy which maybe helped.

Some nights she slept well in the evenings and we had some time together downstairs with the occasional trip upstairs to give her back the dummy and other nights she didn't settle at all, particularly when a growth spurt begins. At this age the are very hit-and-miss, just do what you think feels right to you and go with your instincts.

I used to find my DS at that age needed a lot of winding before he could be successfully put down in the evening. If there was so much as a bubble left he couldn't settle but if I did the job properly he was sparko for a nice long time. I recommend to anyone to make sure the baby is thoroughly winded and, when you think they're bubble-free, wind just a little bit more to make sure :)

Oh man, it really sucks when the LO doesn't settle and you have to keep on running back in to re-settle :-(
We're still doing that and DS is nearly 8 months! I have to say, my saving grace has been a book and acceptance of whatever comes at me as every night's different!
If you think you have PND, I would go to your doctor asap and get help.
All the best! x

thanks for all your messages. I did my first night last nigh, feeding at 7 and as i suspected, he didnt really settle until after 9 but then slept till 11.15 before rousing for his next feed. Then he went through to 3am and woke at 6.30 for the day. He does seem really windy though and especially between 3 and 6.30 he is really straining all of the time and grunting loudly. Any ideas? I do wind him but he still seems to be struggling. Also, the more i wind him, the more he brings his milk back up (FF).

Sorry no real help but wanted to say that my dd is similar - as the night goes on feeds get closer together and sleeping is replaced with "struggling" which is what it sounds like. Also interested in others thoughts.

With regard to anxious eves, I think this is VERY common but I have found it gets alot less as time goes on. Good luck

I have an 8 week old DS and wonder is your LO up at 7pm and left awake until they drift off or do you sit until sleep arrives?,(ie until 10.30) I also want to start putting mine up to sleep earlier but don't know where to start - mine would sometimes gurgle away if well winded or if not grunt until rewinded but the likelyhood of his falling asleep is minimal - although I say this but haven't done it so don't really - I need some normality back but need some guidance as to where to start. Sorry to hijack Ollie but is it normal to put them up and leave them - if so then providing I am not faced with a screaming child I may give it a whirl. Can u tell I am new to all of this??