When to put baby in cot in evening?

[philbee]

DD2 is 12 weeks old and still rocked to sleep by DH downstairs every night and then put in the cot. We have a similar routine each evening: bf at dinner (6/6.30), bath and change or just change into night clothes in bedroom, bf in front of TV, rocking to sleep in front of tv.

At what age should I start to try to do the second bf (may also introduce a bottle for this one so DH can do it) in the bedroom and try to put her into her cot? I am worried if I leave it until 6 months she will be a nightmare to settle upstairs because she'll have got used to the rocking downstairs. Or is it ok to stick with how we are doing it?

We did it about 13 weeks and she took to it straight away. Sleeps 7 to abot midnight or even later - tho then wakes every two bloody hours hence typing this now! At least you get your evenings.

I think we started at about 4 months, maybe a little after, but we were moving around a lot & staying with family so everything was a bit hit and miss til we moved into our own place when she was about 5.5 months. She was breastfed to sleep for ages past that though, so I couldn't tell you what effect it had on that aspect of her sleep (once there was a boob involved she'd sleep anywhere )

DS was about 16 or 17 weeks old when we'd put him to sleep in his crib upstairs. Crib was in our bedroom until he moved into his own room at 6 months. Our routine was to take him upstairs at 6ish for a bath then cuddles and then breastfeed to sleep. I'd then dreamfeed at around 10pm just before I went to bed. He'd then sleep until 2am or thereabouts before wanting another feed.

Ok, thank you. Screamy evening again last night so I think we need better sleep cues now. How did you decide when to start? Your own preference or did something change about what your DC was doing?

We started this around 10 wks, I think. But we live in a tiny flat and can hear her when we're downstairs. We do upstairs play on changing mat, bath, change into night clothes, breastfeed during which she falls asleep then I swaddle her and put her in crib. This is usually done by 8.30 and she was sleeping thru til 5ish, until it all went to pot this week (either heat or 4 month sleep regression).

In terms of sleep cues, I'm rubbish at reading them, so I just base bedtime on when she's woken up from last nap, sometimes trying to stretch her out a bit if needs be to wait for dh to get back from work.

citydweller me too! I meant more like cues for her: darkened room, getting changed etc. Tbh as we have DD1's routine as well I can't wait for DD2 to get tired in the evening, she's just going to have to go to bed when it's time really.

We tried yesterday and after some screaming she did feed to sleep an stayed asleep until her normal night waking time so v happy with that! Of course that was last night...

I think giving baby sleep cues does work. My dd had been sleeping through from about 8 weeks and I suspect that was mostly down to her, but we did establish a bedtime routine quite early on. I think the bath is key, as is changing her into specific nighttime clothes she only wears at night. We bought a merino wool 'bundler' from Bambino Merino and she always wears that (and we vary how many layers under it according to weather). And, once she's fallen asleep on boob I always swaddle her (in a gro swaddle blanket thingie) as she's only just growing out of her startle reflex

The reason I think that stuff has helped is that I tried to transition her to baby sleeping bags a few times and she always slept badly on those occasions...