I have a good sleeper but...

[Mumtobenovember]

My 17 week old (9 weeks corrected as prem) baby girl is a little gem.. She goes to bed at 11 and sleeps until 7/8 has a bottle then goes back down until 10 I'm just a bit worried she goes to bed too late I have tried putting her to bed earlier and she goes mental and gets so upset she won't go asleep until much later. She's a very independent baby she actually cries to be put down in her chair to play alone! Everyone says she's strange haha! I'm not moaning at all just wanted some tips on getting her to bed before we go so we can have an evening! Thanks

No answers but we have the same - quite independent prem baby who goes to bed as we do. She's six and a half months now and still doing it. Tbh, now I'm back at work I don't mind too much as I wouldn't get to see her otherwise but sometimes it would be nice to have an evening to ourselves.

When you say you put her down earlier, how much earlier? You probably need to nudge it by 15 minutes or so every few days. And get her up earlier to match.

I'd start tweaking the beginning of the day, waking at 9:30 so hopefully tired a little earlier in the evening, but go slow.

Ah, I remember those strange comments - also had a baby who preferred to be on her own on the mat rather than being cuddled! Enjoy it

I'd also go for slowly, slowly moving that bedtime forward. However that might mean that her 7/8 wake becomes 5/6, so do bear that in mind.

DD used to go down about 8, have a dream feed at 10/11, and then slept through. It might be worth looking into dream feeding as a way of still giving her that feed at about 11.

Oh yes, do be prepared to have a night waking if you move bedtime earlier.

Also, not sure how corrected age affects the likelihood of timing on any four month sleep regression so you might want to check that out and wait unti you are safely past!!

What is the four month sleep regression

A lot of previously good sleepers go downhill dramatically around 4 months. DD1 went from waking once, at around 4am, to waking around the clock. If you are lucky, it lasts a week or two. If you are not, it can last a lot longer. Not all babies get it, and there isn't a way of telling if yours will.

But I repeat, not all babies get it.