Is it silly to try moving babies routine???

[Blossom789]

My DS is now 11 weeks, our bedtime routine is bath, story, feed (breast). Sometimes this becomes feed feed feed but that's ok! He was sleeping 9pm -7am ish with 2feeds in between which usually take an hour to feed and settle. In recent weeks he's been sleeping later in the morning - getting up at 9am today.. lazy bones! So I've tried moving everything back an hour to get him to sleep at 8pm and wake at 7am again. This hasn't worked at all and ended up with him going off to sleep at 10pm- so has had the polar opposite effect!

So I went back to our usual routine last night and he slept for 7hour- a record in this house!! (To compare the night before he was up every 3hours.) And woke at 9am after feeds at 5 and then 6am.

Do I just stick with what's working (this is probably what I'd be saying if I read this post) .. or do I try moving him back an hour? If so, how might I do it more successfully?

He's 11 weeks. His routine is going to be constantly evolving with each new phase. If your current routine is working, stick with that. Change it when it stops meeting his needs. Sounds like he's sleeping incredibly well for a BF baby.

He is sleeping well, I just wish we had him sleeping earlier and waking earlier. Would I be crazy to get him up at 7am?!

He's very little to be in a strict routine (no judgement, just saying don't stress it! Soon there may be some developmental leap which throws everything anyway!)

With my DS I had a similar issue of a late routine at around 7 months, and did take the route of waking him up early (around 7am, rather than his preferred 9-10am!) with lots of taking him downstairs, opening the curtains and chat about it being morning and time to wake up (it was January. In Scotland. Neither of us were very convinced I think!)

So, I'd say waking earlier could be a good way to tweak the timings, but at your DS's age it may be unlikely to stay as it is for very long anyway, if that makes any sense?!

Is there a reason you need him up at 7? I know if there are other kids and nursery runs it might be important, but unless you really need him up I'd just roll with it. Things are constantly changing and unless you really need them to fit into your routine I'd save the bother and just let them get on with it. Waking him up early is as likely to give you a tired, cranky baby who needs more naps as it is to give you an earlier bedtime.

Yes you'd be crazy to wake him at 7 unless you need to get out to do the school/nursery run. What happens if he naturally starts waking an hour or two earlier? Are you happy to get up at 5 with him?

You're not out of the newborn sleep phase yet. Give him a couple of months and see if he's still sleeping late into the morning. Then do something if you think it's necessary.

Unless you have a reason to get him up at 7am, I wouldn't worry. Everything changes as they go through developmental leaps at 4 months anyway so it's better to consider a routine at that point. My one was sleeping from 9/10pm-9am until she was 17/18 weeks and it worked fine in terms of her nighttime sleep. Now that it's fallen apart after 4 month regression, I'm looking to start a 7-7 routine and I've been told it's more likely to stay long term

With DS1 I did wake him up at 7am.

I didn't need to, but someone said do it, so I did and actually it worked for me! He went back down for a nap at 9am and could sleep for however long he wanted, but I guess it just made the day start for me.

As a caveat, I will say I didn't do this with DS2 - sometimes he sleeps till 9.30am. But again, this works for us as it means we then go out and he'll last till midday before needing a nap.

Ultimately, try it - if it works, keep doing it. If it doesn't, go back to what you were doing. It won't break him forever. probably

That's a really good point tea and biscuits, I sure don't want us reverting to a 5am wake up!

There's no real reason to need to start our day at 7am, I have no other children.. I suppose I feel I 'should' do it.. sounds a bit silly really. I just worry about him not getting into a routine later down the line but I think I'm jumping ahead. We just go with the flow st the moment. He's making a point tonight I think and fallen asleep before his bath!

I'm going to draw on the positives that we both sleep well at the moment and have a good thing going.

Do you think after the 4month developments is the time to think more about routines?

I'd say enjoy it while it lasts, some babies sleep well and carry on doing so, some go through phases of good sleep/ bad sleep and it's not really possible to predict which type you have. Unless you need him up for the school run or something, I'd leave him be and either get some extra sleep or make the most of an hour or so doing whatever in that time.

With my first I found that the routine kind of developed quite naturally as they got older and got better at sleeping. Whilst I was off work I was happy enough to base what I was doing around when he seemed to like doing things as it made for a much easier life.