Loose routine ideas for 7 month old

[fizzicles]

This is DC3, I'm sure we're supposed to know what we're doing by now! But - finding it tricky to get baby consistently sleeping in the evenings. Sometimes he'll go down at 7/7:30ish when we're putting the older kids to bed and sleep through til 10:30/11, but other times he treats it as a nap and then is awake for another couple of hours. This is probably because he often wakes late in the mornings (I know it is - it's just really hard to bring myself to wake him up early when I'm knackered from interrupted sleep myself).

On a typical day he wakes between 8 and 9:30, has 2 or 3 naps of varying lengths in the day, and bedtime around 6:30/7. Daytime naps are often in the buggy, but he will go down in the cot without any rocking/feeding when we do nap time at home, but with a 4yo just started at school and a 2yo at home, we can't plan our day around being home for all naps. At night he feeds to sleep.

So - can anyone suggest a loose routine that might help with consistently sleeping in the evenings? Will need to fit with afternoon school run 3-4pm, but rarely need to take him on morning school run.

Any ideas much appreciated

A routine starts with a fixed wake up time. Then any flexibility comes at the other end of the day, with a variable bedtime depending on how naps have gone that day.

Your eldest just starting school is a great time to establish a routine because you now have fixed points in the day to work around - morning and afternoon school runs.

I assume your eldest has a set wake up time in the morning now? I'd set this as whole family wake up time. Whether that is 7.30am or 8am, whatever works to give you enough time to give them all breakfast and get dressed before the school run.

At 7 months I would suggest you're just at the transition between 2 nap days and 3 nap days, with the third nap being fully dropped in the next month or so.

I have school runs and my day would look like this:

• 7am wake up if not already awake
• 9am nap in the cot after school run (90m-2h)
• 1pm nap in the cot (90m-2h) then school run
• power nap in bouncy chair for 45m around 5pm if needed
• bedtime would be 7-7.30 if no 3rd nap or 8-8.30pm of a 3rd nap was needed.

I'm In addition at 2 years old I would have a 12-3pm nap, so syncronising this nap for your toddler and baby.

My 8 month old goes to bed anywhere between 7.30-10 depends how much you value routine really x

It's not the routine I value, so much as having a few hours a day when I'm not looking after any children!

Thanks FATE. I sort of already know I need to start getting baby up at a regular time, I just haven't done it yet cos I'm so tired (thanks teething!). Eldest gets up at 7:30, so I think we need to bite the bullet and get baby up at the same time.

Sadly the 2.5 year old has dropped her nap already. An afternoon of them both sleeping would be bliss!