Sleep routine - please help!

[user1465146157]

My son is 10 months and sleeps very late - sometimes around 11-11.30pm

I've tried most things - book bath bed routine, eating at different times, white noise...but he won't sleep until he's worn out - sometimes post 8pm he's quite hyper.

He sleeps in our bed at the moment while we decorate a nursery but as we are away for christmas and all out routines are crazy, i'm hoping when we go back home we can put him in the nursery and start 'from scratch' and try and settle him in his own room. I'm also back at work in a few weeks so need to try and get a routine going for that reason as well.

I hear these amazing stories of people whose babies are asleep by 7 and awake at 7am the next day like clock work - surely I'm not the only one this ISN'T happening for?!

I'm quite nervous about this as I know he won't like it in there alone at first (i don't think so anyway, not tried it yet but he's been in with us all this life) - and also want to try and fix a routine that works for us all and gets him (and us) some more sleep.

Can anyone please let me know some tips for starting this new thing in the new year?

sometimes my partner comes home late which scuppers the routine slightly for all of us but just need to try and work around that i think.

thank you in advance

I understand... My DD s also 11 months old but she wakes every 2 hours in night...
What sleep experts suggested is to wake them at 7 am... Bf at 8 am nap at 9 am.. lunch at 12... Nap at 1 pm... Naps are two hour nap... Then u can give snacks and dinner at 6 pm.. u can start ur bedtime routine at 6:45... So baby ll sleep by 7... Try this n see if it works for u...

What are his naps like? My DS bed time is entirely dependant on the font of his last nap

Tbh I don’t think all babies are built for the magical 7-7 thing. They’re all different. My 11 month old goes to bed at 8 if she’s really tired, but often it’s 11.

user1465146157, what time does baby usually wake in the morning?

Is he sleeping through or do you have night wakes?

When and how long does he usually nap for in the daytime?

At 9 months I stopped bf during the night. On the third night he slept through 12 hours. Has done ever since. Now 3.3.

How did you do that @Tinselistacky - I could do with some tips!

Bf the majority of the time but a bottle a day for 3 days while I was at work so ds would accept a MAM bottle from dh. First night sent dh in with formula and ds had an ounce, so knew wasn't waking due to hunger. Second night sent dh with water. Refused altogether!! Third night slept all night!!

I managed to stop bf by sending dh every time baby woke.. 3 nights in and he didn't bother waking up anyway!

11mo now and has slept from 7-7 most nights since 9mo. We did a slightly gentler controlled crying where we got him used to going down for naps in his cot and then for overnights.

Ah sounds amazing, unfortunately he won't take a bottle at all. Bugger, I'll try again soon. Thanks both

Thank you Gayu - will have a go when we return home after Christmas.

blue2014 - have to say naps aren't that consistent and i don't know what I'm doing wrong - seems to be tired at different times of day - theres a vague routine but nap 1 can be anytime between 11-2 for around 1 hour and another nap may not happen at all or maybe later.

Crazycatlady5 - that makes me feel a bit better i do feel like its just me!

FATEdestiny -

what time does baby usually wake in the morning?
usually around 7.30 - 8?

Is he sleeping through or do you have night wakes?
night wakes every night - on average it goes like this
11pm falls asleep
1am-2am wakes up has milk falls asleep
3.30-4.30 wakes up has milk falls asleep
6 am stirs, maybe has a nappy change sleeps again
up around 7.30-8

this is changeable each night and sometimes can wake less, or more-

When and how long does he usually nap for in the daytime?

on average, 2 hours altogether in a daytime.

what do you think?

Glad to hear its worked for some of you - gives me hope.

I'll be putting DS in own room from next week - any tips here on how to transition greatly appreciated. I may start another thread on this too

That sounds tough. Not that I have it down to a t but for me it's all about the naps during the day. Needs 2.5 to 3 hours ideally.

My son goes down at 7pm and generally sleeps until 6am although can wake a couple of times in the night especially if teething.

I'm a very routine type of person so think this helps. Day goes something like this - he is just over 8 months.

Wakes up 6am
Bottle
Porridge with fruit
Keep awake for at least 2.5 to 3 hours before first nap
Top & tail, change clothes and nappy
Music
Grobag
Comforter

He may nap for 40 mins or an hour or the odd time a bit more. I never know how long so change the times of naps / bedtimes to work with this

Let's say he wakes at 10am and has slept for an hour
Bottle at 10.30

Lunch at 12pm / 12.30pm
Next nap is 3 hours from awake time at first nap so roughly 1pm

Next bottle at 2.30m

Last nap is always the hardest and try and put him down at 4/4.30 again depending on how long the second nap lasted

If he won't sleep and is fighting it and it comes to past 5pm I leave it and bring his bedtime to asleep by 6.30pm

Dinner at around 5/5.30pm

Has a bath every second night and if having bath start bedtime routine at 6pm. If not having a bath 6.30pm

Bedtime
Bath
Change clothes
Grobag
Music
Comforter
Same two books every night
Soother

Also always used the sleepyhead from when he was born. Still using in cot and have bought the next size up as when we haven't used it he takes longer to settle and doesn't nap as long.

Might sound mental but I always explain what is going to happen and use some sign language to explain bottle, books and sleep.

Good luck it's not easy and doesn't always go to plan. Up to a couple of months ago I had to rock him to Sleep for every nap which used to kill me.

Think the key is routine and if something doesn't work a few times, leave it for a bit and then try again.

I think your child is chronically over tired.

For context my lo sleeps 7-7 with 2.5-3 hours of naps per day.

Routine is something like
7am wake
9.30 first nap for approx 1.5-2 hours
11 wake
2ish (3 hours after wake up from morning nap) down for afternoon nap approx 1 hour
7pm bed

Does

Peanut & Dermymc

thank you so much for posting your routine I'll give it a try - am on nap 2 today, fingers crossed it lasts for a while so we can add up to the 2.5 hours at least!

no bloody idea just here to say YOU AREN'T THE ONLY ONE!

I agree it sounds like he's chronically overtired - from your post, it seems he is having max 11 hours in 24 and the night sleep is very broken. This is a fantastic guide for approximate amount of sleep that children need in 24 hours
www.babysleepscience.com/single-post/2014/02/12/Common-Age-by-Stage-Sleep-Schedules
The other blogs on that website are useful too (I haven't used any of their paid services so can't comment on them).

We used a sleep consultant when my daughter was younger who explained to me that babies' circadian rhythms are formed by this age and have natural biological sleep windows where their cortisol levels are lower and it's easier for them to fall asleep. The natural sleep window is 6.30-7.30 and that's where the magical 7-7 timings originate from.
After using the sleep consultant, I followed the routine she showed me religiously for the first 2-3 months then gradually made everything an hour later as she wasn't sleeping 12 hours at night so we had 5am wake ups which were tough! Although timings were slightly outside the natural windows, things worked just fine as we had sleep associations well established by then.

At 10 months, we loosely followed the 2-3-4 routine and nighttime wakings varied depending on if teething or in the midst of a developmental leap. Our rough timings were:
6.30am wake up
9am nap for 45mins-1hr
1pm nap for 2-2.5 hours
7-7.30pm bed time
She would breastfeed some point after 4am and then go back to sleep until 6.30. I'm unwell nights, she would wake more often.

In terms of putting in own room - I moved into her room with her at 8/9 months (we have a full sized bed in there with her cot) and stayed there until she was consistently sleeping for most of the night. I was too lazy to traipse between rooms in the night when she was waking frequently.