Advice on routines please!

[bellagrace]

My beautiful DD is 3 months old (FTM) and we are very lucky as she sleeps brilliantly through the night, in a crib in our bedroom, usually from around 11pm until 8am. Until now, her daytime naps have always been in a Moses basket downstairs and we have had a regular feeding routine (formula as I was sadly unable to breastfeed for more than 3 weeks due to infections and my nipples being unable to heal).

I would like to introduce a daytime napping routine to supplement the feeding routine (rather than naps being ad hoc) and I would also like to start putting her to bed up in her crib at around 8.30/9pm (with a view to waking her up and feeding her at 11ish) so that DH and I can start to have a little time together in the evenings. DH has an extremely stressful job and, whilst I love having DD downstairs with us all the time, I want to make sure DH feels that we have some “us time” as well.

I’d love to know whether you tend to put your LOs down for their daytime naps downstairs with you, or upstairs in their crib? I don’t want DD to start associating her crib with naps and stop being such a brilliant night sleeper, but equally I feel that a daytime napping routine might be harder to regulate if she always has her daytime naps downstairs.

For those who recommend carrying on with daytime naps downstairs and keeping the crib (and later on, the cot) for night times, what do you suggest I do when she outgrows her Moses basket (which is what she sleeps in downstairs at the moment)? Where is a good place for her to nap other than in her crib/cot?

Sorry if I’m asking stupid questions! V grateful for any advice anyone can offer 😊 Thank you!

When we were at home, starting from 12 weeks, DD always napped in the cot upstairs (if we were out, she napped in the pram). At 3 months, babies actually get quite good at distinguishing between day and night and DD never confused her cot naps with the proper night time sleep. Of course, you will have posters reminding you that letting your baby sleep in a different room (even for naps) goes against SIDS guidelines but I read all the research on SIDS I could find and was comfortable the actual risk was minimal.

If you do not want to use the cot, you could let your DD nap downstairs in a travelcot (if you have one) or Moses basket until she outgrows it. It could be a convenient option if your DD is not too sensitive to noise. Mine was - she used to complain even when I quietly walked around (TV was completely out of question starting from week 6). As a result, getting DD to sleep upstairs was the only option.

That’s really helpful, thank you 😊 Fortunately she is not at all sensitive to noise but we have a very wilful dalmatian puppy at home (because of course a newborn just wasn’t enough to handle!!!) so it does mean I’m always running around, putting the pup in her room when I need to leave DD asleep in her basket during the day. If I could do one or two of her daytime naps upstairs it would mean DD could be less disturbed (not that she usually is, but occasionally a bark or other noise will wake her) and I could have a little more time to manage all the chores which pile up throughout the week!!

Really appreciate your advice, thank you.

I can’t remember when we started putting DD down in her crib/then cot upstairs for naps, maybe just over two months. She just got to an age where everything downstairs would disturb her so she wasn’t napping long enough.

When at home she naps in her room in the dark (perhaps not recommended but she sleeps much better) and some white noise quite loud to block out sounds from around the house. This means I can get on with stuff around the house, or just have some time to myself.

I try to put her down using the age appropriate awake times as a guide and this works well as she doesn’t get overtired.