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Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

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Original poster

How old was your baby when you started to try and get them into some sort of routine?

40 replies

Holymoly321 · 17/12/2007 13:47

I can't remember with DS1 but now we have DS2 - 4 weeks old, DH is convinced DS1 was sleeping thru by now!!! Which is obv wishful thinking on his part!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

mrsbabookaloo · 17/12/2007 13:53

I'm a big fan of routine, but even I think 6 weeks is the absolute earliest for any sort of routine, and don't expect the baby to follow it before 3 months. Sleeping through - I think about 10 weeks is the earliest time you might get a 6 or 7 hour stretch, if you're lucky!

Just my opinion!

nailpolish · 17/12/2007 13:53

about 6 months

RudolphtheBluenosesaintdeer · 17/12/2007 14:01

We have a 'loose' routine which we follow each night ie. bath, feed, quiet time, down to sleep. However, its not set in stone and we move the times to suit us as a family

DDs 1+2 slept through early, dd3 still at 5 months doesn't sleep through ...i figure that each child is different.

I personally think that no strict routine should be in place before 6 months (and then its only necessary if you think it is ...) but thats jmo.

morningglory · 17/12/2007 14:02

DS was a very good sleeper, but he wasn't doing 11-7 until about 7 weeks. I did structure his days starting 2 weeks, but it didn't really kick in until about 4 weeks.

MuffinMclay · 17/12/2007 14:03

7 weeks for a routine, sleeping through at 12 weeks. It was a lifesaver for me, but I'm a control/routine freak. I know it isn't most peoples' cup of tea.

LadySanders · 17/12/2007 14:04

8 months cos i wasn't up for the crying thing

nannynz · 17/12/2007 17:46

I'm a chronic Type A and have to have a plan. Even if it doesn't work everyday. From about four weeks I start writing down what I think baby coulda/woulda/shoulda do, from what they have been doing last four weeks. If it doesn't happen it doesn't happen.

By three months they are often have a good, consistent routine. Minimal fussing as well!! for both baby, me and parents.

silkcushion · 17/12/2007 17:49

just starting now - 5 weeks cos i'm shattered

flowerytaleofNewYork · 17/12/2007 17:49

8 weeks, but only because I spent a week writing down everything DS did and found he was more or less doing GF all by himself...

squimlet · 17/12/2007 17:50

that is way too early for baby to be sleeping though. Their bodies are not accostomed to doing it.
you build your own routine gradually. Make it baby led and it will make your life easier.

silkcushion · 17/12/2007 17:52

not trying to get her to sleep thru just wanting her sleep at least a bit at night

FluffyMummy123 · 17/12/2007 17:53

Message withdrawn

Oblomov · 17/12/2007 17:53

I know I will get flamed for this, but ds put himself in a routine within days. You could set your clock by him. Honestly. I breastfeed him every 3 hours. He slept through(7-7) at 13 weeks.
Don't worry, if I ever am able to have another child, my time will come

MaeWestYeMerryGentlemen · 17/12/2007 17:55

DS had a bedtime routine surprisingly early for a slack parent like myself (6 weeks) as he reliably seemed to want to sleep from 7pm-ish until midnight (then up every 3 hrs afterwards). Daytime routine didn't really materialise until about 6 months when started introducing food and that gave more structure to the day, and naps followed suit.

4 weeks seems far to early to sleep through - wishful thinking on DH's part.

Lucy10 · 17/12/2007 18:38

DD is 9 weeks and regularly sleeps 7-8 hours straight at night, but not always! We give her formula for her last feed around 11.00. We only started the formula as I was having problems breast feeding, but now she guzzles two bottles before bed and it has become routine. We're co-sleeping as well which probably helps. Absolutely no set daytime routine so it's purely what she wants and when.

paulaplumpbottom · 17/12/2007 18:38

when she was about a year old we started a bedtime routine. This is the only real routine we have for her

YuleLoveHekateAtSolstice · 17/12/2007 18:39

Well, they're now 7 & 8 and I fully intend to get round to it very very soon.....

squimlet · 17/12/2007 18:45

tbh dd found her own routine at about 12 weeks or so and ds followed whatever she did. I didnt instill anything like that on them but they found their own.

givin · 17/12/2007 20:29

At 8 weeks decided to put my baby down in the dark upstairs at 9pm as he wasn,t falling asleep until 10.30pm downstairs and was really cranky.within 2 weeks going down at 7.30pm-worked really well.He fusses with dummy in and out for 20mins but after that is fine. It really seems to calm him. Before bed we play music in the nursery with dim lights whilst he has his bottle and then take him into our room with the lights off. We try not to talk to him but kiss him goodnight. No daytime routine however-struggles to sleep in the day so may start putting him in a darkened room.Good Luck.

yomellamoHelly · 17/12/2007 20:55

With ds1 it was when he was 6 weeks (for nighttime and 9/10 weeks for daytime too. With ds2 it was the day he was born! First night was a nightmare and I spent it with him in his room.) The next day we did sleeps according to a routine and feeds according to a routine. Ds2 was VERY sleepy for the first 4-5 months and had to be woken for a bf and roused before putting down his cot. BUT he has always followed the routines without complaint. There have been a handful of days where he didn't want to play ball, but then we can all be like every so often and on those occasions I went with the flow. Ds1 slept through from 8 1/2 months. Ds2 from 6 weeks to 5 1/2 months and then from 11 months (slow to wean so hunger an issue).

TinyTimLivesinVictorianSqualor · 17/12/2007 21:16

With both of mine I had a 'routine' as such within about a week or so.

I always did bath, last feed and then bed, as soon as they had a regular evening feed, IYSWIM. It doesn't need to be at exactly the same time every night, just within an hour or so.

I then did everything at night time different to daytime, hushed tones, low lighting, little eye contact etc.

But this wasn't to try getting them to sleep through, babies do that when they're ready, it just created a difference in their heads. They knew daytime was when it was busy and loud and bright and happy and night time was when everyone was sleepy and boring and quiet.

christmascrackerboldy · 17/12/2007 21:18

i don't "do" routines - they make life harder!

pollypumpkin · 17/12/2007 21:23

1st DD, never, 2nd DD, 3 months, 3rd DD, 6 weeks

tassisssss · 17/12/2007 21:25

ds was about a week

dd - can't remember trying, think she just did her own thing

but they both started sleeping though at 8 months (which is probably not what you want to hear!)

muppetgirl · 17/12/2007 21:26

Ds 1 - started at 6 weeks and was a strict mummy.

Ds 2 - 3 weeks but only introduced bedtime routine and sleeping in his own bed. During the day it's pretty much anything goes atm. (He's 6 weeks now)

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