Earlier bedtime for baby while cosleeping

[CycleGirl20]

Our baby is just over 6 weeks and we're starting to think about getting her a bedtime routine. How do cosleepers do this? I'm thinking of putting her to bed at 7 or 8 in her own Next to Me bed and then bringing her into our bed once we're in there and she's ready for her first night feed.

What were people's experiences of cosleeping and the baby having an earlier bedtime?

Ideally you would keep them in the same room as you until they are 6 months due to the risk of SIDS.
So in the evenings you could put them in a cot downstairs in the same room as you and then take them up with you when you go to bed.
Tbh, my DD never wanted to be put down so she slept on either me or DP while we were downstairs and then came up with us and either went in her next to me or in with me.

Babies don’t have bedtime routines at 6 weeks. And should not be left in a room alone whilst sleeping until they are 6 months old.

Routines at that age are pretty pointless, and they need to stay in the same room as you for all sleep (day and night) until at least 6 months. At that age DS slept on me
downstairs till I went up. From about 10 weeks I just watched TV in bed while he lay next to me

Thanks all. I hadn't realised the same room meant also if you put them to bed earlier, don't leave them in the bedroom you share with them. I'll try popping her in her baby nest with us in that case.

By bedtime routine, I mean changing her, reading her a story and so on to get her used to that kind of thing as a cue that nighttime and sleep are coming.

What else does “keep them In the same room” mean except keep them in the same room?

Wait for the 8 week growth spurt……… There is literally no point creating bedtimes when they feed round the clock and have phases of barely sleeping at all.

And you’re still in the fourth trimester too. Baby should really still be inside you, not left in a bed on their own.

You might find it easier to go with the flow for a little while yet. Newborns have naturally late bedtimes, mine didn't go down for the night until 11-12 at that age! He's 4 months now and it has gradually crept earlier, between 9-10pm now. Trying to introduce a 7pm bedtime this young may be more stressful than useful.

We liked a bedtime routine at that age and just put the baby down in the pram in the lounge with us from 7/8 until 10ish when it was time for the next feed, then we'd all go to bed (though we didn't cosleep, he went into the next to me)

From about 3 months old, baby went to sleep in his cot in our room while we were in the living room. Health visitor said as long as we were going in and out we didn't actually need to have him in the room with us for all naps. I know strict adherence to SIDS guidance would say otherwise so of course do what works for you, but ours was so easily awoken at 3 months it was disturbing him to be in the front room with us. We are lucky that the front room and bedroom are on the same floor and adjoining so he could hear him and see him easily.

@OverTheHillAndDownTotherSide thank you for your advice, but please don't labour the point. We're all just doing our best here. The advice I read was that baby's should sleep in their parents' bedroom until they're at least 6 months. I don't live in the UK so perhaps haven't had the same NHS message.

I'm happy to have her sleep with me in the living room and it sounds like that's what I should be doing. I've just noticed she's getting more interested in what's going on and was worried I was stopping her sleeping by not putting her to bed.

Hi OP, when my 2nd came along he had to fit in with DS1's bedtime routine from an early age - so he joined his big brother in the bath and they had a little splash together, then baby got out and dried off while DS1 carried on playing.

Then they were in their PJs together and had storytime and cuddles, then we said night night to big brother and took baby into bed with me for his "bedtime". I did used to put the monitor on and pop downstairs to spend a moment with DH when I had the energy BTW, I don't think it's the end of the world. He was still in my room for the vast majority of the sleeping!

We didn't do anything like this with our baby-led PFB, it was just driven by necessity this time around really, but I have to say that I think he's responded very well to the routine and he's a champion sleeper. I will offer him some boob when I come to bed but he doesn't usually stir...

In the pram also sounds good. It's nice to hear that other people keep their baby with them in the evening. I was feeling I was doing something wrong and she'd never sleep well down the line!

What's baby led PFB, @WoolyMammoth55 ? This is our first and we're not in the UK, so missing some of the terminology.

@GinnyBee I didn't know newborns have naturally late bedtimes. They explains a bit!

Mine slept midnight till noon till she was 2.5. (years).

I don’t think she’s been in bed at 7pm in any time zone unless she was extremely unwell!

The 7pm bedtime is a very British thing. Very common for babies to be up late elsewhere on the planet.

Babies can forget to breathe. The theory is that being in a room with someone else helps them to remember/regulate their breathing. There’s not a monitor in the world could replicate that.

Did you ever find that when you laid down to sleep she would start dancing in your belly? Darkness and you being still signalled her to be awake. When you walked you rocked her to sleep. She won’t unlearn that for a while yet.

OP you mention ‘baby nest in with you’ just to let you know baby nests aren’t safe for unsupervised sleep, so fine if baby is in one when you’re there and awake, but they shouldn’t sleep in nests over night or when you’re not awake and alert as they’ve been the cause of a number of baby deaths

Thanks @BuffaloCauliflower . I meant on the sofa in the evening whilst we're awake, but absolutely worth pointing out. There's so many of these things that look like a good idea but are really dangerous.