Anyone got a bath and bed routine for their newborn already?

[choc]

I want to have a little bath and bed routine for my newborn, he is 9 days old, is it too early? He hasn't had a bath at all yet! My problem is that he gets massively overtired in the evenings and it takes us hours to settle him, so I'm not sure how a bath would work in the evenings? Yesterday he woke at 7 pm from a nap and only wanted to be awake for about 5 mins before screaming for milk and then wanting to drop off again. Any advice on a routine for this? Timings etc, do you wake them to have the bath etc
Thanks!

 

[MindUtopia]

I think do whatever works naturally for you, but don't try to force it if it isn't coming just yet. At 9 days, we definitely didn't have any sort of routine of any kind. In fact, I wasn't always sure if it was day or night because it all just blended together. Probably around 2 weeks or so, we started to have more of a routine, in the sense of a feed around roughly the same time in the early evening and then my daughter would go to sleep on daddy's chest or with him in the wrap until her next feed around 10 or 11pm. And I would go to bed to get some sleep before I had to feed her again! That was our routine. She had a bath maybe every 3 days or so, usually late in the afternoon, before her feed, but there was really no routine to it. We didn't start a proper bedtime routine with her until about 3-4 months. Once we did, it was bath, reading a book, milk and then I'd lie down next to her while she went to sleep. But that was really only after she'd fallen into a routine on her own. I think if you find it helps and just happens and it works for you, do it. If you have to force it to happen still, just wait a bit. Our daughter who had no bedtime routine at all easily transitioned into one and went to bed easily when she was ready. Until then, she slept on us while we ate dinner and watched tv and we all went to bed when we were ready. As you have an older one already, you might find that things naturally fit around the routine you already have when the time comes.

 

[jodilee6]

We're 8 weeks in and no routine here! He falls asleep between 7-9pm and I try to get him into his bed but it doesn't always happen, some nights he'll just sleep on one of us till we go to bed

Regarding baths, if he's awake when his big brother has a bath then he goes in, sometimes this can be a few nights in a row or he can go 3/4 days without a bath, I'd never wake him to have a bath

I figure he'll eventually slot into DS1 bedtime routine when he's old enough for one

 

[mel28nicole]

I had a routine around 3 weeks old. We gave her a bath around 8:30/9pm. We did every day, but didn't use soap every day. Lotion, changed into night clothes. Turned out the lights and gave a bottle and cuddled til she fell asleep. We did this until she was 3/4 months old. Then I got rid of the bath and did it every 2-3 days instead, but kept everything the same.

 

[choc]

So did you do the bath when her feed was due or just before it was due? Did she wake up naturally a little while before the feed was due so you could bath her then? Austin seems to sleep right up to when he is hungry and wants feeding immediately!

 

[MrsC10]

I've had a bedtime routine ever since our little one came home at 3 days old. She has a bath around 8.30/9pm and then has her bottle and goes into her Moses basket. She got used to the routine very quickly and now you can tell when it's coming to bath time as she starts to get a bit cranky.

She sleeps well too. She wakes up at 1.30am for a bottle and then again at half five. We're very lucky.

 

[mummytobe_93]

7 weeks old and no routine yet and won't until he is sleeping longer stretches. Currently up every hour so I don't see the point at all, also im enjoying the cuddles at night it goes by so fast.

We didn't start a bed time routine until my daughter was about 4 months old and she old started sleeping relatively well at 7 months but now she sleeps 6.30-8.30 so it didn't hinder us there! X

 

[SarahBear]

Leo fell into a bit of a routine simply because his older sister was on a routine. We didn't have one at 9 days old because we were still trying to figure out what our new routine would be and were trying a few different things. Just do what works. If you want a routine and it works, go for it. If you have no routine and it works, so be it.

 

[Kians_Mummy]

My daughter is 15 weeks and its only been the past week she's got into a routine.
Feed: 5pm
Sleep: 6pm
Dream feed: 8pm
Down for the night: 9pm
Wakes: 6am.

I have to bath her in the morning due to the routine she's got herself into x

 

[choc]

Thanks for all the input ladies!

 

[mel28nicole]

Ashlin was never much of a sleeper during the day so she was usually up before I wanted to get her into to bed. So when it was close to bed, I would get her into the bath and feed her after. She was formula fed tho and was pretty consistent with feeding every 3-4 hours. And slept through the night early on

 

[wifey2013]

My LO is now 9 months but we started a routine very early on, not as early as 9 days, but around 1 month. At about 6:30pm we would give him a bath, then we would read a book together, and then a feeding. We'd put him down as we would if he was sleeping through the night... he wasn't at that point, but from then on, all his feeds and changing were done in the dark. He started sleeping more and more from that point on, and at around 8 weeks he was going down at 7pm, we were waking him for a feed at 12am, and then he was sleeping until 5-6am, and at about 3 months we were letting him sleep through the night. I'm a strong believe in routine, but also flexibility. Luckily our LO is really flexible, when we have to go to a dinner he'll stay up with the rest of us and go to sleep when we get home around 8-9 and it doesn't ruin his sleep schedule.

 

[greats]

Yes! We started early! Bath, massage, diaper, pajamas, lights off, swaddle, bottle, and out like a light for a 7-8 hour stretch, then up at 5am for a quick bottle then down till 7. She's 2 months now and started sleeping like this for the past couple weeks.

 

[choc]

So do you wake them from a nap to have the bath? My lo sleeps right up to the next feed and he won't wait for it!

 

[Blu10]

We accidentally got into a routine at 2ish weeks. DS didnt settle well in the lounge with us so we used to put him into his moses basket in the nursery after his 7pm feed then he would wake at 11ish for a feed and we would all go to bed afterwards. Regarding baths, he had a witching hour most nights between 5 and 6 where he would just whinge for no reason so i used to bath him then and it calmed him righy down. Im not sure if routine helped or we were just lucky but he slept through from 8 weeks old and has always enjoyed his bath and bedtime. Were expecting #2 in 12 weeks so i hope he will settle in alongside his brothers routine