Bedtime

[PrincessPea]

Hey ladies

Wee question.....

When did you first start a bedtime routine with your LO and what was it?

Keep making the mistake of going into Baby Club thread and freaking myself out that I'm not doing what it looks like I'm supposed to be doing!!!

This premature baby thing isnt half tough, feels like I am trying to find my way about in the dark!!

Thanks in advance.

 

[toothfairyx]

We started not long after his due date with bath 6.30pm, bottle and bed by 7.30pm latest. He woke up at 11pm and 3am or thereabouts for a while and we used to bring him back downstairs for the 11pm feed, but do the 3am one as a night feed in the dark. Gradually, he stopped waking for the 11pm feed until later and later, and if we woke him he wasn't having a decent feed as he was too sleepy so we left him to do what he wanted instead and he slept through until 5am or so. That's where we are now at, but what's hard now is getting him to have a really good feed before bed at 7pm as the routine seems to have worked so well - he loves his bath and is all smiles and happy, gets really grumpy for his bottle while getting dried and dressed as he's an impatient so and so, then pretty much falls asleep the minute it's given to him. So having to try to get round that one lol.

Grrr I'm up very early I've had a cough for ages and it's driving me nuts

 

[AP]

We just started from scratch hun, so we did the whole darken the room, do the bath thing.... a lil massage with the lotion/oil afterwards and just took our time. We then fed her and put her down.

At first we honestly go nowhere, but we kept this up no matter what and it got easier. Alex sleeps well now (8-8, sometimes a lie in ) and I do think its because we've done the same thing every night.

We tweaked it along the way as she grew older. For example, she used to be able to feed in the living room, lights on and all, but over the months the lights needed to go out, the TV needed to be turned off, then we moved into the bedroom to feed her in the dark, and then, we removed the last feed. Or more like, one night she refused it and we just went along with it.

See what works for Jessica. Have a constant thing that says 'Bedtime'. It could be a song, a tune, a smell,(lavendar maybe) that you only use for bedtime.

(if you really wanna know, we sing Gaga to her oh how i wish i was kidding....)

 

[PrincessPea]

Gaga it is then!!!!

Thanks dear, we do bath, bottle and sleep but we kind of go by what time she feeds that night so say one night it could be 9 for bath etc but some nights it could be 10 but I want to start doing it at a regular time so she gets into a routine. Thats fab, going to start that tonight, just wondered if she was just a wee bit young.

Ok now I just have to get over my aversion to putting her upstairs to sleep herself!!

 

[AP]

I think using something by assosiation [sp] is ur best bet you know. Whether she understands or not, who knows, but she will at some point so best keep at it!

sorry i am blabbering on today i have lost my marbles now lol

 

[PrincessPea]

we have a wee vtech dog thing that plays lullabies and we put that on every night when we transfer her to her crib and when it goes on she quietens down and goes to sleep so that may be the key as she may already have an association with that? Will try that and see.

Loosing your marbles is the only way hun!! lol

 

[Dasy25]

Hey PrincessPea i cant really offer you any advice as the routine i thought i was in has turned to mush! I think what you do sounds ok although try just having it a little earlier? Sounds like the music thing works too.

I did think our routine was good...Feeds were at great times: morning, noon, tea time and supper so we managed to fit a bath in around 7/8pm ish then cuddle/story and then last feed. I usually always had her in her moses basket for 9pm even if still awake. This worked and she was sleeping through till 4/5am, up for a feed then back to bed till 8am ish. So upset as this has all changed this week. She now wants to feed every 4hours. First feed usually around 6/7am. However our problem being is she is waaaaaay too tired for her 10/11pm feed. Ella has wanted to sleep from say 7.30pm onwards and wont wake at all for the next feed. Tried dream feed but usually ends in projectile vomit and coughing fit! So now she is missing a bottle altogether and i'm stressing big much about it! Considering she only takes a maximum of 150mls per feed. Really dont know what to do! Sorry here's me trying to offer you advice and it turns about i'm asking you for the advice

Sounds as though Toothfairy is experiencing something similar with the bedtime feed.

Ooft i think i'm need in of a rant and get loads off my chest.....i've lost my marbles too. x

 

[PrincessPea]

Thanks Toothfairy, sorry didnt reply earlier, your reply didnt show when I was in earlier, only Sb's did. Thank you for your advice, I wasnt sure whether to put her down that early but will give it a try - as I say just got to wean myself off having her downstairs!!! lol

Dasy- thanks for reply dear, sorry your routine has turned to mush, I am afraid I cant help you at the mo as clearly I dont have one yet!!! lol. Txt me if you need to rant! xxx

 

[toothfairyx]

Yeah my reply was delayed for some reason.

We usually find we seem to take a step backwards with increased feeds when there is a growth spurt on the way. I've upped him to 7oz plus his food today which has been OK and he's just gone to bed now so we will see how he gets on tonight!

Had him weighed today at the baby clinic - 14lbs 07 (6.57kg). Fatso!! What was really nice was seeing some of the other babies who were the same age (actual) and not too disimilar size

 

[bob2331]

Hey,

As soon as Harribo came home, we TRIED to get in to a routine.

We done a bath at 7 then a bottle then bed! It lasted for about 15 minutes but we carried on but the way it went for about a month was harribo being so tired he would scream during his bath then have a bottle, be taken over by a monster and scream for an hour whilst i sat and cried! But and its a big but, one night (night i rang my mum in tears) she put him in to bed, sang the oakie oakie (sp) and he slept through! We had to sing that song for about 2 months but now we are song free (thank god) and its bath at half 6 and in bed at 7!

Its take a while to get there but u will be there soon x

 

[PrincessPea]

Thanks for your replies ladies, well I bit the bullet and had bath, bottle and bed by 8.30pm. Thought that was a bit of a start, just making it earlier over a few nights until we get to around 7pm. She has cried on and off but I am being brave!!! lol Will go with this every night now and see how we get on. Hopefully she will adapt as well to it as she has to everything else.

Thank you for your advice.

 

[Foogirl]

Read da booook!

Bedtime routine is a great idea, it signals day to night.

Ok now I just have to get over my aversion to putting her upstairs to sleep herself!!

Video monitor is the best cure for that


Dasy, have you tried bringing the day feeds forward say 15 minutes each. Or does she have to be demanding a feed before she will take it?

 

[toothfairyx]

How did you get on?

Eurgh 2am for us last night
Not my turn to do the night feed fortunately hoping for a later wakeup call tonight!

 

[PrincessPea]

Got on not bad, although she didnt settle completely until we went to bed! Then she was up at midnight for a feed then slept til around 6.30 so thats fab!!!
Tonight, same routine except this time bath, bottle and bed by 8pm. Have left one of the bedside lamps on tonight to see if that makes a difference and so far we havent been up as often as we were last night (although not running up at every little noise, trying to strike a balance!)
Gee nobody told me I had to have a masters in parenting for all this stuff!!!

Foo - If I had a video monitor I might as well get rid of the telly!!!! lol

 

[toothfairyx]

well 12am to 5am is officially "through the night" so good job there!
We have a little night light on our monitor which takes the edge off the darkness and seems to work. The other thing which is great is this tomy thing shaped like a yellow star which shots friends onto the ceiling with a lullably and runs for 5-10 mins before switching off and seems to help settle him on those nights he was a bit awake when we wanted to put him down.
Keep going and she will soon get the hang of it and love bedtime!

 

[PrincessPea]

Thanks Toothfairy, so please we are now officially through the night!!! lol She has done that a few times before but it doesnt usually last more than 2 or 3 nights in a row, however we are grateful for even the odd night of this!!!!
We have a Winnie the Pooh thing that does that, it projects onto the ceiling and plays music, the problem is from the first night we put it on, she doesnt sleep, she just lies awake watching it! hehe. She is a wee monkey. We actually have it on just now as the 3 times we have been up she is wide awake! So we figure she may tire herself out watching it (she has worked out if she makes a noise it reactivates!) however at least tonight she is happy (ish) being in our room on her own.

Huge progress!

 

[toothfairyx]

lol it's funny though cos I bet this time next week she'll be loving going to bed and you'll have no problems getting her down and her going straight off to sleep x

 

[PrincessPea]

I hope so, if not she coming to stay with you and you can teach her, she still wee enough to post!!!

 

[PrincessPea]

Update on night 2 - Jessica went to bed at 8pm, was reasonably settled until I went to bed at 10pm then she fell asleep soundly and slept right through until.................7.30am!!!! YAY!!!!

 

[toothfairyx]

YAY Jessica!!!
5.45am for us!! So an improvement from 2am!!