Is it possible to move bedtime up at 7wks??

[Brz04]

I am starting to see a pattern with our LO regarding bedtime and it's not a desirable one!! He will usually want a nap around 4-6pm and sleep for an hour or so then will get extremely fussy from about 8-10pm (we're talking screaming, very difficult to comfort, frantically trying to comfort nurse - I think to try to make himself fall asleep?? type of fussy) then will finally exhaust himself and want to nurse to sleep. Then he will wake every 2-3 hours from 10pm-4 or 5am then be wide awake for a little while then want to go back to sleep from 6am-10 or even 11am sometimes!! So I have been getting a lot of my sleep from 6am-10am most mornings! This hasn't been an issue since I've been home but I return to work in a few weeks and will he having to get up at 5am four days a week!

My question is: do you think he has already established a "routine" internally for bedtime/night sleep or is he too young for that at almost 8wks?? Is there any way to put him to bed earlier so he wakes up earlier in the morning and I'm getting more sleep in the evening instead of morning??? I tried once or twice putting him down at 7:30 or 8:30pm and he woke me around 9:30pm to do his fussy routine and couldn't get him back down until 11pm!!!! He woke out of a dead sleep to do it! I was assuming he would sleep right through his fussy time but nope. I wonder if this is colic or just a fussy period he needs to have every night to let off steam??

 

[shanny]

yes nothing is set in stone at this stage

do you have a bath bed routine...........?

i used EASY for my last 2 and it worked a treat as you don't have to use the whole feed to sleep thing

you could try bath at 630 and then bed............

dont be afraid to break any of his current routines as i am a believer in making the baby fit in wih your life..........as well as meeting their needs

 

[Brz04]

yes nothing is set in stone at this stage

do you have a bath bed routine...........?

i used EASY for my last 2 and it worked a treat as you don't have to use the whole feed to sleep thing

you could try bath at 630 and then bed............

dont be afraid to break any of his current routines as i am a believer in making the baby fit in wih your life..........as well as meeting their needs

Thank you for the response! What is EASY?? I've never heard of it!

 

[laila 44]

I'm a firm believer in routine, my dd had bath bottle and bed from the day she came home. However, the bedtimes are tricky. At 7 weeks my dd had bath at 930pm and bottle then bed at 10pm. She would sleep until 5am then feed and back down until 830am. I tried a few times to put her down earlier and at that age they often consider it a nap and still wake up shortly after. At 9 weeks her bedtime moved up in 15 min increments every few nights until we are now at 730pm and she sleeps till 8am but at 14 weeks old. So, in answer to your question it's not too early for routine at all but it may be too soon for an earlier bedtime. You can try bumping his bedtime up by 15 minutes every 3 nights a see how that works... Whatever u do, don't jump to an hour earlier in one night as baby will consider it a nap, do it gradually, it works!

 

[Noo]

I don't think you'll instantly be able to shift your baby's natural body clock. You'll need to move bedtime forward very gradually at say 15 minute intervals. Your baby's routine sounds similar to mine.

Eat around 6
Nap til around 8
Eat at 8
Awake to play till 9:30
Fuss fuss fuss till bedtime between 10 and 10:30
Nurse to sleep
feed 2-3 hourly overnight
Up for the day 9-10am

6am-9/10am is usually our best stretch.

 

[shanny]

google EASY

its a routine loosely based on the baby following these things so that you and the baby know what is coming next

E - eat the baby feeds
A - activity with baby - playmat etc
S - sleep for baby
Y - while the baby sleeps you have YOU TIME!!! never quite mastered this lol

i followed this on a 3 hr feeding gap roughly...........

 

[Brz04]

google EASY

its a routine loosely based on the baby following these things so that you and the baby know what is coming next

E - eat the baby feeds
A - activity with baby - playmat etc
S - sleep for baby
Y - while the baby sleeps you have YOU TIME!!! never quite mastered this lol

i followed this on a 3 hr feeding gap roughly...........

Oh wow I've never heard of this! We will try it thank you! Do you do it from the time they wake up until bedtime? What do you do if they fall asleep during a feed??