Routine at 3 months?

[blake12336]

Is it worth getting LO into a routine at 3 months? If so what is a suitable bed time? At the moment he just comes to bed when we go to bed which can be any time between 9-11.30pm, sometimes he sleeps with us and sometimes in his cot, sometimes half and half.

I want to start getting him into some sort of routine, bath/feed/bed etc but is 3 months too young?

 

[LilyValley]

I'm not sure, but my LO is 3 months too and we have a but if a routine that was actually decided by him. I'm very baby-led so things do change but LO starts to cluster feed from 4 ish upping his feeds to every 2 hours, he gets drowsy from 6.30pm ish so he has a bottle at 6pm, bath about 7pm and last bottle about 8pm. He falls completely asleep after his 8pm bottle (I have to cuddle him and he has a dummy, which he spits out once asleep). Them I put him to bed (moses basket in our room). He stays asleep until somewhere between 1.30 and 3am when he wakes for a bottle, then back to sleep until between 6.30 and 8am. He's been doing this for a few weeks now, we wanted him to know the cues for having a long stretch of sleep but I'm not sure how long it will last! I think babies decide on their own routine and sometimes you can steer them in the direction you want but it's ultimately up to them.

 

[jenniand]

I started my LOs bedtime routine at 7 weeks. I give him a relaxed bath at about 8 and then give him a bottle. He is completely 'baby-led' on feeds so even if he had a bottle at half 6 I give him one after his bath as a top up. Then it is off to bed, it started with cuddling him to sleep then putting him down and now at 10 weeks he falls asleep on his own when I put him down. He has gradually increased the hours of sleep over these 3 weeks going from 4 hrs to last night doing 9! A bedtime routine for my LO has been very easy despite the horrid time we went thro with colic and reflux up until 7 weeks. Start a bedtime routine when you feel it is right for you and your LO, and it doesn't have to be full on you could just start it off gradually. Good luck

 

[Twister]

My lo is 4 months and we don't really have a routine. She usually goes to bed at around 7/7:30ish but she decided that all on her own. There's no harm in introducing one though if you think LO would benefit from it.

 

[ourturnnext]

My baby was just shy of 3 months when we got into a routine. We're baby-led so she established her own pattern. At 6pm I dim the lights and take her toys away, we sometimes have a cuddle and sometimes she'll just roll around on a big blanket on the floor. 6.30ish - bath time or wash on the changing mat. 7pm-7.15pm - last bottle, winding, cuddles and bed between 7.30 and 8pm. She'll usually sleep til 7.30am.

Our daytime routine's fairly flexible, naps are a bit irregular at the moment, but I try to keep to the bedtime routine. She's soooo grumpy if she's up past 8pm.

 

[blake12336]

Thanks! It sounds like your LO's sleep fairly well.. Mine wakes every two hours or so that's why I put him down so late so it feels like he's slept for longer iykwim lol! But he's started to fall asleep on me around 8ish so I think it's time to get a routine established.

It's just I've heard of the 4 month sleep regression so I wasn't sure if there wasn't any point if it will just be messed up anyway?

 

[Twister]

My lo goes down quite early but is going through the 4 month sleep regression, she was a really good sleeper previously only waking once maybe twice a night, sometimes even sleeping right through. Now she will sleep for 3/4 hours, wake for a feed and be up every 2 hours or less after that. I'm kind of getting used to it now though, I just try to forget how lovely it would be to have more than a couple of hours sleep in a row and I'm fine lol.

Not all babies go through it though, don't let it put you off starting a routine if you want to, you may be lucky and skip it completely.

 

[blake12336]

My LO is that bad a sleeper I don't think it could get any worse! As of Monday I will be starting a routine (tonight and tomorrow we have things going on) and sticking to it hopefully! What time would you say works best for them to go down to sleep? He's normally falling asleep on me at around 8 so if I maybe start to bath,feed,cuddle at around 7ish?

 

[Twister]

If he falls asleep around 8 then yes I'd start it around 7 so he's not cranky or overtired by the time he actually does get put to bed. I think it's a bit of trial and error to begin with though, good luck!

 

[blake12336]

Thanks!

 

[Halle71]

I can't believe how long everyone's babies sleep for! My son is 11 weeks and still waking every 2 hours or so for a feed like the OP's baby. Often he won't go down properly after his 4am ish feed until its time for me to get up. I'm shattered. My daughter was exactly the same and didn't sleep properly until she was 2.5. I've got a long way to go!

Going back to the original question though, I do find an evening routine helpful and my LO will not sleep anywhere except his hammock or pram and he has hissy fits when tired so we were forced into a routine. We bath him with Matilda at about 7pm, take them both downstairs (warmer than the bedrooms in winter) for boob/milk/story and both are tucked up asleep by 8pm. I think it's important to get your evening back but I say this with the benefit of hindsight - it was 12 months before we could watch a whole TV programme or guarantee a hot dinner with dd.

 

[veryfondoftea]

We started a routine about 6 weeks. It was really beneficial and her sleep improved massively. No routine in the day just yet, other than she eats roughly every 4 hours. I do bedtime around 5.30/6 as that is when she wants to go to sleep - I just do wash/bath, PJs, story and bottle and then put her down and she goes to sleep on her own in about 5 minutes. Then I do a dream feed at 11 and she wakes up about 2.30 for another feed and then sleeps til 6.30/7am