[Ldogg]

I'm curious as to what your nighttime routines are, especially for babes around the 2-month mark. I know we at least are still new at the whole 'routine' thing, but since I go back to work part-time in one month (!), I'd like to get a nighttime routine established.<br><br>
Here's where we stand now:<br><br>
9pm: get ready for bed, low lighting, no TV, lots of rocking/finger sucking<br>
9:30-10pm: diaper change and one last feeding, which usually puts her to sleep<br>
10pm-2am: first stretch of sleep<br>
2am: nurse and diaper change<br>
2:30am-5am: second stretch of sleep<br>
5am: nurse and sometimes diaper change<br>
5am-6am or 7am: restless sleep on her part until we wake up<br><br>
Since she starts getting a little manic in the evenings and requires LOTS of sucking (usually my finger or paci when my finger feels like it will fall off) and holding, I'm sure she's staying up too late. I'd like to eventually get to a bed time of 7 or 8pm, so we'll probably gradually try to work our way down there.<br>
Any tips on that? How does your night go?

 

[tzs]

we've always done a mini-routine of getting into sleepsack/pjs...swaddle....nurse....sing twinkle twinkle...bedtime prayer....done.....<br>
obviously there have been better times and worse times but i'v ebeen doing this with her since day one and now at 8 months i'm adding bath since we're swaddle weaning and i figured i needed something else and it tires her out.<br><br>
as far as the bedtime moving to 7 or 8, i read this sleep book which said newborns will go go sleep at 10/11 and then at (i can't remember) either 8 weeks or 12 weeks you push it forward drastically to 7 or 8. i only remember b/c i didn't need to worry about it. she did it herself. she just started not being able to stay up later right at the age the book mentioned. so i'm thinking it might be more natural than you might think.

 

[Nicole730]

We're not huge on routine, but DD seems to be getting herself into one. She is 10 weeks old.<br><br>
6-8pm DD either nurses to sleep or else I put her down because I notice she is getting sleepy -and this amazing little baby just goes to sleep. it's crazy. She is usually in the room while we do DS's routine, so she hears his stories and the bedtime book we always do. And then DS gives her hugs and kisses good night.<br><br>
11pm - Most nights I wake her up while I change her diaper and then I'll nurse her. I usually swaddle her at this point. Sometimes, if she is wearing the right diaper, I'll let her stay sleeping and she still sleeps until...<br><br>
3-4am - Wakes up to nurse, she actually stays pretty dry overnight, so I stopped changing her<br><br>
7-8am - Wakes up to nurse, most times will get up for the day, sometimes she'll go back to sleep for another hour

 

[andlee]

I'm shocked how much your babies are sleeping! I've somehow convinced myself that DS is going to wake up every 2 hours until he's weaned (he's 5 weeks now). 4 hour stretches...how exciting! I should probably knock on wood...

 

[CalaRei]

I found that early on, like until about 3 months, getting them to sleep earlier than 11 or midnight was nearly physically impossible. Then for a few weeks, we battled HUGE night time crankiness...so, we instituted the bath boob bed routine we currently do, and aimed for about 9 pm to be down. We followed their leads based on their moods, and it turned out they're much better off in bed by 8ish. (I totally concur that we had no say over this... it just happened that we couldn't keep them happy in the evenings any more.)<br><br>
We get an initial nice break of them sleeping for about 4 hours, and then they're up very frequently the rest of the night to nurse (i'm too exhausted to keep track, I need to do that one of these nights.) I generally just bring whomever is crying to nurse beside me until the other one wakes up, and then swap. They're up at 6 am for good, though sometimes I stay in bed with them while they babble for a bit and sing songs and whatnot so I can "wake up slowly."

 

[busymama77]

DS will be 11 weeks on Wednesday. This is our routine:<br><br>
6:15pm pick up at preschool<br>
6:30pm - change in to sleeper/change diaper<br>
7:30pm - dozes off<br>
8:30pm - taken to bed<br><br>
He's been varying though - last week - he slept from 8 to 4am - woke up a 4am, ate, went back to sleep until 7am. Other nights, he woke up at 2:30, ate, went back to sleep until 7am. Last night, he woke up at 1:30 and then 5am and then I had to wake him up at 7am to get ready for daycare.<br><br>
Also, he may or may not eat before bedtime as he's usually given a bottle before I pick him up from daycare.<br><br>
Soooo.. as you can see, he's here and there and everywhere. But is sleeping much better than he was a few weeks ago! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/joy.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="joy">

 

[Nicole730]

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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>andlee</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/15413838"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">I'm shocked how much your babies are sleeping! I've somehow convinced myself that DS is going to wake up every 2 hours until he's weaned (he's 5 weeks now). 4 hour stretches...how exciting! I should probably knock on wood...</div>
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My first child was up every 2 hours around the clock to eat, pretty much until he was 12 months. So, every child really is different. I bed-shared with DS from birth until 14 months and had I not, I would have been very, very tired. DD though, she is fine sleeping on her own and I have her in a bassinet next to the bed. I usually bring her into bed with me after her 3am nursing, but sometimes I put her back in the bassinet. I am still in shock at how 'easy' it is for me to get her to sleep.