Schedule for four month old?

macbook

What is your schedule for your four month old? Do you go to bed at the same time every night? If so what time and when does baby wake up?

The reason I ask is because we don't really have a set schedule and I feel like she goes to bed a lot later than other people. It would be great to hear what others do:)

jenn43

My LO was always pretty consistent about wakeup times- somewhere between 6 and 7am.  Around 4 months is when we started moving his bedtime earlier- he goes to sleep at 6:30pm.

bellemel3

We try for consistency but in reality bedtime can be from 7-930 depending on the last nap. If he gets a long third nap for the day he will go to bed early at 7ish. If not then he has a short forth nap but then that pushes back bedtime. He normally wakes up once around 5am to eat then up for the day between 7-8. During the day up for about 2.5-3 hours at a time then nap. Naps between 30 min and 2 hours.

DS is 4.5 months old.

macbook

I would really like to have our baby go to bed a little earlier. Since right now sometimes it gets really late, like 11PM. Any suggestions on how to do this? Sometimes when I feed her in the evening, she inevitably takes naps while at the breast and this throws things off. 

gutsysneakers

We start bedtime routine at 7. Every other day is bath night, bedtime story, nurse, and put to bed drowsy but awake. She uses white noise and falls asleep by 7:45 at the latest. She sleeps until 5am, wakes up, eats, and back to bed for another hour or two.

Consistency is key I think. Bath time helps relax her and I nurse her with the lights off and the white noise machine going.

Start putting LO to bed a half hour earlier each day. This is what I did. We went from 11 pm to 7pm over a two week period. Good luck!

Talltrees82

5 months here, in bed between 8:30-9pm. We do bath, jammies, feeding, bed. He naturally fell into this bedtime. I keep trying to pull it forward without success (got him in bed at 8pm tonight and he woke up screaming at 8:30pm). My plan is to wait until the clocks fall back and pull everything back an hour without him knowing! Ha ha.

usernewname

Only thing consistent is the last part of the day. Last nap between 430 and 6 (happens during that time, not length). Dinner at the table with us. Feed. Play then bath. Hang with dad. Feed. Pass out at 9. Up between 830 and 10.

The only thing that has been consistent is the 9 bed time. Since day 1. He chose it though.

During the day it's pretty much eat sleep play.

mtrhomegirl

LO has really made her own bedtime schedule....she is ready for a bath by 715 then have a bottle and she is in bed sleeping by 730-745 and then sleeps till about 630-7am.  The rest of the day is kind of up in the air depending on the day and how busy we are....she takes a morning and afternoon nap and normally a late afternoon cat nap!!

azaretsky

DD just started settling into a routine, but we had the bed time "set" for the last couple of months. These days, she does this sleep-wise:

6:30-7:00 am --- wake up

8:30 - Nap #1

11:30 - Nap #2

4:00 - Nap #3

7:00 - Start of bed time

CVislo

J gets up between 5:45 and 6. He naps around 8:30, 11:30, and 5. He only sleeps for about an hour. We start our bedtime routine at 7 and he's asleep by 7:45 or 8. At the latest, 9... But only if we are very busy or at an event or something.

spinsoffresonance

DD goes to bed sometime between 7.30-8.30pm depending on her last nap and sleep cues. She wakes up around 7.30-8.30am (with lots of MOTN feedings).

macbook

Thanks everyone for all the advice!

I think our biggest issue is that we don't really have much consistency. We don't put her to bed at a set time every night. And many times it takes a few tries to get her to bed - do others experience this? We may put her to sleep, after I nurse her, but if she isn't deeply asleep five minutes later she will start to wake up. 

It seems like most people start bedtime at around 7 pm. For those nursing, how many times do you wake up to nurse? Because if my baby fell asleep around 8 or 9, I would definitely have to feed her twice overnight (I get bad plugged ducts). Do most of you just sleep the night and have no problem with getting backed up with milk? 

Also, my baby is four months old and I still nurse her to sleep - how long do babies need to be nursed to sleep exactly? 

Thanks for all the help! 

Jmamas

Hi, my LO will be 4 months on the 7th and his bedtime is right around 7pm. He let us know this was his bedtime by being extremely fussy around that time and would fall asleep pretty easily when we put him to bed, if we waited too long to put him down he seemed to get a second wind and would be awake, fussy and fighting sleep the rest of the night. In order to get to work on time he needs to be up at 6, sometimes he's awake on his own before than others we have to wake him. My LO will fall asleep without nursing, but wakes up usually around midnight, 2ish and if it's a bad night 4ish to feed and I have no problems with engorgement.

allisshiney

We nurse to sleep too. Bedtime is around 7:30pm. He usually wakes to feed at 1:30, 3:30, 5:30 and then up around 7:30am. He is 5 months and naPs 3-4x per day.

BBColt78

If baby is waking up shortly after you put him down, check your routine and times. This could indicate overtired and/or overstimulated.

Dd is three months tomorrow. Bed by 6:30-7:00. Dream feed at 10pmish. She wakes between 4a and 5a.

britab

DD goes to bed at 7. We transitioned her there before I went back to work. She wakes a few times and putting in the paci works. She eats about 4:30 and then wakes up about 7:30 for the day. My boobs sometimes leak a little but your body learns to adjust.

She naps inconsistently but usually a 45 minute morning one and a two hour afternoon one.

Enitsuj333

My LO is 4 month old now, goes to sleep around 2-3am wakes up around 10-11am eats sometimes she'll go back to sleep and wake up around 2-3pm if not she'll takes lil naps through out the day. I have tried to put her to bed earlier but it just doesn't work, she had this routine for more than a month

BBColt78

Enitsuj333 said:

My LO is 4 month old now, goes to sleep around 2-3am wakes up around 10-11am eats sometimes she'll go back to sleep and wake up around 2-3pm if not she'll takes lil naps through out the day. I have tried to put her to bed earlier but it just doesn't work, she had this routine for more than a month

Is your baby working the graveyard shift? You need to adjust that, no? You poor thing!

Enitsuj333

This actually works out for us right now..I did try to put her to sleep earlier but it's just won't happen

Maladroit

DS had what we called the witching hour where he was super fussy around 7:30 or 8pm and so we just went with it and started putting him to bed when he'd rub his eyes.  We let him dictate his bedtime right now, but as soon as he starts with the eye-rubbing, we start the bedtime routine - change, feed, swaddle, paci, rock, crib.  He's then up around 4 or 5am for a feeding, then right back to bed until 8ish, then he's up for the day with a nap around 1pm.  He's a great little sleeper and happy all day, so we haven't tried for a set schedule.

honeybee434

We put our DD to bed around 9:30pm, and then she wakes up around 8:30-9am. We do this to accommodate our schedules with my going to bed time and DH's wake up for the day time. She will usually wake up to eat 2-3 times during the night. (One of those usually happens when I wake up to get ready for work.) She will be 4 months in about a week.

glitterclaws

bellemel3 said:

We try for consistency but in reality bedtime can be from 7-930 depending on the last nap. If he gets a long third nap for the day he will go to bed early at 7ish. If not then he has a short forth nap but then that pushes back bedtime. He normally wakes up once around 5am to eat then up for the day between 7-8. During the day up for about 2.5-3 hours at a time then nap. Naps between 30 min and 2 hours. DS is 4.5 months old.

Hot damn.  This schedule exactly, but completely on accident.  We got lucky, where this just seems to sort of happen at night.  During the day, I'd say we lean towards the short naps - several 30min naps.  I wish I had longer naps, but since the night is so good, I can't really complain.  Since I go back to work in January, we are pushing for the schedule where he stays up later and takes longer naps during the day, but we let LO pretty much drive the boat.

Sk8terWoman

Our little guy will be 3 months this Saturday and we followed his lead for his schedule.  He goes to sleep between 8-9 p.m.  We try to start his bedtime routine around 7:30 p.m., bath or wash face, pjs, book, nurse and in bed.  He's been sleeping through the night since 10 weeks, and will occasionally get up t 1 a.m. to eat.  He wakes up between 6:45 a.m.- 7:15 a.m., which works well for me since I've been at work since he was 11 weeks.  He naps 3-4 times a day. I don't know the exact times, but generally a shorter nap in the morning, then a longer nap (1-2 hours) after his noon feeding, and another nap from 5:30-6 p.m. 

CBrandt01

I start bedtime with my almost-4 month old daughter around 8:00 every night, depending on when she starts acting hungry/ tired around that time. Every couple days or so I'll give her a bath beforehand but the usual bedtime consists of diaper change, lavender baby lotion massage, jammies, and then nursing her to sleep. All with the only the hall light on and her music box playing lullabies on a loop. Then in the morning I wake her up around 6:30 if she doesn't wake up by then, so I can feed her and cuddle before I go to work. Every once in a while she'll wake up an hour or so after I lay her down, or she'll have a hard time staying asleep in the first place, but it's usually pretty calm and easy.

She doesn't seem to have a consistent schedule during the day (my husband or a sitter is with her while I work - when I'm home with her all day on weekends she tends to take a few short naps or a couple long ones whenever she feels like it lol) but we've been doing bedtime this way for at least a couple months.