establishing routine/bedtime

itsmyangel

I'm trying to get some sort of routine and schedule going.  My little one likes to stay up till1 am or so and its just not working for me.  So tonight he was awake quite a bit, let him nap till 7 ish.....gave him a bath at 8:ish bottle 8:30 ish, and then bed.  Well its 11 and he's been on the verge of sleep a couple of times but then as soon as you lay him down he screams.  I've tried walking away for 2-3 min. to see if he calms down and he just gets more angry and awake and then I have to start all over again. 

Thinking on just giving in and hanging out with him till he's ready to sleep and sticking him in the swing next to the bed (where he sleeps well)....but I really don't want to keep encouraging bad habits.

He also is at my moms 1 night a week and i don't know if that has anything to do with it.  She said he was up till 1 am then up again from 4:30am-8:30am and then up again at 9:30 am.....he has hardly had any sleep the last 48 ish hours and i know is over tired

Cassian

I am in the same position. I would love for DD to just go in her cradle and soothe herself to sleep, but that never happens. We need to do some sleep training of some sort soon. I am curious to see what the responses are.

EMTTessie

The last two nights we've been trying a new routine. P has gotten a bath, last night around 8 and tonight around 7:30 because she was SO cranky, then she gets her bottle either in her room or ours with the lights dimmed, then she has either fallen asleep while eating or while being held/rocked. Granted it's only been two nights but it's worked pretty good with tonight being the better night. I don't know that we will give her a bath every night, don't want to dry her skin out, so I don't know what we'll do on the non-bath nights...perhaps some extra cuddle time and stories in the dim room.

It is definately frustrating when they seem to be sound asleep on you, then *bink* eyes wide open when they hit the mattress. You said he sleeps well in his swing. Have you tried getting him to sleep there and then moving him over to his crib/bassinet? For the first few weeks P was home that was pretty much the only place she slept once she decided she didn't like her bassinet. But a few times we had success by swinging her to sleep and then bringing her upstairs. She still likes to nap in her swing (or car seat if we are out) but will also nap in her crib and definately sleeps at night in her crib now.

Hope you get something figured out and that your little guy gets some sleep.

smilelari

It seems like at that age, they are starting to really need things like regular nap times, so I'd probably start there.  Make getting him down for 2-3 naps at around the same time every day your first priority.  I'd let him take the lead in deciding the times.  Watch for sleepy cues, keep a log and look for patterns.  It seems like once the naps are sorted out every thing else seems to work better.

And if he sleeps well in the swing, then let him sleep in the swing.  He's too young to be worrying so much about "bad habits".  He'll grow out of that eventually.  It's pretty normal for babies that age to want to be in a swing while they're sleeping or held by mom while they're sleeping, swaddled, etc.  Everyone tends to get better sleep if you go with it rather than fight it.  We did a lot of co-sleeping and while we still do it some, LO has grown out of it on his own.  We didn't end up with a bad habit problem that we had to forcefully break.

Mouseygail

smilelari:

It seems like at that age, they are starting to really need things like regular nap times, so I'd probably start there.  Make getting him down for 2-3 naps at around the same time every day your first priority.  I'd let him take the lead in deciding the times.  Watch for sleepy cues, keep a log and look for patterns.  It seems like once the naps are sorted out every thing else seems to work better.

And if he sleeps well in the swing, then let him sleep in the swing.  He's too young to be worrying so much about "bad habits".  He'll grow out of that eventually.  It's pretty normal for babies that age to want to be in a swing while they're sleeping or held by mom while they're sleeping, swaddled, etc.  Everyone tends to get better sleep if you go with it rather than fight it.  We did a lot of co-sleeping and while we still do it some, LO has grown out of it on his own.  We didn't end up with a bad habit problem that we had to forcefully break.

  This!  He started on regular nap times around then...and at the same time, I started being more rigid about bedtime, swaddling him tighter, and anything else that would work to get him to sleep.  around 5 months he suddenly seemed ready to move out of our room, go into his crib, and deswaddle and we haven't looked back!  hang in there!