Bedtime routine?

Rhianna1981

I have a 7-week-old baby, and I am wondering when I should start her on a bedtime routine. We tried to have one for a week or so, but it was a bit frustrating because she didn't have a consistent time when she wanted to fall asleep... it could be really any time from 8:00 to 9:30. I tried waiting for her sleep cues, but by then she was just too far gone to begin the routine!

Recently, I have been putting her in her overnight diaper around 8pm. Then, whenever she is ready to nurse after that, I nurse her while watching the television, and she generally falls asleep either while nursing, or she will pull off on her own and then fall asleep. It could be anytime between 8:30 and 9:30, so it is just easier to let her do that than spend up to an hour rocking her in her room.

I guess I am worried that I am somehow being lazy or screwing her up by not having her on more of a routine/schedule. Do you have advice? 

GlinkaGirl

I didn't start until 2.5- 3 months. The baby wasn't aware enough until about that time. Now we have a great routine which LO really enjoys: bath, books in the rocking chair, final nursing session. 

 

Good luck!  

LadyAph

Don't sweat it.  DS didn't have a real schedule until about 4 months and even then he wouldn't fall asleep until 9:30 no matter what I did.  He's almost 8 months and has recently (last two weeks) started shifting his bedtime to 7:30-8pm.  Just follow her cues, you'll be fine.

nosoup4u

DS1 started "going to bed" around 6 weeks - he would have a big stretch of sleep starting around 6 pm or so. DS2 was probably about the same age when we started more of a night time routine. But! They had very strong cues that they wanted quiet and darkness to sleep - DS2 would freak out if any lights were on (lots of eating dinner with most of the lights off, ha ha), and I can't remember how we knew with DS1. Just follow her cues - we've always been flexible about what the bedtime routine consists of, and change it up as necessary. You could always rock her a little later, and see if that works. hth

Lotsofloveandkids

We didn't start a routine until 3 months.

UAbride31007

E didn't settle into a routine until he was about 10 or 11 weeks old which also coincided with when he STTN.

blu-eyedwife

We started a routine really early - at 4 weeks, but not a set bedtime schedule, just a routine.  Around 3 weeks we were having a bear of time getting him to sleep.  One night I think it took something like 3-4 hours.  Having a routine really early on helped cue him in to "getting ready to sleep."  So at 4 weeks we started doing a bath, pajamas, book, breast/bottle, and bed.  For us, he caught on really fast.  When he got a little older, he developed a pretty predictable bedtime (as in he started fading around the same time each night).

Now at 10.5 months he "knows" his routine.  He knows after he's bathed and dressed he gets a little story time with daddy, and a little something to eat, and 99% of the time goes right to sleep. His bedtime is a bit later now than in those early days because he eats dinner with us, but the routine stayed the same.