I nurse, bathe, change, nurse and that usually does the trick. With that being said, babies go through a ton of changes early on and all bets are off when they decide to switch things up. DD started keeping me up until 4-5 am a few nights ago and we're still at it, or I would be more than happy sleeping right now. GL!
With that being said, babies go through a ton of changes early on and all bets are off when they decide to switch things up.
This. I used to have a bedtime routine but that stopped working when he was 6weeks. Then I just rocked him to sleep. Now at 3months, I just swaddle with arms out after the last nursing/diaper change and hope that he sleeps!
. With that being said, babies go through a ton of changes early on and all bets are off when they decide to switch things up.
So true. I tried a strict schedule and after about a week, it was too much for both of us. I base his schedule off of him, I have an app to keep track of when he eats, sleeps, play, etc. and base my schedule off of that. I spent 3 days (post strict schedule) observing when he needed things (feeding and sleep mostly, diaper changes we just go with the flow), and so now I just base it off of that. I like it because it allows you to adapt to growth spurts and wonder weeks. And it's easy to adapt as they start to be awake more. But, I don't let him sleep more than 2 or 3 hours in one spurt during the day, it really messes up his night sleep if I do.
For night sleep, I picked a bed time (again, observed when he would get overtired since he has NO sleep cues at all, at least none we've been able to figure out...ugh.) and then 12 hours later, I wake him up if he's not up. We read a book, have a bottle, and burp while listening to music. He hates to be swaddled, so we skip the swaddle and give him a pacifier. We've been doing this for about a month, so he wakes himself up between 7:30 and 8 am, which is great. He wakes up twice in the middle of the night to eat, typically, growth spurts and wonder weeks throw off how much he wakes up, but the bedtime and wake up time always stay constant.
At that young of an age? Not likely. What you should strive for is a loose routine. A bedtime routine is key: bath, bottle, cuddles, and bed. Try to do it around the same time every night, but some variance won't hurt.
Babies don't respect schedules and won't adhere to or even recognize routines for a while. My LO is predictable in the amount of time he stays asleep between waking for feedings/diaper changes, but the time he actually goes to sleep and stays asleep is anybody's guess. Even if I start bedtime routine at 8 pm, chances are he'll be bright eyed and bushy tailed until at least 11:30 pm. Nothing wrong with establishing a routine to get baby in the swing of things, but don't be surprised (or frustrated) if he doesn't have a clue that bath time = bed time. He'll get it eventually, but likely not for several months.
Re: how?
This. I used to have a bedtime routine but that stopped working when he was 6weeks. Then I just rocked him to sleep. Now at 3months, I just swaddle with arms out after the last nursing/diaper change and hope that he sleeps!
So true. I tried a strict schedule and after about a week, it was too much for both of us. I base his schedule off of him, I have an app to keep track of when he eats, sleeps, play, etc. and base my schedule off of that. I spent 3 days (post strict schedule) observing when he needed things (feeding and sleep mostly, diaper changes we just go with the flow), and so now I just base it off of that. I like it because it allows you to adapt to growth spurts and wonder weeks. And it's easy to adapt as they start to be awake more. But, I don't let him sleep more than 2 or 3 hours in one spurt during the day, it really messes up his night sleep if I do.
For night sleep, I picked a bed time (again, observed when he would get overtired since he has NO sleep cues at all, at least none we've been able to figure out...ugh.) and then 12 hours later, I wake him up if he's not up. We read a book, have a bottle, and burp while listening to music. He hates to be swaddled, so we skip the swaddle and give him a pacifier. We've been doing this for about a month, so he wakes himself up between 7:30 and 8 am, which is great. He wakes up twice in the middle of the night to eat, typically, growth spurts and wonder weeks throw off how much he wakes up, but the bedtime and wake up time always stay constant.