Multiples

Newborn bedtime help!

My girls are 6 weeks old and we are starting the bedtime routine. We start at 6:30 bath then bottle then story and try for crib. If crib time doesn't work we put them in the rock and play. This whole thing takes 2 hours before both are asleep. In a week my help leaves. I am so nervous that I can't do this alone. DH works and isn't home until around 8 pm. What are the tricks you've found helpful? I know they are still super young but I want to set them up with good sleep habits. When did you see the sleep starting to normalize? Thanks everyone!!

Re: Newborn bedtime help!

  • this may be a little tricky with 1 person, but we used to feed them in a very dimly lit room, no tv, minimal talking and then lay them on our chest while we reclined and it always worked like a charm.

    you can try cuddling one next to you or maybe even putting both on your chest if you can.

    this worked GREAT but its a bad habit to get into.




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  • Our girls usually eat around 6:30. After that we have some quiet activity time until DS goes into the bath around 7:15. At that point we dim the lights, swaddle the girls up, and put them down sleepy but awake. Sometimes we use the swing, sometimes the Boppy, sometimes the bouncy chair... Then if one is having trouble getting to sleep we sooth her. This is a difficult time because it is also their fussy time. During the day they are pretty good about putting themselves to sleep but in the evening they usually need more help. This is an unpopular choice but we actually wake them to eat at 9:45ish right before we go to bed. After that feeding we burp, change, swaddle, and put them in the crib. We turn out the lights and everyone goes to sleep. They always fall asleep on their own at this point. So even though their night starts around 7:30 we don't put them in their crib until after the later feeding. It works for us because we don't have to get them back to sleep, just put the in the crib and they fall asleep. They usually wake up to eat around 2-3 and they again around 6:30-7:30. That's when we get up for the day with DS anyway so we just start our day. Eventually we will get them in the crib earlier but for now the evening is still too much of a fussy time to worry about it when they go down so easily later on.
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  • When our boys were that young they still had night and day mixed up so we focused on emphasizing a drastic difference between the two. It took two solid weeks of attempting to have a bedtime before they caught on. Now unless we majorly screw up before bed like letting them nap before their last feeding they get upset if we're not on time! They want their bottle in their mouth by 7:40 or there is hell to pay. I try to keep things predictable for them throughout the day so that they don't always wonder what's next. Just keep at it, they'll figure it out!
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  • Try starting the routine later. Aiming for sleep when it's really getting dark. I know they nap in daylight but there seems to be something about darkness that really signals bedtime (longer stretches) more easily. Plus that routine can carry through childhood. I would also suggest they go down in the crib or similar every time possible. If they fuss they get held or fed a little more then back down in the same spot.  You'll also be surprised that if let to fuss just a little - seriously just a hanful of minutes they usually find their own comfy spot to pass out in. And like others have said make bedtime as boring as possible. No talking, lights, etc.  the only exception here would be a sound machine HIGHLY recommended.  I know it's hard!  Make small adjustments until it feels right and then stick to your guns!  My 12 week old twins already sleep better than my 3.5 year does. We made so many sleep mistakes with him the biggest was not being consistent. 

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  • Frankly at that age there was no bedtime routine they are too young. When mine slept through the nite it started with stories and songs after bottle then bed. At 6 months old we began letting them watch baby Einstein a half hour before changing and bottles then stories then down. Doing night routine alone is hard!!!! I give you credit! I try to get help if hubby isn't home.
  • We've started doing the night time routine at their 89ish feeding. If its a bath night we do bath, bottle then bed. We feed them in low light with it quiet and the sound machine on. Then we out them in their RNP's they may already be asleep or just sleepy but usually they do go to sleep and have the longest sleep stretch of the night.

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  • imageRachel Goldstein:
    When our boys were that young they still had night and day mixed up so we focused on emphasizing a drastic difference between the two. It took two solid weeks of attempting to have a bedtime before they caught on. Now unless we majorly screw up before bed like letting them nap before their last feeding they get upset if we're not on time! They want their bottle in their mouth by 7:40 or there is hell to pay. I try to keep things predictable for them throughout the day so that they don't always wonder what's next. Just keep at it, they'll figure it out!

    This was the case for us too at that age....our main goal at 6 weeks was to distinguish between day and night sleeping. During the day they napped downstairs unswaddled and at night they were in their cribs, in a dark room, swaddled. Honestly our only "bedtime routine" was giving them their last bottle, swaddling them, playing their mobiles, and kissing them goodnight. As they got older (and stopped hating their bathtime..my skinny winter babies were not fans at first...) we incorporated baths, PJs, sometimes a story etc.

    I think you are on the right track; don't get discouraged if it takes a little while for a routine to "click"....they are still very young!

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  • I think 6 weeks might be a bit too early, but 8 -10 weeks will likely see your best success.  I would also suggest starting your routine later, like when DH gets home.  Especially if you want to include bathtime. It's so much easier with two people to handle that.  You can do it with one, but it's a little tougher, and takes way longer.  I probably wouldn't bother with the stories either until they are more aware of their surroundings.  I think we started reading routinely when my son could sit up on his own, so maybe 6-7 months old?  But if it's important to you, go for the reading, it certainly doesn't hurt anything :) 

    With my singleton, he ate a bottle right before bed and after bath, but with the twins, they usually eat anytime between 6-9pm, depending on their schedule from daycare that day.  If it's before bath (which is around 7-8), fine.  But after bath, we'll just stay up until it's time for them to eat.  They go for 7 hour stretches after that last bottle, so it's a wonderful thing if it's a little later :) 

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  • I agree with some of the other comments...6:30pm is too early for 6 weeks old. I would start your bedtime routine no earlier than 8pm. We started ours around 7 weeks, and we would do their last feed at 9pm. We'd put them down and they started lasting longer stretches between 5-7 hours. We then would keep them up between 5pm to the next feed to get them tired. They are now 10 weeks and we've pushed back their last feeding to 8pm and they have been waking between 5-5:30. So they've been lasting 7-9 hours for the last 2 weeks. We hope to bring back bedtime to 7:30 by 3 months. Our DS would go down between 7-730pm, by 4 months and would sleep 11 hours. Good Luck!
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