D.C. Area Babies
Q's if you have a baby with a 6:30 bedtime
-Is that the time LO is down in their crib, or the time you start the night time rituals (bottle, jammies, etc.)?
-Is LO showing signs of sleepiness by then?Or do you catch them even before they seem tired?
-Could you give me an idea of your bedtime routine and the timing?
As I mentioned in my weekly update post, C has been sleeping pretty inconsistently ever since daylight savings. At the time, a lot of you suggested moving up his bedtime, but for some reason that's been harder to implement than I thought. He's usually down around 7:15 but maybe even earlier would be better?
The DC Nest. Winers welcome.
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Re: Q's if you have a baby with a 6:30 bedtime
We start the bedtime routine at 6:15-6:30 (depending on if it's bath night or not).
He typically is tired (rubbing his eyes and a little cranky) by that time. We initially started his 6:30 bedtime routine by following his cues and that is when he appeared ready for bed.
After his bath, it's pj's, a bottle and one book. He goes to sleep with a pacifier, a lovey, and his FP aquarium. He is usually in bed between 6:45 and 7:00.
We've been at this routine since he was around 3 months old. It's all a blur now, but I believe he was sleeping from 7 to 7 by 6 months old--those first 3 months he would still wake up around 3:30 for a bottle.
We widely vary our bedtime from starting the process at 5:45 to starting around 6:30 depending on how tired DD is. We average her falling asleep between 6:30 and 6:45, I would say. If she has napped poorly at daycare and has been up since 2, we start earlier. If she had a good late nap (this is more often on the weekends), we have her stay up until we see her get tired so we get more time with her. HSHHC says a bedtime is good, but to be flexible depending on how tired your child is. THat's worked for us.
Our routine is:
Bath
Lights out/sound machine on
PJ's
Bottle
Soon we'll start incorporating a book so that eventually we can replace the bottle with a book. For now, though, she is more interested in eating books than reading, so it hasn't made sense to put in our routine yet. Having a routine has worked miracles for us. Once she got used to it, that's how we first started drowsy but awake. When she was 3 months, we'd hold/rock her until she fell asleep after the routine. One night she wouldn't fall asleep so we put her in her crib and she did it herself! Since then it varies. Sometimes she falls asleep during the bottle, other times she goes into the crib awake and puts herself to sleep.
Good luck!
Oh - the routine takes about 20-30 minutes total, depending on how long it takes her to eat her bottle. That's by far the longest part. Everything else takes about 7 minutes.