Our bedtime routine is driving me crazy!

hydies33 · August 2010

I've been a very go-with-the-flow kind of mom. I have fed on demand and let LO sleep when he felt like it. But now that he's approaching 3 months, I am trying to work on our bedtime routine. If I let LO just do his thing, he'll be up until 10 or 11 pm!

I've started trying to lay him down around 8, and he just starts screaming. Even if he was asleep in my arms, he wakes up immediately when I set him down. So I pick him up, comfort him for a while, then put him back down. The screaming starts again. Ugh. I can never get him to go to sleep before 9:30 or 10:00, and the bedtime routine is sooooo long!

I feel like so many people say their LOs go to be at 7:30 or 8:00, but I just can't get it to work for us. Any suggestions? Or is anyone else dealing with the same thing?

mkanderson85 · August 2010

We have the same problem. Right when we put her down, she screams. We try feeding her, rocking her, putting her in the carseat, but when we lay her down, she screams. This went on last night from 9-12. She sleeps FINE after this, but these three hours are awful. When I go back to work, I cant afford to not go to bed early since I have to wake up at 5. I'm worried that Ill be stuck with this schedule! I'm going to talk to my pedi at her 2 month appt, but other than that, I dont know what to do!

I have noticed that the more she sleeps during the day, the better she sleeps at night, so I've found myself trying to get her to nap all the time!

ballerina06 · August 2010

I was finally able to get LO to go down at 9:30 instead of between 10 and 10:30. He woke up at 4am to eat and wanted to play and would not go back to sleep. When we put him down at 10pm he sleeps until 6am when he has to get up to get ready for daycare. I've just resorted to knowing he will go to bed at 10pm right now. Maybe as he gets a little bit older we will start to transition him to an earlier bedtime, but for right now it works for us.

[Deleted User] · August 2010

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synchrosally · August 2010

DS was giving us a late bedtime too. He was fussing and crying and awake until he would pass out at 11. One day I tried giving him a bath at 8-8:30, feeding him and putting him to bed. Now he goes to bed without much fussing at 9 or 10. He sleeps until 3:30-4 usually and once he went until 6! Last night I didn't think he was going to go down. He was asleep in my arms after I rocked him and sang to him and when I put him down, his eyes popped open and he started smiling at me. After 30 mins of picking him up and putting him back down, I finally left him in his crib eyes open and sleep sheep on. He was out in 10 minutes! Keep trying and hopefully the bedtime routine will come.

RitaT22 · August 2010

I started a bedtime routine as soon as I was able to give LO a bath. I did it more as a signal that it was time for sleep, not so much for putting him on a schedule. Between 7:30 and 8:00, LO gets a warm bath, fresh diaper, lotion, and jammies. I dim the lights in his nursery and speak to him in a soft voice. I swaddle him before I nurse him. He usually nurses for about 20-25 minutes. Once he unlatches I rock in the glider for about 5 minutes to make sure he's really asleep. I then place him in his bassinet in our room (which is also dark). The whole process takes about 45 minutes, and he sleeps until about 1:00.

thomas&lynn · August 2010

I remember DD (now 2yo) being similar to your son. Her bedtime was late like that for about 4mos I think. DS is so different and it is rare that he is up until even 10pm. I'd say 6 nights out of 7 he's asleep by 8:30p/9pm and I'm okay with that. My DD is asleep by 8p so I just nurse him after she's in bed and then I have my free time.

All of that was to say that 1)I truly think it's dependent on the baby and 2)that even if the baby is fussy at bedtime, it does seem to have an endpoint Indeed, DD couldn't make it past 6:30pm (!!!) for a good year after that. It was quite ridiculous how early she'd go to sleep for the night LOL.

slhood16 · August 2010

We have the same problem with our LO. I normally start bedtime around 9pm. bottle, jammies and sing to her. I put her down almost asleep and she starts crying 5 minutes later. I keep going in there until she falls asleep but it's always 10pm before she's out. I guess she won't go down until then. Plus she normally sleeps longer when she goes to sleep at 10pm. She'll sleep until 5 or 6 the next morning.

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