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Babies: 0 - 3 Months
Establishing a night routine?
DH and I need to start a night routine since I'll be going back to work Jan. 3. He's mostly concerned about the baby and us sleeping well. He wants to either start putting rice cereal in baby's bottle or give a bottle of formula before she goes to sleep for the night (This from basically only talking to both his & my mom). I'm breastfeeding so I know I'll still have to get up to feed her, but I think he's under the impression that doing one of these will put her out for a decent amount of time.
He's been frustrating me b/c it seems like he's stuck on these 2 options, and he's getting mad at me b/c I want to see about other things we can do. I think she's too young at 6 wks to get rice cereal in her bottle (also bulking her up unnecessarily and for fear she might choke on it). I'm not against the formula, I just want to get more advice!
So, any help or suggestions on a nighttime routine? We both get home at 5 from work; so what might a typical night be? I know it will have to be fluid; but like should I come home and pump/or feed, play, have dinner, chill (ha!), give bottle and go to sleep? Thanks for any help!
[sorry about post and run, early family Christmas party today]
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Re: Establishing a night routine?
It sounds to me like your biggest problem is the unrealistic expectations of your H. If he thinks that formula and rice cereal automatically equal sleeping through the night, you'll have to educate him.
https://www.babycenter.com/404_is-it-true-that-eating-rice-cereal-can-help-a-young-baby-sle_10304430.bc
Next while a nighttime routine is a good idea for helping your baby figure out what comes next and settle into a predictable pattern (theoretically) it also is not a guarantee of sleeping through the night so I think you may have to reconsider those expectations too.
Babycenter had a whole section on bedtime routines.
www.babycenter.com/0_establishing-a-bedtime-routine-with-your-baby_1507759.bc
www.babycenter.com/0_the-basics-of-baby-schedules-why-when-and-how-to-start-a-rou_3658352.bc
I agree with previous posters regarding sleeping expectations, though I do think a routine definitely helps prime LO for sleep and understand that it's nighttime and settling down and sleeping is what is "expected" of her (as opposed to playtime).
Our routine consists of feeding about 30 minutes to an hour before bathtime so she is not hungry and can relax during her bath. Then it's bath, lotion/baby massage, gripe water, jammies, swaddle, nursing-all in the same order every night.
I'm sure I could just be lucky, but my DD has been STTN since she was a week old. I get 11.5 hours a night out of her. She is FF. She normally eats every 3-4 hours during the day, and goes 11.5 at night without anything.
I know a lot of people are against routines at such a young age, but I started early. It may be different since you BF, but I'm not sure. I was trying to BF, but since she slept so long it got to be so difficult because I was so engorged. The fact of cereal in the bottle definitely doesn't have any proof that it makes them sleep longer. I wouldn't give anything unnecessary like that until the doctor gives you the okay. The routine that I started was obviously trying to get her to recognize the difference between night/day. I make sure that during the day, the lights are on, the blinds are open, etc. At night, we start to quiet down around 7pm. We do some tummy time, then we bath. (I know a lot of parent's don't bath their children every day. But I always have- and I've always done it at night. It seems to relax her). After we bath, we obviously do diaper/pjs/lotion. We go into our livingroom, and turn off the lights. We only have the tv on, with low volume. She eats, then she goes to sleep. She's always awake when we lay her down, but she goes right to sleep. (Drowsy but awake). I honestly think the bath at night helps, but that's my opinion.
So my advice would be to pick a time that you want to start quieting down. My DD is always tired around 7pm, that's why we chose that time. So whatever works for your schedule. But make sure you do the same things every night, in the same order. Your LO will catch on.
I'm thinking your DH didn't attend any breastfeeding course with you, huh?
They'll sleep through the night when they're ready to sleep through the night. Formula won't help and rice cereal is definitely not recommended for infants that young. In fact, some pediatricians don't recommend using rice cereal ever.
DH gets home from work around 5:30ish so that's when we start our bedtime routine. DH gives the baby a bath, dresses/swaddles him for bed, gives him a bottle, reads him a bedtime story, and then cuddles him until he falls asleep.