I have been going with the flow with LO as far as her time to go to bed. Its been in a pattern of between 8-9:30 pm so thats what I go with. What age is recommended by sleep experts as far as starting to stick to a more consistent schedule? Or what have you found that works?
Sleep "experts" are going to give you different answers based on their systems.
For us, we started at around week 2-3 with a routine in the evenings to help DD learn the difference between going down for the night and a nap during the day. Pretty basic, but we do the same thing every night (give or take a bath) to have consistency. It's what works for us.
We kept our baby's schedule from he hospital and so far it has been pretty consistent. I bathe her and do her nighttime routine around 7 and she is normally out for the night around 7:30 or 8.
We started a bedtime routine around 3 months. Bathtime, lotion massage, pajamas, white noise, nursing, song, then bed. Naptime routine is sleep-sack, white noise, nursing, song, then bed. He didn't always go to bed right away, but now that he is 6 months old it works very well.
We started a bedtime routine around 4 weeks. At first idk if it really meant anything to DS, but now at 4 months he goes down really easy for the night. He was going down around 7:30 before the time change. After the time change though he's dropped his late afternoon nap, and bedtime is closer to 6-6:30. Our routine is bath (if he gets one that night), lotion, pajamas, cuddling and books and then nurse. After nursing we put him down still awake in his crib.
As soon as we got home. It was nothing strict, but usually started with a bath at 7ish, dressed, nurse, bed. I learned the hard way with DS. He didn't get a routine until about 6 months and it was difficult for him at times.
Sleep consultants will often suggest different things. They seem to all agree though that a baby's circadian rhythm establishes itself at 4m of age. Some will say to start a strict schedule then, others will say to start a schedule and allow for flexibility depending on quality of sleep.
I started a bedtime "routine" when LO's were a few weeks old. Bath, lotion, pj, nurse, bed. I found I was able to stick to an appropriate bedtime starting at around 3-4m of age. That's when they both started to go to bed earlier. With both of them, I started sticking to a schedule (while being flexible) at around 5-6m of age. However, having a predictable schedule/day fits my personality and I know many moms who just go with the flow and it works for them.
Besides nolemama, do u ladies just put LO down drowsy, awake,asleep after your routine? As of now, I have to rock my DD in my arms or in Rock n play.
9 times out of 10, she's awake. I wouldn't even say drowsy. I nurse before putting her down and burping usually wakes her up. Sometimes she falls asleep on me, though, and doesn't really wake up from the burping. She'll fuss when I put her down, but when the noise machine goes on, she tends to roll on her side and settle down.
Honestly, one night I was just done with his 3 am dance party and put him in his pnp. After about 10 minutes i looked in and he was asleep. Also I got an amazing sound machine from BBBaby(it is portable, clips on to anything and was only $10 !!!) and have been putting that on when I lay him down. It is his cue to go to sleep, I also turn it on if i hear him fussing during the night, it has a 15 min timer. He has been consistently sttn 10-12 hrs since 10 wks when I started using it.
Re: bedtime routine-when did you start?
As soon as we got home. It was nothing strict, but usually started with a bath at 7ish, dressed, nurse, bed. I learned the hard way with DS. He didn't get a routine until about 6 months and it was difficult for him at times.
Granted, they've always been night owls. However, DD started STTN all by herself at 3 months old when I stopped trying to force a schedule.
DS has been the same, though he STTN at 6 months old.
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