Timing of "Bedtime" & last feeding?

ashleymarie1027 · January 2015

It looks like it's been a couple months since the last "what's your bedtime routine like now?" post... So here goes.

My specific question is: how much time is there between your baby's last feeding of the day and bedtime?

We are starting a big transition in our house next week, in that our LO is starring day care and our family-member-caretakers aren't staying with us anymore (my mom and DHs mom alternated staying with us for 2-3 week periods to watch little one after my leave ended up until a week ago). Because of all that help, we haven't really needed to create any sort of "schedule" and have been following his lead. We're also trying to get out of the RNP and into the crib...

So with daycare he will start having to wake up at the same time everyday, but I have no idea what bedtime will look like, especially wrt timing of the last feeding. Right now, it could be anywhere from an hour to 5 minutes between last bottle and bedtime. I worry that if it's too long then he'll get hungry again - does anybody have some wisdom to share here?

[Deleted User] · January 2015

We supplement with formula once a day otherwise I exclusively BF. If I BF her last feeding, she goes down right away (check her diaper one last time, into the sleepsack, and then rock to sleep). If she gets a formula bottle we keep her up for 15-20 mins to make sure she doesn't spit up, etc and then do the check, sack, rock, bed. This all usually occurs between 8 and 9 pm. She STTN with occasionally waking up looking for her paci. She's normally up for the day between 7-7:30 am. This is what works for us, obviously it's going to be different for everyone but hopefully you find your new normal!

If he's going to bed later than you'd like right now for when he wakes, length he sleeps at night etc, you could work on moving up his bedtime by half hour intervals. That's what we did with DD because while I was out on Mat leave (before I decided to SAH), she was going down when we were (10-11 pm).

jnnfrrose6 · January 2015

We have 2 kids, so our routine incorporates both, but around 7:10 DS (2 years old) gets his pajamas on, we brush his teeth, read a book (this is where DD joins in), give goodnight kisses, and he's down between 7:20-7:30 depending on the books(s). Then DD gets changed and I sit down and nurse With the lights off. When she's done (7:45ish), she's in her crib with the noise machine on until hopefully 6 am (weekdays, longer on weekends if we're lucky). She has started back with some MOTN feedings, usually around 3, but we're working on that too.

[Deleted User] · January 2015

I nurse so his last feeding is within 30 minutes of bedtime. More often than not I top him off right before he goes in his crib for the night.

Soon2BMrsN · January 2015

I have three so it's a bit longer process. I start baths around 7:00. DD bathes, and gets her pajamas on, then hangs out in her swing or plays on the floor while the boys (ages 3 and 5) bathe together. I get the boys into their pajamas, then they each pick a book for us all to read together, followed by vitamins, teeth brushing, and tucking in for the boys. After they're in bed (7:30-7:45), I put DD in her sleep sack and nurse her in the master bedroom. She usually takes awhile to eat/fall asleep, so she's not in her crib until closer to 8:30-9:00. She is sometimes STTN now, but often wakes to be repositioned/suck on her paci for a few seconds. She typically wakes up around 7:00 in the morning.

kay anthony · January 2015

We feed my son oatmeal, at 7 pm every night. We give him as much as he will eat, usually about 6tbsp of dry cereal mixed with about 3-4 oz of milk. After dinner he gets a bath, pajamas, and nursed to sleep (with bed time story) all to be completed by about 8. He sleeps in a crib, and has since he was born. He was sleeping through the night, but has starting waking up twice nightly for the last two weeks or so. He wakes up around midnight and 4am, and then sleeps until between 7-8am. HTH!

littlemissmarla · January 2015

7:30pm DD gets cereal (2 tsp.. which I don't even know if that's enough? We need a thread on the amount of food.) and then an 8oz bottle. DD gets cereal in her high chair then into her woombie and then DH gives her the bottle and holds her for about 10min. She goes into a porta crib in our room with the sound machine on (takes naps in her crib/her room during the day). She's usually asleep by 8 and then DH feeds her another bottle at 11:30 + oral meds, in that bottle she could take anywhere from 3-6oz and she usually stays asleep for it. She sleeps until 6:30-7 with no MOTN feedings. If she wakes up at 6:30 she will usually hang in the crib until 7. If it's bath night we start at 7.

mrscutforth · January 2015

Bed time routine starts about 7-715.

I feed her 3-4oz of a puree, we are usually in bath by 745. It's bath, lotion, and jam jams. We are back downstairs for a feed from left (20min) and right (20min) and she bed by 845-9pm and sleeps until 9-10am.

Jordanjkmr · January 2015

It is bath, then a feeding and immediately in bed. Because I want all those calories from the last feed to get him through as much sleep as possible. I've got this fear that if he stays up for a bit he may get hungry before his usual time and interrupt my sleep. Leftover fear from the newborn stage, I think!

JuniperGaze · January 2015

We do a purée around 6:00/6:30. Bath time is at 7, then diaper, lotion, PJs, comb hair, sleep sack. Then I nurse again with lights out and white noise. She's usually asleep by 7:30. She wakes every 2-3 hours to nurse during the night still.

honeybee434 · January 2015

I nurse DD right before bed. I still use it to help her fall asleep. I try to get her to sleep by 8:30. Lately I'll feed her when I get home from work, play for awhile, then do a pureed food, bath next because she gets it all over her. Then get her in bedtime clothes, read a book or two and then nurse her to sleep and move her to the RNP I still can't get her out of. I just tried this schedule this week and it's doing wonders for her going down easily, so I'm taking what I can get for the moment before we transition to sleeping on a flat surface.

TricksyPixie · January 2015

My girl.. She's very good about adjusting.. During the week, it's pjs by 8 (usually around 7:30) her last feeding is between 7-9, story and song before bed, and she is in bed by 9:30. Recently, by 8:30. She sttn and wakes between 7-9. Weekends are harder coz both my husband and I work late. We try to keep schedule as close as possible, but it's often close to ten or eleven.

melissaquinn106 · January 2015

I have to be out of the house by 6:40am and DH doesn't have to be out until 8am. Before the Christmas break I was packing up DD at 6:30am and (I'm extremely spolied) my mother has been picking her up and taking her back to her house and then drops her off around 3pm when I get home from work.

But these past 2 weeks we've gotten on a great schedule I'd like to try and stick to. At 5:30 we give her 2tbs of veggie and 1 oz of cereal. Then we play until 6:45. Bath and pjs and I nurse her for about 15 min. Then she's usually passed out and sleeps until 5am, I nurse her then and she'll sleep until 8:15am.

So in the am I'm planning on nursing her when she wakes up at 5am and putting her back down like I have been and having my mom come at 8am and have my husband put her in the car. Hopefully she keeps up the great sleep pattern she's found.

1982Babies · January 2015

She will usually eat between 6:30-7 and is in bed between 7-730, sometimes 8 most nights.

ashleymarie1027 · January 2015

Thanks for all the responses! I think we'll have to get on a predictable routine before I can expect him to be on a schefule...

Last night he had two 4 ounce bottles (midnight and 3:30), then today he has 4 ounces at 8, 2 more at 8:15; 3 ounces at 11; 1 ounce at 2 then 3 more 3pm; and finally about 4 ounces 6. Then he went to town on some broccoli while we ate dinner, he was so excited about it, it was hilarious.

We're back home tomorrow after two weeks of holiday travel... So hopefully he can get into some sort of "normal"

Salsera29 · January 2015

8oz bottle at 7 pm then right to bed in the RnP. He sleeps until 5 or 6am, eats another bottle, then we can usually get another hour or so of sleep on the weekends.

PregsMcSnoozalot · January 2015

Nurse at 6pm, then I take a shower while baby plays with daddy or grandma.

Bath for baby at 7 pm, followed by lotion, diaper, and jammies in a dimly lit room.

Into dark master bedroom for nursing, during which baby usually falls asleep (working on the drowsy but awake thing...unsuccessfully).

Asleep in RNP by 7:30. On week nights I go to bed then too. Currently posting from under the covers

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