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4 month old bedtime routine

knottiec7a87e3d2afb54eaknottiec7a87e3d2afb54ea Just Joined
edited January 2023 in Babies: 3 - 6 Months
Hi all. Working on sleep training my 4 month old. Pretty gentle approach: routine of diaper change, books, 2-3 min of snuggles then down in the crib. If he cries for 5 we then pick up and resettle for less than a minute and then back down, another 5 min timer and repeat. Naps have been great but I’m struggling with bedtime and bedtime routine. He wakes from his last nap at 6 at the latest. He wakes from his nap and I nurse him. Now—I’m struggling with how long his last wake window should be. Too short and I feel like we’re turning around again and nursing again before bed and he’s also not tired enough. Too long I end up putting him in his crib already overtired and it’s a losing battle. At night we do change, books, nursing, put him in his sleep suite and down in the crib (the goal is just the nap time routine plus nursing).

Any breastfed mammas with a roughly 4 month old that could help shed some light. He’s always had a slight stretched wake window for his age (2 hours when the suggested was 90 mins etc).
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Re: 4 month old bedtime routine

  • aprilfilbertaprilfilbert member
    I’ve been using takingcarababies technique since day 1 and my 14 wk old has been sleeping 8 hours a night since 10 weeks. Download the huckleberry app to track your feedings, and within 3-4 hours you should fed, have awake time and nap time. I’ve been using Merlin’s magic sleep suit found on Amazon since she’s too old to swaddle. However, she has had great success with it. 
    YouTube takingcarababies and she will go more into detail with it. I purchased the newborn to 3 month old program and it was the best money ever spent. But I know there’s a 4 month one as well.. but you could prob get a lot of info on YouTube. 
    Also I cluster feed before bedtime- I feed her around 7ish.. give her a bath, then feed her again at 9. She’s normally asleep by 945/10 pm. 
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  • starsaligned13starsaligned13 member
    Hi I know exactly what you’re talking about! My son is 5 months old and also wakes up at the latest 6 pm since we go up to start our routine at 7 and also has 2 hour wake windows. Since the schedule is dependent on how long they nap for you can’t really have a set time for the last nap, but I love when I can get the last nap in around 4:30 because he usually only sleeps 30-40 minutes for the last nap and then I nurse him no later than 5:30…assuming that works out for me then the wake window is still about 2 hours. If that doesn’t work and I have to wake him at 6 I feed him as soon as I wake him, sit him up for 15 minutes and then tire him out until we go up. 

    As far as the routine- our nap and nighttime routine are the same except for nighttime I play a wind up toy that plays a lullaby song and I give a bottle of expressed milk and that’s up to 5 ounces now. I think that bottle really makes a difference. We go up at 7 and feed by 7:20ish

    Also, I did the taking Cara babies method. It’s painful the first week but I PROMISE it gets better and you feel like you can have your life back again! 
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  • jaamalamjaamalam member
    Hi! I have a 4 month old and breastfeed. We don’t have a ton of routine except a diaper change before nap times. Her wake window is 2 hours so at and hour and 45 we get ready for naps. She sleeps 30min to an hour for naps usually and if she had one short nap she will usually compensate with one longer one, maybe an hour and a half. We usually get 3 naps in a day and go to bed between 6-730 depending on the day. But after the third nap she nurses, plays, every other night she had a bath, change, then nurse again at and hour and 50 minutes so she can lay down at 2 hours. We started two weeks ago just leaving her in the crib for increments of time and only did verbal soothing and patting, no picking up. She now only cries for a max of ten minutes when being out down but usually it is around 1 minute. She has learned to sooth herself very quickly and sleeps 9-13 hours straight before needing a feeding. So she eats between 3 and 6am then will either sleep for another 4-5 hours or just 2. Hoping she will solidify sleeping through the night more and dropping her additional feeding.

    The first few days are the worst when they are just crying but eventually they learn they can sooth themselves and it has been a life saver! We can put her down for bed and make dinner with no issues now!

    Good luck to you in continuing this journey! But I recommend just feeding after the 2 hour wake window at night kind of as a top off before sleep.
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