Baby routines

I don’t so much have a routine, I think it’s too hard at the moment with how many naps they need and feeds they have.. I just kind of follow, bottles every 3 hours and wake windows every 1.5hours and just go with the flow.. I’ve been stressing should I have a routine by now but speaking to other mums they don’t have one either so I’ve stopped putting so much pressure on it xx

I keep reading lots about them developing bad sleep habits from 3 months old and putting pressure on myself to make the perfect baby who sleeps! 🙈 what time do you tend to put baby to bed?

Hi Beth 😃 I’ve started to trial a routine for day time naps and making sure my boy is in bed between 6.30 - 8.00. With the day time routine, I base it around his wake windows trying to ensure he’s not awake for more than 2 hours at a time. Black out blinds are the way forward! It’s going well so far and the nights now involve two feeds, usually one after a 4-5 stretch of sleep and then another after 3 hours. I’ve found the Huckleberry guide good as a vague guide to help structure my routine! I’ve found since he’s going down for consistent naps in the day, he sleeps better at night time! X

@Beth I’m exactly the same🫣 While he’s in our room we are just giving him an evening nap, usually from 8-9ish and then giving the last bottle at 10 and spend a little time with him and then we all go to sleep for around 11, he wakes at around 4.30an ish for a feed, i was trying to do same time feeds and sleeps but it’s really just impossible 😂 so I’ve taken off the pressure!

@Charlie that’s amazing that he’s sleeping until 4:30! At the moment my baby can’t make it past 8pm so we put him to bed, he goes to 11:30/12 and wakes for a feed, then wakes again at 3 then 5 then 6:30 ish, we’re exhausted!😭🙈

@Beth Yeah, he’s not always that way, we do have the odd occasions where he wakes at 2 for a feed and then 5 but I do find the more consistent naps he has during the day helps with his night sleep, we will all get there, gotta go easy on ourselves😊

@Beth my baby wakes at these times too! 🙈😴

@Beth my little girl is exactly the same timings 😂 also ebf!

What I’m finding difficult with daytime naps is I’m usually out and about each day so that makes it hard to have any kind of nap schedule! I want to get into a better nap routine if that will help night sleep but I don’t want to have to stay in all day every day to do that and miss her baby groups , hard to know what to do for the best! Xx

@Lauren I’m the same! It’s so difficult to know what’s best! If only there was a manual!

I have a kinda routine. This is my second baby and I do think this is the best time to put good sleep habits in place, it pays off so much later on. It's a lot easier to start now than trying when baby can sit up/stand up in the crib. I also use huckleberry and shape our day based on wake windows. It's very difficult to have a schedule until they drop to 2 naps which my first baby did at around 7 months. This is my second, we start the day around 8am, he usually has his first nap in the pram on the way back from dropping toddler at nursery. If I'm lucky he stays asleep when we get home. Naps at home are now crib naps, working on him falling asleep in the crib atm, previously carrier naps. Except final 30 minute nap which is always in carrier. Don't have a set bedtime as it depends on wake windows and previous naps but usually around 8pm. The longest stretch he has done is 9 hours, recently having a little regression and doing 4-5. He wakes at around 1am and 5am usually atm.

We have only just started to have a better night routine. She goes to sleep in the next to me usually between 7-8pm has a feed at about 11pm then sleeps till 5:30am and an extra feed to try stretch her until 7am. In the day naps are a bit random depending on schedule and are never in in her crib as she hates it in the day for some reason so for now we are stuck contact napping or pram naps but hoping to change that at some point.

My little one will go to sleep any time between 6-7pm, I’m trying to push it to 7pm but because her naps are literally so crap at the moment she’s shattered.. I follow wake windows but she’s definitely going through a sleep regression but it only affects her in the day! I then dream feed her around 11 when I go to sleep & she sleeps until 5:30/6:30, I’ll feed her again and she will sleep until about 7/8.

90 minute wake windows through the day at the moment, we contact nap all day but he sleeps in his next to me at night. Our bedtime is 8:30/9 and He typically has first feed at 1am ish and then again at 5am and up for the day at 8:30am. We’re EBF but my partner gives a bottle of my milk at 1am so I get a longer stretch. We didn’t force a routine it came naturally, but we make a real effort now to stick to it as best we can xx

My little girl goes to bed around 9 after a feed and then I give her a feed when I go to bed a little later. she then sleeps until like half 8/9. During the day she tends to like to have a late morning nap. a mid afternoon nap and an evening nap.

OK so this worked for us - every night before I went to bed while I was pregnant I put on the same song on YouTube (taylor swift safe and sound) I now hum this song after i put him in his next to me at night OK this is a controversial, we upped his bottles during the day so that he's content and sleeps longer during the night , I know alot of people don't agree with this so please no mammy shame During the day is alot of activity but normally goes like this 6am bottle - chats and songs moving his arms and legs we don't get out of bed Sleepies from 8-9 9:30 bottles , dressed for the say tummy time , music and dancing out for a walk and a baby class 1:30 bottle and nap until 4 4:30 bottle play play play tummy time, music , learning new skill practise new skill ( currently practising motion of rolling over ) 8:30 bottle, bath, dress for the night time , taylor swift hum 9:15 down on the crib normally self settles himself 5mins later but at the latest 9:30

I have a bed bottle bath routine for my LB who is 13 weeks tomorrow always had the same routine since day one. but then he has always slept through 9-5/6. i start by I’m having a bath at 8:30 every day and then a bottle following him being dressed then straight down to bed by 9 o’clock and he will sleep till 5/6. 99% of the time he will sleep till six and so feeding every three hours works out back to the 9 o’clock kind of time for bedtime. The only thing I make sure I do is every other night I will bath him with soap and the days inbetween he will just have a rinse and a splash in the bath. The main thing to do is make sure that at this age they’re going down to sleep awake so they know that they’ve got to set up themselves off to sleep otherwise they will develop the bad habit of you making sure they’re asleep every night before leaving them.It is so hard because if he had not of been a good sleeper from day one I would still be doing this routine but it actually working is….

another thing in itself. Also like someone said above making sure they have their 24hrs worth of milk in the day will make them content during the night as they have enough nutrition to get them through the night - the GP actually told me this and to keep it up. Hence why I feed every three hours not every four because the amount of milk he needs in 24 hours spread equally would be feeding every four hours even through the night.

Don’t pressure it! They’ll sleep and wake when they need to and there’s not much you can do! I learnt that with my first! If you do your routine they’ll just slot right into it eventually! Might take a few months but that’s just how babies are, don’t compare to other babies who sleep through as everyone has a different term of “sleeping through” for example id class my little girl going from 10-4am having her bottle and then going back to sleep till 7:30 as sleeping through! But others will say she has to sleep 10-7:30 all the way!

We have a bedtime routine which is just bath and bed, but she spends about 20-25 mins in the bath. Shes swaddled before bed and we don’t skip a bath ever. She does sleep through. I did the same thing with my first and he was the same 🤞🏻 consistency is key x

we don’t have a day time routine and i would say we have a kind of night one. he started to sleep through from 9-5 so i gave it a go of giving him his last bottle between 7-8 and then instead of having another nap we just put him to bed this was after a bath by the way, he then slept from around 8-3/4 and would have another bottle then sleep till 7 and the last month or so he has slept from around 7:30/8 till 5:30/6 x

I haven't really tried yet. I might try a routine but not a set time but she's EBF so timings seem to change. She also won't settle in her moses in the living room and they can't sleep in a room alone until at least 6 months. Really don't fancy a 7-8pm bedtime because I'll either spend hours scrolling alone or be awake at 4am then. She then naps quite frequently. Sometimes she'll have 2 longer ones or a longer one and numerous little ones.

I don’t really have a routine in the day just watch his wake window of maximum being awake for an hour and half then put him down to nap which by then he shows tired signs. However, he struggled to nap for a long period in the day unless in the carrier,car, pram or contact night. He’s better at night and I’ve been putting him to bed between 7-8 then he goes 4/5 hours before feee at 1am then again at 6. I think every baby is different and you have to do what suits you and your baby x