https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 24 Apr 2026 20:28:49 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bedtime-routine-help#post-2223737 Wed, 01 Jul 2015 11:43:53 +0000 pmrlady 2223737@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@macintosh: Have you tried putting him in a stroller and going for a walk during the daytime? My LO would fall asleep pretty easily in the stroller and then even when I'm at home and she doesn't want to sleep, I put her in the stroller and rock it back and forth in one place and that helps since she already associates the stroller with sleeping. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bedtime-routine-help#post-2223671 Wed, 01 Jul 2015 10:48:30 +0000 macintosh 2223671@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ShootingStar: yeah, there's a consignment store I can check out. You'll laugh, but my son doesn't like swaddling. If he falls asleep on me or in the carrier, I can transfer him to the bouncer, bassinet, or crib if he's fully asleep. I did that last night - carrier to bassinet and he slept for 3 hours. Maybe I just need to strap him in after his "dinner" and take a short walk, rather than letting him hang out in the bouncer and hoping he'll stay calm. I try to be flexible but it's getting frustrating for me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bedtime-routine-help#post-2223654 Wed, 01 Jul 2015 10:22:35 +0000 ShootingStar 2223654@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@macintosh: Do you have any consignment stores around you? Or facebook re-sale groups? I'd try to get an inexpensive one (but that plugs in!) My son NEVER wanted to be put down either. But I found that if I swaddled him and got him to sleep, I could then put him in the swing and he'd stay asleep longer. The swing was a lifesaver for us. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bedtime-routine-help#post-2223651 Wed, 01 Jul 2015 10:19:57 +0000 macintosh 2223651@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ShootingStar: I don't have a swing but we do have a bouncer. Unfortunately DS sometimes will not want to be put down and he will cry, which makes it more stressful and I can't let him cry too long, he's so young. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bedtime-routine-help#post-2223632 Wed, 01 Jul 2015 09:54:01 +0000 ShootingStar 2223632@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Can you put baby in the swing for a little while so you can concentrate on DH? I remember back in the beginning there was a while when getting DS to go to sleep was really rough. But the phase didn't last *too* long - maybe a month to 6 weeks? And then I could nurse him and he'd fall asleep and be down for a couple hours. So, even though it's tough right now, it may not necessarily stay that way, baby sleep seems to constantly evolve. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bedtime-routine-help#post-2223469 Wed, 01 Jul 2015 06:56:59 +0000 pmrlady 2223469@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Sorry it's been so tough on you. I'm by no means an expert but from what I've read in parenting books and from what worked for my LO, here is my advice. </p> <p>In order to establish a good bedtime routine and a good sleep schedule, you need to have a very predictable routine for the day time. This means waking baby at a certain time in the morning, for example 6am, and that becomes the first feeding of the day. Then feeding baby every 2-3 hours (depending on how often he needs to eat). Keep the awake time relatively the same, for example 1 hr awake time at that age. So, baby eats at 6, awake for 1 hr, then put him down for a nap. When he wakes up, you start the cycle over. The cycle should be "eat, awake, sleep" (this means that you shouldn't nurse to sleep). If he is still sleeping during one of his naps and its time for him to eat again, then wake him up. You want him to eat as much as he can during the day, so that he needs less at night. Try to keep every cycle the same amount of time, roughly. </p> <p>So if he eats every 2 hours and the morning wake up time is 6am, you should end up feeding him around 8pm like you wanted. (I'm assuming he eats every 2 hours because you said you feed him at 8 and then at 10)</p> <p>Then at night (after his 10pm feeding), when he wakes up, keep the room dark, don't play or talk with him, just feed and put back to sleep. This will teach him the difference between night and day. </p> <p>It might not work in the beginning because he is still very little, and you can tweak the wake up time to suit you, but the point is that you want his day and night to be very predictable so that gradually he learns what to expect. He will know that 6am is when the day starts and he'll start waking up at that time on his own. He will also start sleeping bigger stretches at night with the eventual hope is that he will sleep from 10pm to 6am straight. Once he gets a little older, you can push his last feeding to 8pm instead of 10pm</p> <p>Hope this helps. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bedtime-routine-help#post-2223467 Wed, 01 Jul 2015 06:52:24 +0000 looch 2223467@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I feel completely ridiculous giving advice about baby sleep because my son was not a natural born sleeper, but at 2 months of age, he was giving me a solid 4 hour stretch of sleep between 7 and 11, so I do think your planned timeframe is achievable. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bedtime-routine-help#post-2223415 Wed, 01 Jul 2015 00:22:39 +0000 macintosh 2223415@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO is 2 months now, and while he's great at sleeping longer stretches at night (4-5 hours), I'm still struggling with bedtime.</p> <p>I care for my DH, who needs help using the bathroom and taking a shower. We used to have a nightly routine in the bathroom that started at 9 and took 1 - 1.5 hours. Now it keeps getting pushed later and interrupted by LO not wanting to be put down. I end up helping DH with my DS in the Ergo, which is not ideal for me physically (lots of bending down involved). Sometimes his feeding needs to happen in the middle of DH's routine and I end up nursing standing up. Then after DH is song I still have to finish feeding LO and I don't go to sleep til after midnight.</p> <p>LO is a great baby, but he does have fussy times and he generally has to be held or worn to sleep. I'm nursing and supplementing. Between nursing both sides and DH giving the bottle, each feeding takes about an hour.</p> <p>I'd like to develop a routine that looks something like this:<br /> 7:00 pm - Dinner (me and DH)<br /> (Bath every other night)<br /> 8:00 pm - Feed baby<br /> 9:00 pm - baby naps<br /> 9:00 pm - DH bathroom<br /> 10:00 pm - DH in bed<br /> 10:00 pm - feed baby<br /> 11:00 pm - mom goes to sleep!</p> <p>Any ideas or suggestions? Is too early to expect this to happen? </p>