https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:31 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1190493 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:32:54 +0000 SproutBee 1190493@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I just wanna say I'm beyond impressed with your 6 week old's ability to self-soothe. At 10 weeks old, my little guy is still a frantic screamer and can't self-soothe himself for anything, let alone sleep. Sigh... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189636 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 08:00:55 +0000 looch 1189636@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If you are waiting until you see sleep cues, like yawning or rubbing eyes, you've waited too long...those are overtired cues in babies....at least that is my experience with my son. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189626 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 07:58:46 +0000 Mrs squirreld 1189626@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Cherrybee: I let him fuss aslong as he is making the short tone cry (urgh urgh urgh urgh) which sometimes is up to 5 minutes(feels like a lifetime). If he escalates to the long tone cry (aaaaaaahh wwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah maaaaaaaaaaaah) I go in to settle him (at night) or pick him up/nap time over (during day) Lol - does that make sense? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189609 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 07:52:07 +0000 Cherrybee 1189609@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs squirreld: When you say you let him fuss for a minute - how long do you mean? I'm presuming that his fuss doesn't escalate in that time? I have tried this with E and always end up having to rescue her - maybe i'm not leaving it long enough? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189553 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 07:25:51 +0000 Mrs squirreld 1189553@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@illumina: that's probably about right since we put E down a bit earlier than you... So maybe just try keeping her up an hour and a half after she's awake/you get her up. The best thing I've learnt lately was about the sleep cycles.. E quite often fusses after napping for 30-45minutes and I used to pick him up then thinking he was awake but it's just his change in sleep cycle so I let him fuss for a minute and he usually falls back asleep -hence the nice long naps! E will wake himself up if not swaddled, he's a master at escaping them too! We had to get a miracle blanket to stop him escaping them! I wonder if once he realised his hands are his he will stop hitting himself in the face cause he does love having his hands up! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189535 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 07:15:13 +0000 illumina 1189535@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs squirreld: at the moment I don't think we'll have to wean from anything, as we have stopped the white noise/music as it wasn't making any difference and she gets out of her swaddle pretty soon anyway! All we'll have to do is transition to her cot, but I'm hoping we'll get the naps right first so everything can be in the cot from then on. Ok so seeing as S can usually self soothe from awake, I'll stop waiting for her yawning and start getting her down earlier. I don't know exactly when she wakes, because when I wake at 730-8am and go see her she's already awake and just looking around. Maybe she's been awake a while, so keeping her awake until 9am is too long? She'll fall asleep on me in the day for naps now, which is usually the last resort for getting a nap before lunchtime :( but I don't want to make a habit of that (plus I need to move about!) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189513 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 07:03:46 +0000 Mrs squirreld 1189513@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@illumina: at least you won't have to wean from the swing!!! Wake up time is 7am. We wake him up then even if he is still sleeping (but he never usually is!) he gets a big feed then. So he's awake from 7am through to 8.30am. He is usually yawning by 8.15ish so it works well. But we put him down regardless of whether he is showing sleepy signs or not. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189492 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 06:49:02 +0000 illumina 1189492@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs squirreld: how long is he awake for in the morning before that first nap then? I'm unsure as to whether we're putting her down to early, or late, but she's not napping then anymore!! Then by lunchtime we have a cranky baby! The afternoon naps go much better though. S doesn't want much to do with the swing anymore- I kinda wish she did, it would help alot! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189482 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 06:32:10 +0000 Mrs squirreld 1189482@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@illumina: we are roughly following the routine from the book "save our sleep" but changing bits we don't like to "suit" us better! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189481 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 06:30:48 +0000 Mrs squirreld 1189481@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@illumina: we are trying to!!! Daytime naps are still a work in progress... We are trying to roughly follow a routine. The morning nap is the easiest. We keep him awake with play til 8.30am and then put him down in the swing and he naps for almost 2 hours.... We try to follow the same pattern for the rest of the day for two more naps but he doesn't always go down as easy.... Plus I'm a little worried we are relying too much on the swing! I want to start weaning him off the swing and slowly move naps to his room. Eeek. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189459 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 05:54:28 +0000 ladybee 1189459@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@illumina: @Grace: @Cherrybee: thanks for the encouragement. It's really hard doing it alone. I'm supposed to sleep when DH gets home but then I miss all our time together. Plus I want to start a bedtime routine soon. Right now though, I sleep. Our ped told me to give it till 6 weeks and things would be better. I'm praying he's right! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189451 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 05:45:59 +0000 illumina 1189451@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs squirreld: This is exactly what we ended up doing, though it just felt a bit weird to put her down before she showed signs of tiredness. She did the same, lay there for 15mins with no fuss then slept for 6hrs. Can I ask, what do you do for the first nap of the day? Do you put down more awake at a set time regardless of tiredness? This nap is hit and miss. It takes from about 9-10am to get her to nap and then its for 0.5hr only. Maybe I shouldn't be waiting for her to yawn now.</p> <p> @ladybee: you'll get there. At 2wks we had zero routine, it was all trial and error- it still is to some extent, but things are better. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189442 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 05:28:03 +0000 Grace 1189442@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ladybee: I feel your pain! I had a horrible time sleeping when P was crying. It does get better though. </p> <p>@illumina: I don't really have a routine either. But, I've noticed if I work hard to keep her awake until her sleepy time starts, she goes to sleep really easily. Granted, we still rock to sleep. No where near as disciplined as Mrs Squirreld! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189435 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 03:42:39 +0000 Mrs squirreld 1189435@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We start E's bedtime routine at 6pm everyday. Bath, song, feed. He goes to bed every night at 7pm. Most times he is sleepy, I'm pretty sure he is aware of what the bath time routine means. Sometimes he is wide awake, but he still goes to bed at 7. To begin with he fussed a lot, so we were just persistant. We'd go in and settle him and then leave. Sometimes we had to do it 2 or 3 times before he finally fell asleep, but now he self settles. We put him down at 7 and sometimes it takes 15 minutes for him to fall asleep but he does it without fussing. :-) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1189417 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 01:43:54 +0000 loveisstrange 1189417@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Cherrybee: we legitimately put C to sleep every night at 5:45pm for a LONG time. It sucked and DH hardly saw her, but up that was when she wanted to sleep and she wouldn't nap that late. Eventually it pushed back and became 6, and then 6:30 and now it's 7/7:15. She slept from 6:30pm-8:30am from probably 6 months until after she turned a year, she was still taking 2, 2 hour naps too. Once they figure out their schedule and get better at sleeping, it got s SO much better. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1188904 Thu, 31 Oct 2013 17:24:14 +0000 Cherrybee 1188904@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ladybee: Ahh Ladybee.... when my DD was 2 weeks old, we were dealing with colic so I absolutely, completely sympathise. Everyone told me that it would get better and I kept asking, begging "when?" "when will it get better?"..... well here I am, 12 weeks on, and I can tell you, hand on heart, that it really does get better and it happens quicker than you can imagine. One day you have a screamy, wailing baby with no routine and then everything just kinda settles down. It will get better!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1188893 Thu, 31 Oct 2013 17:17:50 +0000 ladybee 1188893@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Cherrybee: @illumina: I'm sitting here listening to my 2 week old scream while my husband gives me time to sleep. I wanted you to know that I am very jealous that you have any sort of routine. I feel like Im dying over here. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1188817 Thu, 31 Oct 2013 16:35:09 +0000 illumina 1188817@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Cherrybee: well I might have found the answer! At least for the moment! After her bath she was wide awake but settled and just staring at me, so we put her to bed. She lay there awake for maybe 15mins and then went to sleep. She's now been asleep 1.5hrs so maybe that's what we do now? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1188814 Thu, 31 Oct 2013 16:32:02 +0000 Cherrybee 1188814@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hmm, good question! E is a crap-napper and often refuses naps altogether after 4pm - so by the time she has had her bath (she loves her bath) she is usually hysterical!! She often screams her way through being dressed, frantically drinks her bottle then falls asleep, exhausted!! Sorry I can't be more help!!!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ftm-newborn-bedtime-routine-question#post-1188647 Thu, 31 Oct 2013 15:15:40 +0000 illumina 1188647@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>S is 6wks old. Up until yesterday her awake time was pretty short, so we started her bedtime routine at 7pm after her last nap ended and she'd be going down by 730-745. Now her awake time is getting longer, we start her routine at the same time, except by the time we finish, she hasn't started yawning yet (her usual sleep cue). What should we do? Try and put her down anyway at the usual time? Is bedtime different and we don't need to wait for the cue? Wait until she starts yawning? If so how do we keep her awake but not stimulated until then? </p> <p>Sorry if this is an obvious Q! I think we must be missing something at bedtime because she usually goes down well for naps but bedtime takes an hour or more :( </p>