How is it possible???

[babysophia]

I am reading all these sample EASY routines and I dont understand how it is possible to just put you LO to sleep by 8pm. My LO is 3 months old and I give her a bath, wind her down, feed her and she still is not tired. She will just be wide awake looking around. If I put her to bed she will cry until she is red. How are you all able to just put them to bed and have them fall asleep?? PLEASE HELP! My LO will finally fall asleep around 10pm to 11pm.

[*Mona*]

can you post your current routine, or if you don't have one your typical day?
otherwise we won't really be able to help you.

I'd say your baby is overtired but will not know without your routine.

monika

[babysophia]

Thanks Monica.
Thats the problem, I cant really get her into a routine thats the same everyday but here is my typical day.

Awake: 9am
ACTIVITY: (she wont eat when she wakes up) Diaper Change, Clothes change
EAT:
SLEEP: anywhere from 10am to 11am

ACTIVITY: Watches Barney or eebee baby (she watches it)
EAT: 12 Noon
Sleep 1pm - 3pm

Awake
EAT 5pm
**** I start her bath, reading, and wind down music at 6 to 7pm
EAT 8pm

***She is awake until 10:30, 11 or sometimes midnight. Does not show any signs of being tired.

Through the night she will wake at around 4am, the 7 am to eat, the back to sleep until 9 am

I hope this helps!

[babysophia]

I forgot to mention, she is BF but takes a formula bottle as her last feed.

[*Mona*]

you see, you can not expect her to go to bed happily at 8pm if you start your day at 9am! it would not even be 12 hours between wake up in the morning and bedtime.

if you're aiming for an earlier bedtime, start getting her up earlier.
I'd try 7am wake up time as she eats at 7 anyway as you say. so feed- activity- sleep after 1:15/1:30 hrs.
so you would actually have to change your whole routine but it's worth it if you want your baby to go to sleep earlier and not overtired.
from 5pm to 11pm it's 6 hours  so she most definitely is way way too overtired to sleep properly at night too.

oh, and it's perfectly normal she doesn't want her feed at 9am as she has just had one 2hrs earlier.

7am feed
8:15/8:30 sleep
10am feed
11:15/11:30 sleep
1pm feed
2:15/2:30 sleep
4pm feed
5:30 sleep
6pm activity- bath, wind down, book
7pm feed [formula]
7:30pm bedtime
8pm asleep

I think that would be a routine you could aim for. without DF you can still expect some night feeds, especially that she is breastfed.

how do you think?
Monika

[babysophia]

Thank you SO much! I never really thought about keeping her awake at 7 am, probably because I am so tired I keep sleeping too! 
I will definately try this routine. And about the DF ( I have tried it and it worked sometimes, but sometimes  she is stays awake. I think I rather get up in the middle of the night a BF than her stay awake.
I will let you know how things go.

How many days do you think this will take her to get use to?

[tylersmommy]

My DD is about the same age as yours. I agree with Monika...if you want an earlier bedtime, she has to start her day earlier. Another thing that jumped out at me...unless I'm reading wrong, it looks like she wakes from her last nap at 3 and doesn't have another nap until bedtime at 8? And is she going 5 hrs between feeds in the afternoon (12-5)? That's quite a long time during the day. It looks like there should be another feed in there, say at 3?

Our routine is far from perfect (darn those 45 min naps) but it looks pretty close to what Monika posted. We aim for 1.5-2 hrs of awake time before bed to make sure she's tired enough to go to sleep, but not overtired.

[babysophia]

Yes, im sorry, she will feed around 3! opps, you see! My routine is very unorganized! I will try this new one, I think waking her up earlier will help her good to bed earlier too. Thx for your advice 

[rebecaq]

I agree with Monika, the days me ds sleeps in until 9 he goes to bed at around 9pm.

Do you have a wind down routine?

- Beca

[*Mona*]

so, how has your day been?
Monika

[babysophia]

any suggestions? (on the wind down routine) What do you do?

[rebecaq]

Our wind down routine is as follows:

Bathtime with the lavander relaxion soap from Johnson&Johnson, after that a massage with the lavander lotion, then we put on pj's, followed by brushing our teeth. Once he is ready we turn on soothing music (at the moment it's his Fisher Price Aquarium) and we read a bedtime story. Once the story is finished we cuddle for about 5 minutes and then it's off to bed.  Santiago still cries a bit when put in his crib, but a pat on the butt and a "Night night I love you" usually calms him down.

HTH

- Beca

[babysophia]

That winddown routine sounds great! When did you start it? How old was your lo? Is 3 months too young?

[rebecaq]

I think at 3 months you can skip the story and replace it by singing a lullabye.  But the massages definitely help wonders, no matter the age. In fact I began with ds at 4 months. 

- Beca