evening routine question

[mommy2two]

I have a 9 week old and a 2 yr old. I for the life of me can't remember how I got my 2 year old to a 7pm bedtime, so I need some help with this new baby.

We have been keeping her in her bouncy/vibrating chair near us after her 7pm feed until we wisk her off to her room for the DF at 10ish. I then put her in her crib for the night. (She still wakes up 1-2 times in the night to eat). My question is this: Should I be putting her "to bed" in her crib at 7pm?

Many times when we have her in her bouncy seat with us (usually in our office when we are on our computers or in our room while we watch TV) she is pretty awake until about 9pm and then falls asleep in her bouncy chair until we move her to her crib at 10ish.

Also, I like the idea of a bath every night to develop a consistent routine, but at only 9 weeks she does not need one nightly. Will only giving her one every other night confuse her routine?

[tylersmommy]

If you could post the rest of your routine, that might help shed some light!

We didn't really get a consistent bedtime with Mackenzie until 10 wks or so (maybe? Now I can't remember!). It's really up to you whether or not you want to put your DD in the crib at 7. I like having a consistent bedtime so that when the kids are in bed, they're down for the night. Our routine is all over the place with 45 min naps now, but no matter what, I wake her from her last nap of the day so that she'll have just the right amount of awake time to be tired before bed. I know I want bedtime to be between 7 and 730, so I work backwards from there to make that happen. Does that make sense?

Can't give you much help on bathtime. It always wound my kids up, so we never did it as part of the night routine.

[mommy2two]

Our routine is pretty much to start the day as close to 7 as we can give or take 30 min depending on if she wakes early or when her last night time feeding was. Then she eats every 2.5-3 hrs all day depending on how long she can go. She sometimes is awake for an hour and other times only 30 minutes before her nap. We still don't have a set in stone schedule yet, but it is pretty close to the 7,10,1,4 that BW recommends. It is after 4 that I struggle since I never know if I should cluster feed or not. (see my current post here https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=82978.new;topicseen#new)

Thanks!

[* Paula *]

I would definitely aim to get your lo into a consistent bedtime routine, it just makes things so much easier when your lo is older.

If you think that 7:00 is too early, you can always aim for 7:30 / 7:45, and then go in and do the DF at around 10:00pm.  With regards to clusterfeeding, you can feed at 4, then offer another feed at 6 and then just top off before you put her to bed, this should enable her to tank up.

If you want to introduce a bath time routine, every other day sounds fine.  But if you notice that your lo really enjoys her bath time, then you may want to consider introducing it every day.

[Jodieplus2]

I agree with Tom Tom's Mum- My little boy is 6months & I have found it so beneficial to get him into his cot for bedtime at 7pm- I have been doing this since about 10 weeks I guess & he now settles to sleep so easily & loves his cot. I have know a few people who have let their little one fall asleep in swings or bouncers or even on their chest, & then as they get older they won't fall alseep anywhere else. I think that "start as you mean to go on" really helps to prevent any troubles later. But everyone is different & you may enjoy letting them sleep downstairs with you.

Also with the bath- my little boy loves his bath too as we have done it every night pretty much since he was born & he knows that bathtime leads onto bedtime. I have found this rountine invaluable too (can't thank Baby Whisperer enough for it!)
Jxx