Confused about the definition of "bedtime"

[drho23]

Hi there,

I have a 1 month old baby girl.

Currently we are not on a strict schedule but we do have somewhat of a routine.

She breastfeeds every 3 hours.
After eating, we play with her for about half an hour to an hour.
Then she sleeps for 2 hour naps.

Our nighttime routine starts at around 9:00PM. 
9:00PM- We give her a bath first because she hates them and gets pretty worked up afterwards. 
9:20PM- We give her a full feeding of formula.
9:40PM- Sit her upright for about 20 minutes afterwards (she has reflux). 
10:00PM- We put her in her crib and she sleeps until about 2:00AM.
2:00AM to 2:30AM- Breastfeed and then back to bed, sometimes using a sling, sometimes without if I'm lucky.
5:00AM or 5:30AM- Breastfeed and then back to bed again.
(6:40AM- Mommy has to get ready for work!!)

Basically after her full nighttime feed, she sleeps for a 4 hour span, then another 3 hours, then usually another 2-3 hours.

I have read a bit about how we should start bedtimes earlier for babies, and that sometimes doing so can lead to them sleeping longer during the night.  My question is: Should we be starting her bedtime ritual earlier?  I'm concerned that because I have to get ready for work at around 6:40AM, I unfortunately don't have much room to be very flexible in the mornings.

Can anyone help me come up with a good bedtime schedule for her?

[neelam.mom]

Have you checked some of the sample routines for 0-3 months old babies?

Here is the site,check it out.
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=10384.0

Hope that helps

[MorganLeigh]

How many naps is she taking? Maybe posting your routine from when you get home from work will help. I gree that an earlier bedtime is best. Maybe in bed by 9 instead of starting at 9. She is only a month so nothing is set in stone yet. Just need to tweak it. If you can post your schedule b4 9. Hope I can help.
Jodi

[drho23]

Thanks for the replies. 

She takes about 3-4 naps per day, each nap being about 2 hours long.

Unfortunately we don't really have a set schedule yet.  It's usually like this:
5:30-6:30 or 7:00PM Feed and play
7:00-9:00 Sleep

Every day is so different.  If she happens to fuss a bit longer, then everything after that is pushed back.  We've been trying to adhere to a timed schedule but I think because she's only a month old, it's really hard to do that.

[arial]

I am not sure that I can really picture your day since you do not have a routine.  Having a routine will greatly help you plan your day.  Your day will be much more predictable - I am sure you need that since you have to go to work.  You seem to have some sort of routine, but it is not set in stone, which is ok because your LO is small.  It may help to see how your are doing if you write everything down in paper.  It would be helpful if for the next few days, you chart down, what time and for how long she ate, played, slept.  You may actually see that you do have a routine that may vary for 10-15 min.  If it varies for more than that, you can also see what is causing it.  Once you see the pattern, you can determine what you can do so that she can start going to bed earlier. 

I agree that she should go to bed earlier.  I prefer between 6 to 8 PM, but you cannot make the jump from 10PM to 8PM all of a sudden.  You have to move her bedtime slowly, 15 minutes earlier every 3 days.

I hope this helps