7wk old wont settle after bedtime routine

[Livi-lous-mummy]

Hi everyone

LO and I are pretty new to EASY, we have been following it for 2 weeks now. The problem we are having (aside from naps -see nap thread!) is that after her last bottle, we do bath, story and a song and she gets very sleepy but will not settle down to sleep. Sometimes she sleeps for up to an hour and then wakes until about 10 at which point she finally goes to sleep. I would really like her to go down to sleep after her bedtime routine - how can I help her go to sleep?

Thank you!

[weaver]

Hi there,
it's actually quite normal for babies so tiny to be unsettled in the evenings.  I would try to make things as calm and quiet for her as you can.  Around this age, I started doing the last feed in the bedroom with LO2, and it really helped her settle, as it was so much quieter in there.  I wouldn't bother with a story or song much until she's bigger.  Hard to understand but she will find both of those things stimulating and interesting, and wake up more to take them in. Maybe tweak it a bit so you snuggle her and whisper her a story, or sing very gently.  At this age, you just need to communicate calm and sleep, create that atmosphere and help her wind-down.  And try not to be too surprised when she wakes up again.  It really is not unusual, with a solid bedtime routine, she will catch on and surprise you by staying asleep one of these days.  Soon I hope! 

[weaver]

and just to add, that with my LO1 we had to avoid doing the bath every night. It really wound him up! So we did it earlier, or skipped it sometimes.  Just something to consider.

[Livi-lous-mummy]

So we have stuck with the routine for the week, took your advice about whispering a story which we do in her room with VERY dim lights etc and she has started to settle earlier, but she does wake up. We resettle her with shush pat and she goes back to sleep but sometimes wakes again. When we get to about 10 she is well and truly asleep which has come forward from 11:30 which it used to be. S I can see an improvement. Unfortunately she is not going up to her room where it's calm and dark until we go up, although we want to start putting her up there soon. I imagine the tv being on (although low) and the lights on (although dim) aren't really helping matters?  Is she too young for us to put her upstairs? Will it help her settle more?

[weaver]

Great that you can see an improvement already just remember she's new to all this day and night stuff, so she has a lot to learn!  The fact that you can resettle her with sh-pat is just excellent at this age.

I don't know about not having her in her room, tbh, I always had mine in their cot in their room for night time sleep (ie from 7pm ish) though I shared a room with them til they were well over a year old.  It really is your call.  You might find the ambient noises of TV, people talking, and so on, will disturb her more as time goes on.  Perhaps if you have space downstairs, you could put her down in a quieter room next door?

BTW, don't panic about any of this!  I was reading on another site the story of a family where LO had no BT routine at all ever, and at 25 mos, he's going to bed at 11.30pm and waking up repeatedly during the night.  I felt so sorry for them.  But you've definitely started on the right road, imo.

[Livi-lous-mummy]

I sleep in her room with her from when I go upstairs at dream feed time. So it would just be 7:30-10:30 ish and we would have the monitor on. Aside from that it would be the hallway :-(

[weaver]

Well I always had mine in their cots, it really is up to you and whether you think the TV etc is disturbing her.