Putting him to bed too early?

[SallyDom]

Hi everyone, I have a question regarding bedtime for my almost 8 week old baby boy. We have a lovely bath, massage, cuddle routine before he goes to bed which I used to start about 7pm but realised he was too tired to stay away that long so brought it forward and usually take him upstairs about 6pm now. I find though that from about 5 pm he starts fussing and usually I am counting the minutes until 6pm as it seems too early to be taking him upstairs at 5pm! As soon as I do take him for his bath he calms down and turns into a lovely smiley, cooing baby. He quite often seems so agitated and unsettled from 5pm that I am starting to think maybe I should take him to bed an hour earlier. I have tried keeping him quiet and unstimulated when he gets upset and he does often drift off but I suppose I am worried about affecting his nighttime sleep by putting him to bed earlier.
We try to feed Dominic at around 11pm before we go to sleep but find this quite a struggle sometimes as he is so sleepy he won't dreamfeed (any tips would be great) so we change his bum which wakes him up a bit and he'll sometimes drink a couple of ounces before he falls back to sleep. He will then sleep until 3am ish and then 6am ish and usually gets up about 7.30am.
Any advice about his bedtime and about how to get him to take more milk at 11pm would be much appreciated as woud be much appreciated.
Thank you
Sally

[woopster]

What time is his last nap before 5pm?  Could he be tired and needing a cat nap? Maybe a 45 min snooze might just take the edge off him.
About the dreamfeed - I've never df any of mine. I just left them til they woke. What time do you think he would wake if left?

[Richelle]

I didn;t do the dreamfeed either, I am not sure that it works for everyone.  I also called from 5PM on 'the witching hour', I think at this point of the day LO's get tired really easy (it has been a LONG day for them).  I would often try for a catnap or cuddles until bath and bedtime.

[SallyDom]

His afternoon nap is often half 3 ish until half 4 ish (though does vary sometimes) and it ust seems like bang on 5pm he turns into the most unhappy little boy ever! I don't think there is anything wrong with him (such as colic), I think he is just tired. We usually spend the hour cuddling, with Dom falling asleep then waking up a few minutes later crying and unsettled, then falling asleep again etc.

A few times when we haven't given him an 11pm feed he has woken at 12 or 1am, then 3am, then 6am. It seems really hard being woken up 3 times in a night! Last night we managed to get him to take 4oz but then he woke up at half 2 which is earler than normal so who knows what goes on in their little minds.

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[woopster]

What time do you start your bedtime routine?  How long does it take?  I would aim to have him in bed by 6/6.30.  That way he is only up for 2 hours max.
It sounds like you are describing overtiredness (falling asleep, crying/unsettled, falling asleep)

[SallyDom]

The bedtime routine takes pretty much an hour. I let him kick without his nappy on for 15 minutes, then he has his bath which takes maybe 10 minutes or so (longer if he is really enjoying it and isn't getting cold), then a 10 minute massage and then a bottle, cuddles and sleep. He does get really sleepy before he's finished his bottle so you are probably right woopster, it all takes so long I should start it earlier.

Thanks for the advice I'll put him down earlier tonight and let you know how it goes.

Sally
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