routine advice: 3-mo old?

My second child is now 3 mths old. Unlike my first child, I want to establish a gd routine by the get go this time round. She is a fantastic baby and is already "sleeping through".


Her routine:

wake 8.30am

morning nap 10.30-11am (30mins) - sometimes 1hr

noon nap 1pm-2.30/3pm - mostly 1.5hrs

evening nap 4-4.30pm (30mins) - sometimes 1hr

bath 5.30pm

sleep 6.30pm (yes, early sleeper)

no dream feed

one feed b/w 5.30 - 8.30am


Recently she turned 3 mths, everything is still great except now after goes to sleep at 6.30pm (nursed to drowsiness), she will wake several times till 8pm (she settles once pickup). 8pm on, she goes into deep sleep.


My questions:

(1) Anyone with similar experience? Is it normal for this age?

(2) Do you put baby into cot for ALL naps and nighttime sleep? Mine takes all naps on big bed and only sleeps in cot at night - at first I thought this will help her distinguish between short naps (in bed) and long sleep (in cot) but can this be the cause of her waking cos she doesn't like her cot?

(3) Do you put room into complete darkness (I've blockout curtains) for ALL naps and nighttime sleep?

(4) With her sleeptime of 6.30pm to 8.30am, now that she is older, do you think she needs less sleep and thus should delay her sleep from 8.30pm to 8.30am? I like her 6.30pm sleep cos that means I can spend quality time with my older (neglected) child. Am I realistic to hope for baby to sleep such long hrs?

(5) Gina Ford said to eliminate evening nap but baby can't keep awake for >2hrs at a stretch (She loves sleeping). This means total naptime exceeds the recommended 3 hrs. Anyone with such babies but still have a good routine?


Any any advice would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help!

"(1) Anyone with similar experience? Is it normal for this age?"

Doesn't sounds abnormal. Kids do this. All of a sudden things change. Stick to your routine and she'll settle eventually. Also continually evaluate whether you need to adjust nap lengths and times.


"(2) Do you put baby into cot for ALL naps and nighttime sleep? Mine takes all naps on big bed and only sleeps in cot at night - at first I thought this will help her distinguish between short naps (in bed) and long sleep (in cot) but can this be the cause of her waking cos she doesn't like her cot?"

We did morning nap in stroller while walking, naps and sleep in crib. I think the important thing is to have at least the sleep in the crib so she gets used to it. I don't think her waking up is caused by the crib.


"(3) Do you put room into complete darkness (I've blockout curtains) for ALL naps and nighttime sleep?"

No. Certainly blackout can help but kids can sleep outside in the shade, say in a stroller. Darkness is not needed. Our bedroom curtains are opaque but the room is pretty bright during the day nap.


"(4) With her sleeptime of 6.30pm to 8.30am, now that she is older, do you think she needs less sleep and thus should delay her sleep from 8.30pm to 8.30am? I like her 6.30pm sleep cos that means I can spend quality time with my older (neglected) child. Am I realistic to hope for baby to sleep such long hrs?"


It gets shorter and shorter. In a few months she'll go to 2 naps. The night sleep she has now is quite long, and will probably move towards 12 hours soon. You can perhaps delay developments by shortening the evening nap.

Hi Mummybee1,


I have my first child, around 2.5 months old now - so I don't have any wise advice for you but I can share my brief experience!


I am trying to put my baby on the Gina Ford routine because she's a late sleeper, becoming fussy in the evenings from 7pm onwards and not going to sleep until after 11pm. I'm trying to get her in bed before 8pm so I can get some rest.


Matilda Hospital gave me this information about fussy evenings and cluster feeding...


http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/fussy-evening.html


For me, it's still hit and miss but we are gradually bringing her sleep time earlier, and sometimes she's really good - bed before 7pm, wake her for 10:30pm feed, and one feed that can happen between 3am or right up to 7am. I think the key for me was continually waking her at 7am so that she gradually adjusted her body clock from 7pm to 7am, instead of midnight to sleeping till noon.



(2) Do you put baby into cot for ALL naps and nighttime sleep?


I put baby in her cot for all naps, just because that's convenient for us. She can happily sleep anywhere. I think if your baby can sleep at night in her cot, then her fussy evening is nothing to do with her not liking her cot.


(3) Do you put room into complete darkness for ALL naps and nighttime sleep?


No, we do what's convenient for us. Daytime, the curtains are just about open, and night time, there's a night light. When I roomed with her initially, I slept with another light on as well, just because I'm scared of the dark (hehehe) and I wanted to be able to see her to see when she was hungry for a feed (she never cries, just sucks her hands). Now that she's on her own at night, I just have a tiny night light so the room is fairly dark.


(4) With her sleeptime of 6.30pm to 8.30am, now that she is older, do you think she needs less sleep and thus should delay her sleep from 8.30pm to 8.30am?


This seems like a long sleep of 14 hours. If I were in your situation and wanting my baby to sleep at 6:30pm... how do you feel about waking baby at 6:30am? Or how about a compromise of 7pm to 7am? Maybe the reason she doesn't sleep at 6:30pm anymore is because she just doesn't need that much sleep?


(5) Gina Ford said to eliminate evening nap but baby can't keep awake for >2hrs at a stretch (She loves sleeping). This means total naptime exceeds the recommended 3 hrs.


I'm also trying to follow GF's recommendation because I want my baby to go to bed on time but it's not always easy to control the daytime naps. The only thing I'm strict about it not letting baby sleep after 5pm so that I can get her to bed before 8pm. Sometimes she takes extra daytime naps and exceeds 3.5 hours.


Sometimes I wonder if I'm being too lax so that my baby will never take up the GF routine! I just want her to go to sleep before 9pm and then I'll be so happy!!!


Here's another article about finding baby's best bedtime


http://www.kellymom.com/pantley/pantley02.html

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm being too lax so that my baby will never take up the GF routine! I just want her to go to sleep before 9pm and then I'll be so happy!!!"


Patience, patience. It takes quite a dose. And of course after a month or three of good routine all of a sudden nothing works again. Kids change. Frustrating and fun.

My advice since your baby can sleep that much is to enjoy it as much as you can! They'll change sleeping habits as they grow and you'll notice that their naps will get longer (1-1.5hrs) but less frequent (maybe 1-2x/day). Just go with the flow, but keep a routine as much as possible.

I suggest to use Gina Ford as 'a guide' and not be as rigid as she suggests. All babies are different and therefore you cannot condition your baby to sleep at exact time each day/exact hour/for exact period. I did read Gina Ford for my 4 month old and used it as a guide to get a routine going. Eventually baby falls into its own routine somewhere close to where GF suggests.


I too was having trouble getting baby to sleep at night and during day when 2 months but as was suggested to me, the goal is to get him/her sleep all night so wherever they sleep or for how long they sleep in day (so long as they have some naps throughout the day) is not so important so long as they sleep thru the night. I think when baby gets 3 - 4 months old it will sleep thru regardless. Putting mine in big bed during the day makes baby feel it is napping rather than in cot as once it wakes it cries to get out, whereas on bed it will dose back again resulting in longer nap.