Bedtime routine for 8-9 week old infants?

What time are your babies going down at and what is your bedtime routine??

My b/g twins are almost 9 weeks and it seems that I can't get my girl down any earlier than midnight...ugh! And my boy goes down at 10 pm. They both sleep about 6 hrs right now. However, last night my boy slept 7 hrs..yayy!!! I think my twins are sleeping too late in the evening so they're not tired earlier. Like last night my girl slept until 8:30 pm...is that too late?? Should I be keeping her up during these hours so she can get sleep by 9 pm or so??

Any advice would be helpful! I'm really trying to get a good nights rest.

 

My girls are 8wks today and for almost 2 wks I have been trying to get a routine going, mind you we have NO routine for the day so sometimes its off....

6:30-7 baths (I only bathe them every other night otherwise I wash their hands, faces and necks, diaper)
7-7:30 lights out except small kitchen light and floor lamp on dim in living room, tv on low

That part always remains consistent, here's the part that can fluctuate especially timewise...
medicine (reflux), bath or washup & diaper, lotion, jammies, swaddle, nurse or 'top off'

Then I'll put one in the swing with the music on low while I get the other into bed I usually start about 8ish and I just rock them and pat their bum, then I do the other if she hasnt already fallen asleep in the swing. I usually have them both down by 8-9, sometimes I will have to go back in and rub their back or pat their bum to get them to settle again.
Once or twice I have had 'those' nights when nothing goes according to plan and it seems to be related to someone being overtired.
But since I have started this they both will sleep 4-6hrs that first stretch of night, and we dont get up till 8-9am... Now I just have to work on the rest of the night and days!

Its by far perfection but it seems to be helping, and since I am a first time single mom I think I am doing alright.

 

QUOTE(dmarie @ Dec 13 2007, 10:49 AM) [snapback]532143[/snapback]
What time are your babies going down at and what is your bedtime routine??

My b/g twins are almost 9 weeks and it seems that I can't get my girl down any earlier than midnight...ugh! And my boy goes down at 10 pm. They both sleep about 6 hrs right now. However, last night my boy slept 7 hrs..yayy!!! I think my twins are sleeping too late in the evening so they're not tired earlier. Like last night my girl slept until 8:30 pm...is that too late?? Should I be keeping her up during these hours so she can get sleep by 9 pm or so??

Any advice would be helpful! I'm really trying to get a good nights rest.



At 9 weeks, we had a definite routine for our twins. The only thing that changed a little was the exact time that we started the routine. Basically, we would start the routing approx 3 hours after their last "supper" bottle --which could have been between 5-6p. Then, we would give them both a light bath, only basically wash their face every night and the other parts every other night, then put them in their "pjs", which is just a short sleeve onesie. We then play the same lullaby CD every night as we feed them their last bottle (this is anywhere between 830p-930p), and then we swaddle them, put on their sound machine and they are out. Our little ones have been sleeping 8-10 hours a night (!) since about 8 weeks.
The most important parts are the tight swaddle and the sound machine.

Good luck,
Ingrid

B/G twins born 8/16/07

 

We have seemed to have some success for the past week or so with the bedtime routine. I will start getting them ready for bed whenever they start getting drowsy or fussy between 6-6:30pm (if it's earlier, I try to keep them calm till then). Baths are a few times/week (they HATE them!). We then go upstairs to change into pj's, listen to music, and nurse in the glider. DH will then rock one and I will rock the other for 5-10 minutes, and then they are put down in thier cribs. I hope I don't jinx myself here, but for the last several nights, once they have been put in the cribs, they will fall asleep wtih minimal, if any, fussing. It is the rare occasion that I have to go back in and soothe one for a few more minutes. I think it has also helped that I have been putting them down for naps during the day once they start looking drowsy. We get about 3 daytime naps in, ranging 1-2.5 hours long. They are better rested and I think that helps them fall asleep easier at night. It seems like they sleep a lot right now, but I really think they need it, and they have been easier and happier babies in general since we've started this. We are giving them a dream feed around 11pm before we go to bed, and they usually wake again to eat at 3:30/4am, and then around 7am for the day. This weekend, we are going to skip the 11pm feed and see what happens if we let them wake on their own....

FWIW, instituting a much earlier bedtime has made a huge difference. Keeping them up past 7 just resulted in cranky, fussy babies much of the evening. DH and I are really enjoying having some of the evening to ourselves and not eating dinner while holding a baby

 

We just started a routine about a week ago. My DD was screaming from 6pm till after midnight and I never knew it but she was extremely tired. I start at 5pm. Bath, bottle, bed (she loves the sound machine). She is usually asleep by 6pm. DS is totally different. He has always been asleep by 6pm for a while now. All I have to do for him is just hold him for 5 minutes and he is nocked out. When I realized how important a routine or schedule was for DD my life has gotten much easier. I try to put her to bed during the day too when I see the first sign of tiredness. Good luck.

 

Right around this age, we started a typical "bedtime" routine. We started doing the bathes, pjs and reading, and bottle around 8 every night and put them down. Then we kinda dream fed them at 12. This way they became used to the "usual" bedtime, which now at 17 months has been 7pm every night. Its good to start a routine so eventually they can just fall into that being the last time you see them til they wake in the morning.

 

I read Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child when my babies were 7 weeks old and I realized that I needed to stop holding cranky babies all evening/night and get the boys to bed. So whatever feeding was closest to 6:00 was their before-bed feeding as of 7 weeks. We would feed them, bath them, massage them, put them in their PJs (all with the lights low and not too much smiling and laughing, compared to the day), then we would swaddle them up, snuggle them and then lay them down in their crib side-by-side (James with a paci, Evan wasn't taking one then) (they were still sleeping in the same crib at that point, until 3 months). Within a few days they were sleeping until 11 then waking for a feeding. We would change their diapers and then feed them in the dark (just a dim little light). We didn't talk to them or smile/play, we just changed, fed, re-swaddled and then layed them back down. They would wake again at 2 or 3, and we'd go through the same feeding routine. When they woke again at 5 or 6 we would start our "day" (unless we could talk them into going back to sleep!). Before we started with this routine my life was a blur of cranky, crying, overtired babies who needed to be swung, worn, rocked, and held all evening. I was GOING CRAZY until I realized they were ready for some kind of routine and so was I. Many people will tell you that you don't need to get into a routine until 5 months. If I'd waited that long I'd have been in a mental institution. Maybe you can wait until 5 months if you have 1 baby and 2 parents. With twins you have to be proactive, IMO. Go for it!