please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

we're trying to get DS on a "schedule". we give him a bath and bottle and then try to put him to sleep. we've tried several different times. if we put him down early at 8 or 9pm he SCREAMS until he starts throwing up his bottle. sometimes we wait until 10 or 11pm but then he has to be with us until then and we're trying to get some alone time together.

what would you suggest? i don't know what's considered "normal" especially since he's still waking up every 2-3 hours throughout the night. i have no problem letting him cry a little bit before he settles down, but he still can't really calm himself at this age. i prefer putting him down when he's almost totally out as he tends to sleep better.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

We just followed his schedule til about 3 months. I found that he went to sleep at all different times bc he was constantly with a bottle. Once he wasnt eating at nite...we put him in bw 7 and 8.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

At 6 weeks DD definitely was not on a set schedule for bed time. She was still eating every 3 hours or so we would just go based on that schedule.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

Honestly, I think you have to give up alone time together for a little while. Waking up every 3 hours at this age is normal and we just followed DS's schedule.

When DH mentioned to his cousin (mom of 6, grandma to many) that we were trying to get DS on a schedule at 8 weeks, she laughed hysterically at him. As long as he is getting enough sleep throughout the day, I would continue to follow his timetable for now.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

He might have a witching hour at that time - is that a possibility? My little guy's witching hour seems to be between 7 and 9 ish...he might just have some energy that needs to be released at that time. I would just go with whatever works for now!

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

DS is 9 weeks old. For the last 3 weeks or so, I have been putting him down between 7-9. It depends on what time he has had his bottle and if it is a bath day. I started this when one time we put him down and he slept for 5-6 hours so we weren't going to wake him. That's about his longest stretch. So I have just been following this routine. If I try to keep him up longer, he just gets too cranky. As it is, if his last bottle ends up at 8:30 ish, he is very hard to put to sleep. I would like a more specific schedule as well, but DS doesn't seem to be cooperating just yet.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

I agree with the above posters...at this age, you have to be on his schedule...he is still too young to be put on schedule. I think tis a great idea to start instilling one, but don't expet him to fall out and go to asleep. Also at this age its not a good idea to let him cry that much. Pick him up, comfort him. Eventually he will start sleeping at longer stretches.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

At 6 weeks, Lily started sleeping through the night...but she started her night off in the swing. She'd get a bottle around 8, then go into her swing and fall asleep. Then around 11, I'd give her another bottle while she was still sleeping (dreamfeed), change her diaper, and put her up in the crib.
She was an exceptional sleeper though, so that might not work with all babies.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

I agree with PP. It may seem like it's going to last forever but before you know it, he will start sleeping more. Right now it's important for him to know if he cries, you will be there for him. It's establishing trust.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

at 6 weeks both my DD and DS started going to bed after their 8pm bottle (or whatever time closest to that they got their bottle)

My DD surprised me and slept 8 - 5 and my DD also surprised me and slept 8 - 3. But I made sure they were fed on a schedule during the day and napped every 1.5 - 2 hours. "sleep begets sleep"

By 8 weeks DD slept 8 - 6. DS is now almost 10 weeks and sleeps 8 - 5. They sleep great at night, but aren't good nappers. I guess I can't have everything.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

I agree with PPs, you're going to have to follow DS's schedule. Your DS's sleep/feeding pattern sounds normal for his age. It would be really tough to put a 6 week old on a schedule. My DS didn't sleep through the night until 2 1/2 months or so. Only recently did he start waking again, but for different reasons. (He learned how to roll over and has been getting stuck when doing it in his sleep.) Anyway, just remember that it does get better! Hang in there!

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

At 6 weeks we were still going on her schedule. Right around then is when she started sleeping 11pm-5am but occasionally she was still up every 3 hours to eat.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

I think DD didn't go to sleep until like 11pm when she was 6 weeks old.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

6 weeks is the absolute earliest I've ever heard a baby getting into a schedule, but that seems to be the exception more than the rule.

From the day she came home, I put DD to bed at 9. Sometimes she'd go right down and sleep for 3-4 hours straight, sometimes she'd fight it for an hour or two before falling asleep. Now she's almost 7 months and she goes to bed around 8:00 and sleeps through, but she wasn't doing that consistently until she was about 5 months old.

I would say try to stick to a routine but understand that you will have to adapt to DC and vice versa. They don't know what you expect any more than you can predict how they'll react at this young age. Eventually you'll both figure each other out.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

My DS is 6 weeks old and i too would like him on some sort of schedule. Whether he follows it or not is another story.

But for the most part we give him his bath at 8pm, then his bottle and we can usually get him down by 9pm. Sometimes he doesn't go down until 10pm. He's been sleeping at least 4 hours in a stretch now and will occasionally surprise us with a 5 or even 6 hour stretch at a time.

During the day, he naps quite a bit. Sometimes its for 30 minutes at a time, but he usually takes at least an hour and a half- 2 hour nap during the day at least once.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

From Day one DS has been put down for bed at 8 pm. He made is own overnight schedule and would get up when he was hungry. I think that putting him down at the same time each night helped him sleep through the night better. By two weeks old he was sleeping from 8 to 1 and progressively the night time feeding would get later and later until he was sleeping straight through from 8-6 at 10 weeks. This is still pretty much his schedule although he may sleep alittle later on the weekends

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

thanks for all your help.

i put "schedule" in quotation marks because i know he's too young for one...i'm just trying to lay the foundations of one.

and my and DH's alone time usually consists of folding DS's laundry or cleaning his room. i should have made that more clear

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

Message edited 8/12/2008 4:25:08 PM.

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

Our schedule from day 1 was follow his lead but with lights on at 6am-8pm, bath and lights off with only a slight night light after 8pm, no playing.

He's a great sleeper at night!

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

I would agree with most everything the other ladies have said. My son is almost 9 weeks and I have found that he has screaming fits only when he is exhausted. I make sure that he takes a good nap in the afternoon. At night, I take him into a cool, dark room and I hold him my arms sideways. I also "shush" in his ear and sway from side to side until he starts to calm and fall asleep.

Brandon is sleeping from 7PM - 12AM every night now and then waking for a feeding. It gets better and easier!

Re: please help! what time do/did you put your 6 week old down to sleep at at night?

My 6 wk old slept whenever I got her to fall asleep. If I was lucky it was before midnight.