Please help with nightime routine for 1 month old

So I want to start a nighttime routine for my 1 month old daughter. For the routine, I decided to change her diaper, read a story, nurse her, swaddle her, then put her down for bed.

However, after I changed her diaper, she was crying b/c she was very hungry. I tried to delay her, give her a pacifier, but she was just too hungry. So I nursed her for about an hour then she fell asleep. Obviously, our routine went out the window. It seemed silly to starve her or to wake her to read her a story.

For those of you who have nighttime routines, especially this young, how do you deal with it when your child has needs that do not fit in to the routine?

TIA

Re: Please help with nightime routine for 1 month old

Congratulations on your new baby girl! So exciting!!!

I didn't start a *real* routine with Gianna until she was about 4 mos old. By then, she was sleeping through the night, and eating every 3-4 hours or so. Before then, she had feedings every 2 hours, and it was tough to set any routine with her.

Now, Gianna is 5 mos old, and each night we do this:
I feed her between 8-9pm (used to be 11pm but it has been getting earlier - ideally, I'd like to put her down between 7-8pm), change her, and then sit in the rocker. I read her 2-3 books while she lays in my arms with her binkie. She usually falls asleep by letter "p" of Dr. Seuss' ABC book (first book read), and then I continue on to book 2 or 3. I pull the binkie from her mouth, lay her in her crib, and then out she is for the night.

Don't stress out about routines just yet. Read to your little one when she's awake or whenever you can, but don't worry about doing it right before bed. OR, if you do it before you put her down, don't worry if she falls asleep while you're reading OR if she's already asleep when you start. She can still hear you and you're still bonding with her AND she's learning language. When months 3-4 come around, then start to slowly work on a bedtime routine. You might only frustrate yourself if you try to start this earlier and it doesn't work out right away.

Good luck!!! T

Re: Please help with nightime routine for 1 month old

Honestly, we never read ds a story until recently (he's 1 years old). So i'd skip that if i were you and not stress over it.

At 4 weeks old, we didn't really have too much of a routine i guess. It was bath time, swaddle, bottle and bed.

You just kind of have to go by her cues at this point.

Re: Please help with nightime routine for 1 month old

we barely have a routine and DD is 10 months

She gets a bottle and goes in the crib. thats it. I do baths in the morning since I am a SAHM and I read whenever throughout the day

Re: Please help with nightime routine for 1 month old

I wouldn't drive yourself crazy trying to get a routine down with a 1 month old. That is VERY young to expect them to adhere to any specific routine. We let DD do her own thing when she was little, we fed her when she was hungry, she slept when she wanted to and as she got older she put herself on her own routine. By 3 months she cut out her night bottles and was sleeping from 10pm-8am and by 4 months she had her last bottle at 7pm and slept from 7:30pm-7am. (does the same thing now) As far as routines, the only thing we've ever stuck to from the beginning is always a diaper before a bottle and at night......diaper-bottle-relax-bed. I am not sweating any formal routine right now (DD is 9 months). I will start that as she is a little older. Right now everything we're doing is working for us.