How to get baby to stick to a routine?

What is some advice you can give me if TRYING to do a bedtime routine and baby won’t allow you to rock, give a bottle or read a story? You have to be walking around with her, and she screams at the bottle and sometimes when I nurse, but she is definitely not satisfied to go down for the night unless she falls asleep nursing, and I don’t want her to be reliant on that. It’s almost like she can’t soothe herself and she doesn’t take a pacifier.

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Help a mama out and respond anonymously on our forum. How to get baby to stick to a routine?

Sounds Ike a growth leap. Make sure you are pace feeding with a bottle if you nurse as well. If baby is younger then 6 months you should just feed as they need since there is a lot of brain development and baby needs the fuel.

I wouldn’t suggest trying to get yourself into a routine in this stage. Sleep is developmental and this is totally normal for an infant. Try joining the Facebook group Sleepy Littles. There is tons of UTD information that you would benefit from.

Would be helpful to know how old the baby is for we can better answer your question

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They won’t always rely on nursing to sleep. It’s not a bad thing for them to fall asleep nursing. Your milk has extra oxytocin in it in the evening to help your baby sleep, it’s normal… This too shall pass.

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Just lay her down and walk away she will cry and scream but eventually will stop being so fussy

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Depending on baby’s age baby may still be of the age to need night nursing/bottle. Every baby is different. My boy is one year old and he goes to bed with a 2oz water bottle. He likes to just top off with his water and some cuddles.

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You truly cant. Baby runs the show

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You cant with an infant and especially not a sick one. babies shouldnt have to soothe themselves thats what you are for

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babies shouldn’t have to self soothe. that is what we are here for, to soothe them and be there for them.

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Have you taken the baby to the doctor? Age is a big factor when they are little babies don’t care much for schedules…just their own.

Don’t get so stressed out about bedtime routine as of yet; besides changing/swaddle them, snuggle and breastfeeding. Breastfeeding to sleep is very comforting for baby! I did for a long time and when my little one was ready we transitioned the bedtime routine a bit and has no issues falling asleep. Moms get so stressed about feeding to sleep/nap, but it’s really a great tool to have and babies will eventually move on from that!

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You need to work to the baby. However you could have a routine by about 6 months with alot of dedication etc. My son is 5 months and most days he has the same routine however that can change faster than the speed of light. Look up sleep routines and they will give you guidelines and times etc.

Try babysleepsite.com

You are the parent. Sat the roles now. Whill you can.

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Don’t be so rigid. Baby’s do what they do… Let them. Not harmful… baby will give up nursing, and you’ll miss it and look back fondly… you’ll regret any forcing you do… and it will only create stress and heartache. BE… and flow… don’t PUSH and Go… Relax and enjoy… everything changes in time

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Routine is good. And it’s something that you’ll want to work on. Assuming the child is fed, clean, not to hot/cold and not sick, they will eventually need to self soothe, which takes time and consistency. Dinner, bath, bottle, bed. When she cries or gets out of bed, put her right back. It will be exhausting for both of you, but necessary if you don’t want a teenager in bed with you.

With Alllllll of that being said… hold that baby, rock that baby and nurse that baby a while longer. Enjoy it. At some point, she’s not gonna want anything to do with you and you’re gonna miss these days.

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Myself, why fight nature. You probably won’t win without the 3 rd world war. I just accepted it as natural thats the way babies are and put them to bed when they fell asleep. On to other chores.

Routines are nice to start but babies have day and night confused, are used to just getting nutrients all day everyday, etc… try putting a heating pad in bassinet or crib before putting baby in it, swaddle, rock until almost asleep and put in crib. Baby may cry but give it a couple mins and then go back in. Try different pacifiers, bottles baby may have a preference.

I have an eight month old and when he was little I tried to get a routine and it always changed so just work with the baby and eventually you’ll get a routine down he used to fall asleep on the bottle when he was younger but that has slow down. it’s fine.

Consistency. Whatever routine youre trying to do, continue doing it. After feeding or whatever, put her in her bed around the same time every night. Let her cry for 5 to 10 mins then check on her or comfort her. Dont pick her up unless you need to. Then go back out for a longer time. I kno its frowned upon but ive done the cry it out method. I never let my kids cry very long but they usually go to sleep. My daughter i had to put in a swing then mive her to her bed. My son was an amazing baby. My daughter was not. We thought she was colic. There were days she didnt even nap. Finalky after 4 or 5 months she grew out of that. She used to cry all the time. She found a blanky that she chews on the corners of lol. My boy is a thumb sucker. Hes 3 now tho but still sucks his thumb. He has his “baby” (stuffed charlie brown) he git attatched to around 18 mo or 2 yrs old. He took binki til 6 months but found his thumb. Nothing worked for her besides a swing

How old is the baby?

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Have ears & sinuses checked.

My 3 year old grandson suffered many ear infections, has had 2 sets of ear tubes, adenoids removed & is finally settling into a good nighttime routine after 3 years of hell.

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You can’t make a baby stick to a routine.but you certainly can .if she don’t don’t want bottle or story than put in bed and walk away .come back a couple mins later and ask her again if she wants the bottle keep repeating the process untill she is eventually gets tired out .she will get the hang of it .it just time and practice once you back down even once it’s back to square one

For an infant it’s literally impossible. They don’t know what to do besides eat and cry, they’re new to the world. You can try to have them in their crib by a certain time, but they may cry still. With my oldest I just tried every day to keep her up as much as I could, it’s really hard but just one step at a time momma

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Maybe let her cry it out?

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How old is she? If she’s under 3 months, a routine won’t work.

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A routine is really important, but only to an extent at a young age. At 7 weeks we started a routine with my daughter. And by that I mean she was bathed and fed at rhe exact time daily. Teaching night from day is really important too, day time.naps we let a little sun in, night time was DARK, we NEVER turned a light on (only little night lights). Once in bed, we didn’t get her back out again aside from rocking in one spot, but otherwise we patted her back in the cot so she knew it eas bedtime. It took hours some days :woman_shrugging:. But she’s now 2.5 and she sleeps all night, always has. She knows not to leave her toddler bed during the night, and she knows if she needs me I will come to her (usually only ever asks for me before falling asleep, once she’s out she’s out).

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For the naysayers, babies can learn to self soothe…there’s a limit of course. If they cant calm down after a few min then it’s totally appropriate to pick them up. It’s especially true if theyre over tired or in light sleep, it is 100% okay to let them cry it out for a couple of minutes and see if they fall back asleep. Sometimes work, sometimes doesnt, doesnt mean you should shame a mother for trying it’s a legitimate method to put them down for sleep.

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I have the same problems and honestly dont kill yourself trying to set a strict schedule because every baby is different. Some like schedules, some dont. Best you can do is follow regular patterns for naps and bedtime. Like make sure theyre in a sleeper at night, change their diaper, maybe wipe them down and rub on some lotion, keep the room dark and maybe use some white noise. Then during the day I keep in mind my baby isnt usually awake for more than 1-2 hours as a general rule of thumb and if he starts to get fussy thats a cue for me to lay him down for his nap. And if baby falls asleep nursing so be it lol if baby is satisfied, I wouldnt worry so much. At least she’ll go to be full and will sleep longer, thats the idea anyway. My little guy wont take the pacifier either, Im trying to transition him to bottle taking during the day too and it’s hell but slowly working itself out. Be patient, it’ll be okay.

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Just do you and bubs. I’ve had 6 of them and everyone was different. Some nursed to sleep others nursed and then slept, some had pacifiers and some didn’t. I had one, my only daughter who would only fall asleep on her fathers bare chest. Just keep trying different things and see what works. Eventually a routine will work itself out. And remember that babies feel your emotions too so if you’re stressed out bubs will react to that too. Calm yourself and bubs will feel that too. Good luck mumma. :crossed_fingers::baby:

My sons pretty much on a schedule at 3mo old… med and bottle at 6am, second bottle round noon, third between 3-4pm and a final one between 8-10pm and he’s down for the night… so far so good. He sleeps most of the day and when he’s awake, he spends time with family and plays with new toys he just got

She’s a baby. She can’t soothe herself. And nursing to sleep if absolutely normal and just fine.

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