Does she have a fixed bedtime? I had "rules" with smee. Bedtime (from 5 weeks onwards) was after her 8pm feed. So the 8pm routine went bath, story/feed (at the same time), lullaby, lights out. I stuck to that rigidly. I'm not going to pretend that SMee always went off to sleep then, or that i never had evenings where she'd need re-settling every hour or so, and i fed her as often as she wanted in between so when she was teething and fretful it was sometimes work for me to stick to it, BUT i did find it provided both of us with a framework.

She knew at 8pm (still now, although it's all a bit earlier nowadays) it was bedtime. Bedtime never equalled abandonment for her (i never left her if she was upset i mean) and i really got the impression that even when she was fretful, going through the motions of bedtime actually helped, if not settling her, making her more secure in her day, does that make sense? Even now, i sometimes put her down and she's bouncing about and XP will go "oh but she's not tired" and i reply "bedtime is bedtime" and that is that. I go in if she gets wild and lay her down with her bedtime lamb and whisper "it's bedtime" but apart from that i leave her to it. In the main she's a great sleeper.

And it really helped/s me to know what i was doing next. So if she screamed all afternoon/evening i KNEW at 8pm i'd start bedtime which provided a great relief from the just-trying-everything-to-get-her-to-stop routines of the daytime.

Every baby and family is different but i guess i'd set a bedtime in my head and stick to it. Be prepared for her not to fit to it at first. If your bedtime routine is elaborate (our takes 40 minutes minimum) she'll have plenty of warning. From this point of view i think i'd wake her about 5pm if she's sleeping and have play/feed/bath/story - whatever you do at bedtime in your house, and then back to bed in pyjamas etc. at your decided "bedtime". It takes time to set up a routine but ultimately it saves time when the bubs is expecting the next part of the day.

HTH and if it didn't just ignore me. You and your too-lovely, womb-awakening child....

Bx