Sleep routine for busy babies.

[*EJ*]

My DS2 is almost 11 months old (so not so much of a baby anymore) and i have found him to be a very active little bub. DS1 was/is very placid and bedtime routine with him was very easy so the activeness and not wanting to 'switch off' of DS2 is new to me and i'm looking for a few tips.

I'm just wondering what those who have fairly active bubs (that really need some kind of calm down routine) do. We do have a set routine of the day that i do my best to follow as i have found that one day out of routine can really throw DS2. AM sleep is no problem at all, PM sleep often takes about an hour to get him to sleep and night time sleep is very similar. A b/f before bed isn't enough to relax and get him into a calm place, he jumps off so many times and just wants to be realeased from my arms. I find i have to put him in bed and go back to him 2 or 3 times with the offer of more b/f before he finally goes to sleep.

I think i have come to the conclusion this is because he has not gotten enough indications of it being time to settle down and go to sleep. He has generally been up for 3-4 hours by bed time so he should be tired. We bath/shower every second night, most nights i am doing this without the help of DH so it's difficult to focus on one or the other and to keep things in a quiet relaxed state.

Apart from a bath and b/f as a sleep association what else do people use for an 11ish month old who is very active?

[Rosa]

hi myboys.. not sure if this would help you but my boy is 13 months, he is my only one but i am 3 mths pregnant with my 2nd.. my little boy is so so busy all day and i was going through the same thing.. morning sleep was not a problem, but arvo sleep and night time was so hard, i was finding myself in his room at night for over 45 mins and resulted in etting him control cry in the end which broke my heart..so i spoke to my clinic nurse to see if she had any ideas... she told me to try this routine:
5.30pm dinner
6.30pm bath
7.30pm sleep time, with sleep time i place one hand on his shoulder and the other patting his bumb.. i have done this for 2 nights now.. 1st night took 30 mins to put him down, the next night 20 mins
5-6am.. bottle
8.30-9.00am breakfast
11.30am sleep

she said that cause i was having problems putting him to sleep in the arvo maybe 1 sleep but a big one woould be an idea... i have done this for 2 days now and last night he sleep from 8pm - 5am all night where i was having him sleeping from 10pm to 5am with 4 wake ups so i am very happy with his progress...
just thought i would share this with you but not sure if it would work for you, just an idea and to she with you my experience...

good luck sweety... hope it works out fo you xxx

[Fleur]

Have you tried massage?
Maybe after shower or bath, turn the lights down (we have just a lamp on) dry off then a massage, it doesn't have to be long or involved. He might like just lying on his tummy while you run your fingers down his back.

Arlea likes having her feet rubbed And the 'rule' is, even if she's not quite ready for bed after dinner & shower, we stay in the bedroom with her, lamp only on, and have quiet time until she's ready.
Can you enlist your DH to keep an eye on DS1?

Although she is a bit younger than your little man, jsut a few ideas...also you could try calming music? we did this with DD1, worked well.

HTH

[onthefly]

My DS is very busy and takes a loooooong time to switch off. Even with bathtime and books, he still needs a good 20-30 minutes of talking and singing (and rolling and wriggling and chattering) before he can unwind properly at night.


At that age, I remember he had a hard time getting to sleep and we started taking evening walks before bed.
So dinner, bathtime, walk, books, bf, bed. It was a longish routine, but seemed to work. After a while we dropped the walk.

Rather than goign back to him 2 or 3 times you could try staying and talking to him about his day, or singing, patting his bum, or whatever you think might work. Might end up being quicker

[*EJ*]

I apologise profusely for not getting back to you ladies i really do appreciate your replies. I have just started back at work and things have been slightly crazy.

Rosa thanks for the example of your routine. Things have been ok here if i keep well on top of things and get the sleep times timed perfectly. DS still needs some encouragement for afternoon, and sometimes night but for the most part he's been pretty good the last week or two. How are you finding things?

Jasp i loved massage but i stopped it when he was about 5ish months maybe (once he started rolling) because he just wouldn't stay still and i didn't feel it was having a calming effect on him. I could give it a go here and there though which he may enjoy. I wish i could enlist DH to be here at a certain time to help with the bedtime routine but it's so difficult. It'd really help if he could read to DS1 while i settle DS2

Marcellus i have started staying in with him rather than leaving him to try and just drif off to sleep. I hum and little tune and it really does seem to calm him. So much of every day (even 11 months later) is trial and error and continually trying to figure out what works best for you LO isn't it!?!

Thank you all for your suggestions, at desperate times it's so great to be able to type in a question and get some great advice