Making an earlier bedtime...

Dd is 3 months and usually gets her last bottle at like 11. Is it too early to start getting her to go to bed earlier? I start work again soon and she's going to have to be up with me at 6am. An 8pm bedtime would be ideal I think.

Re: Making an earlier bedtime...

Message edited 8/28/2012 11:31:15 AM.

Re: Making an earlier bedtime...

I remember reading that you should start to put the baby to bed 15 minutes earlier each night to get to the bed time that you want....I remember doing that with Dd when she was very little as well, hth!

Re: Making an earlier bedtime...

Approximate: as far as I can tell, she doesn't have any set nap times during the day yet. I'll see if I can see a pattern though. DD also takes BM although we are going to have to start formula soon bc my supply has dipped

7-8am - 4-5oz
Nap (or what I call her finishing up her nighttime sleep hours)
10-11am - 4oz
2pm - 4oz
5pm - 4 oz
8pm - 4oz
11pm - 4oz

So she gets her 25 or so ounces in (I go by kellymom). Actually lately she's been finishing those bottles easy. She doesn't cry for more but maybe if up the ounces, we can eliminate that 11pm feeding

Since I have to supplement soon, should I make that last bottle at 8pm with formula? Not even sure how much to give her... Same ounces as breastmilk or no?

Message edited 8/28/2012 12:18:22 PM.

Re: Making an earlier bedtime...

What I did at that age was a "dream" feed and then eventually phased out the dream feed too.

At 3 months my DS bedtime was about 7:30. I would get him ready for bed and then he would either nurse to sleep. I would put him in his pack n play (at 3 months he was still sleeping in our room). I usually would pump for the dream feed. Around 10/10:30 I would gentenly pick him up and give him a bottle in his sleep. With the dream feed he slept through the night and I had to wake him by 5:50 to take him to my parents :( so I could leave to work. He out grew the dream feed by 5 months I would say.

Making an earlier bedtime...

At that age they really do not have set "nap" times. What I would do is start upping the formula to 5 ounces at a time. I was always told to offer more than what they are drinking because you never know when a growth spurt may happen. I know BM is a hot commodity so maybe start mixing BM with formula to increase the ounces per bottle.

At that age, my DD set her own bedtime at around 9pm and would sleep through the night until 6am. She gradually started sleeping later in the am but is still going to bed at 9pm at 17 months. Some days she wakes up at 7am and others 8am.

Re: Making an earlier bedtime...

Making an earlier bedtime...

I would start upping the other bottles during the day. I think by that age DS was taking 5-6 oz for soem of his bottles. You might see a different on how much she eats when you switch to formula too.

Re: Making an earlier bedtime...

I think if I were you, I would add an aditional ounce to each bottle so that she's eating 5 oz each time & drop that 11pm feeding, making 8pm her last bottle & bed 8:30pm. I would also do it cold turkey (works for both of my kids when I do things like this) You can try it one night before you go back to work & see what happens. It'll still be 25oz a day.

Also, if I feel like I need to add more to his bottle due to a growth spurt, I usually do it to the very first or the very last bottle of the day.

Message edited 8/28/2012 12:49:32 PM.

Re: Making an earlier bedtime...

Re: Making an earlier bedtime...

Thank you girls. Very helpful!