Sleep, Play, Feed

• 06-05-2009 11:26 PM

  MICHELLE3089512 Joined on 10-20-2008 Posts 3

  Sleep, Play, Feed Reply Contact Any suggestions on how to get my four month old into the sleep, play feed routine?? Also she wakes several times a night, sometimes wants food, other times just wants to whinge, any suggestion on how to get her to sleep through the night. Have tried giving her a bottle just before she goes to bed, but she refuses to take it. Also she changes her bed time constantly, sometimes it is 6:00, other times it is between 8-9:00. I have tried waking her when she goes down at 6:00 but to no avail, she just screams at me. HELP!!!!

• 06-06-2009 7:50 PM

  In reply to

  Lena751 Joined on 07-25-2008 St. Petersburg FL Posts 1,562

  Re: Sleep, Play, Feed Reply Contact Find a routine that works for you, and stick to it, no matter what! It'll take a few weeks of being constant until she begins to "get it" and start to anticipate naptime, playtime, and bedtime. The bedtime that works for my son, now 6 months, is 8, but sometimes it's earlier or later depending on his mood. I had to change his bedtime from 11pm to 8 and it was he!! trying to do that, but I was consistant with it and now he knows that bedtime is coming. As for sleeping through the night...When she wakes up to feed, feed her if she wants it. Otherwise, rock, cuddle, sing, or rub her back or belly until she falls back asleep. This also helps when shes fussy because she's tired but fighting sleep.

• 06-10-2009 9:21 AM

  In reply to

  Meagan2951633 Joined on 10-04-2008 Posts 15

  Re: Sleep, Play, Feed Reply Contact My 3 month old is actually on a sleep, eat, play routine. It works really well for us. He eats and has playtime until he gets cranky (usually 30 min. to an hour after feeding) and then takes a nap. I am trying to extend his schedule right now from 2.5 hrs to 3 and it's been working out nicely. As far as bedtime, try and get her to eat as much as possible throughout the day so that she's getting the recommended amount of food. As bedtime approaches, make the last 2 feedings closer together so she's nice and full (another poster recommended this and it's worked off and on for us). I agree about being consistent with bedtime. Continue the cycle of sleep, eat, play until the last couple hours before bedtime and then have a routine specific to before bed. She'll know it's coming. A book called "On Becoming Baby Wise" is a great resource for getting your infant on a schedule and helping them sleep through the night. My baby is still not sleeping through the night, but I think he's on his way...he may just have to work it out on his own.

• 06-22-2009 7:37 AM

  In reply to

  Carolyn2891887 Joined on 06-22-2009 Posts 4

  Re: Sleep, Play, Feed Reply Contact It took me quite a while to figure out how to effectively sleep train. It used to be my baby would only nap in my arms! Now (and since he was about 6.5 months old) he naps well and goes to sleep well at night. Here is what I have read in Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and have found to work for me: 1. Put baby to bed for the night between 6 and 8 pm, depending on how their naps happened during the day and when their last nap occurred. 2. Have a CONSISTENT sleep routine--for naps I nurse him in the dark bedroom, then read a short book or two, then walk around the room rocking him while singing a few songs, then I put him in his crib awake and leave the room; for bedtime I do the same thing only I give him a brief bath beforehand (I only use soap every few days so his skin doesn't get dried out). 3. Put baby back to sleep for another nap during the day after only being awake for a couple of hours. 4. Until they get a routine down, start the process of putting them to bed for the morning nap just 1 hour (yes, only 1 hour!) after they wake up in the morning. Establishing the morning nap is often key. 5. Don't let them sleep much past 7 am in the morning. 6. Be consistent, consistent, consistent in leaving the baby alone to sleep for 1 hour minimum per nap. That's if you're letting your baby cry, which was the only way I could do sleep training. Once I became consistent and stuck with it, we got improvement really quickly.