Hi I have an 8 month old baby girl and I go back to work very soon and need some advice on how to get her into a bedtime routine. At the moment she doesn't have one, she goes to sleep at about 11pm or later sometimes. I need advice on how to get her into a routine so she will go to sleep earlier. Before I had her I said that I was going to make sure I had a routine and well that went out the window before it even started. When you was 4 months old she would sleep from about 10pm till 7am and then she just stopped at 6 months. So if you have any advice on how I can start then please do, I know it won't happen over night but I just don't know where to start. Thanks

**when she was 4 months old

Hi Zoe,

My LO is 9.5 months old now & we have had an established bedtime routine from very early one. We do bath, dressed, cuddles/story (often skipped as LO just wants milk) and breast feed. He would often fall asleep feeding around 7pm and I would transfer him to crib/cot. However this routine doesn't mean he will actually sleep. we went through a development spurt at around 5 months & have 5 weeks of refusing to go to sleep until about 10pm then waking for 6 feeds a night. He then overnight went back to going to sleep between 7-7.30pm! He would still wake for feeds but 2-3 a night rather that 6. We have now had a further 5weeks of refusing to go to sleep early (we persist with the routine throughout) and frequent night wakings. A further development spurt combined with 5 teeth in two weeks definately had an impact. I've been reading the Wonder Weeks which covers all the development stuff and how this can disrupt.

So in short I think start with getting a routine of mealtime, followed by bath/wash, read/gentle play (cuddles etc) & then bed. Somewhere in there you would put in your feed. Some people prefer to feed before bath to avoid association of sleep with feeding. Personally I feed last & if LO falls asleep feeding so be it but if he doesn't we then have a battle on our hands! I go back to work in a couple of months and pray we can get a routine where LO sleeps earlier and wakes less. Personally I can't do controlled crying but I do know otherrs who have with varying degrees of success.

Good luck

Hi,
Thanks for that, it will help, I'm going to start it tomorrow night and hopefully she will get into the routine
Thanks

Well I bathed R at half 7 and then got her ready for bed and she went into her cot asleep at 8.55pm, now waiting for when she's going to wake up lol, if she wakes up and won't go back to sleep not sure whether I should get her out of cot or I should leave her?? I think I will most likely end up getting her out and being with us in the lounge, or should I try to leave her?