Got into a bad routine and don't know how to fix it

You’re not alone 💕 Im trying to figure it out too. I’m in the exact same boat with my little man, he’s 13 weeks. It’s exhausting, and I feel so bad that he has a meltdown when we try to put him to bed.

11 weeks, same boat 🫠

Does she have a bottle when she wakes from the nap? If not maybe do one and then move bedtime bottle to before bed at 8

Oh gosh didn't expect people to have the same problem, I really thought it was just me!

I do wonder if the 4-5pm nap is the problem... she is breastfed so feeds at the end of this nap. Often when we then do the bedtime routine an hour later, she refuses to feed, presumably because she's still full. Then before she conks out at 8 she starts bobbing her head against my chest so I know she's got hungry again. I wish I could feed her properly as part of the routine because I know that a full baby makes a sleepy baby! I just don't know how because at 5pm she seems so hungry

My girl like clockwork goes down at 7.30pm (she's 4 months) has done this off her own back since 8 weeks old, she sleeps right through until 7.30am she has a nap until around 6pm and has her bottle at 7pm I've followed her tired cues and its always this time, no struggle getting her to sleep even though she's only been awake for an hour, maybe try bringing the bedtime forward, if she's tired earlier you will be able to do what you need to do and she will go down alot more relaxed?

Thank you, I will give that a go! The tricky part is giving her a feeding as she has one when she wakes up from her 4-5pm nap. Often when I then try and feed her at bedtime she is still full and not interested.

Her naps are all over the place but I think she's getting 3/4 hours a day. I try my hardest to get her as much sleep as possible. I rock her in a dark room and then hold her, as I can't put her down without her waking up. This allows me to "save the nap" anyway and extend it. I'm not sure how much more I can do to improve them but I am fairly certain she gets enough sleep during the day

It sounds like “the witching hours”. My little girl did this for a short period of time before tolerating being awake for longer stretches/in the evening.

Could try feeding before her nap at 4pm and then she wakes at 5pm and you say by 6 she’s looking tired so could then start bath at 5:45pm and feed after bath and then bed? When they’re that age their wake windows may only be like an hour half/max 2 hours I reckon

Hmmm I remember when my little girl was sleeping more during the day (she’s 9 months now) her last nap was actually before bedtime. So she would sleep as we walked and then I would wake her for a feed and put her to bed. I’ve been bathing in the morning rather than night so was easy to just change, feed and put to bed. You could risk the upset of waking her up if she is crying anyway. My little one wasn’t bothered as she got a bottle within 10mins. My routine is really short as I read to her in the daytime not bedtime also

The naps should be earlier. At 12 or 2pm. She's probably bored.