by JoAnn Wilson

Created on: December 07, 2008

Personally I would say no as it may lead to problems in the future. When my daughter was 3 weeks old she was up all night. Rarely crying, just awake, wanting attention and to be entertained. Now I know it is very normal for such young infants to do this but as a new mum with a fianc who worked and needed to sleep at night it was left to me.

Not only was I awake most of the night but I was also awake during the day. Feeding, changing, washing bottles, sterilising, cleaning the house, having people come and go all day. I was unable to catch up on the sleep I was missing. When my fianc came home from work he was too tired to help and was quick to say that he had a hard day while I had it easy'.

After 3 weeks I knew I had to sort out her sleeping routine or I would be paying for it in later years. My first plan of action was to establish a bedtime routine. I found that I was bathing her in the afternoon and she was sleeping for the longest after that. I changed her bath time until 7pm. She would have her a warm bottle at 8pm followed by cuddle time and in bed by 9pm. The first night went well. She slept until 3am, woke up for a feed and was back asleep at 4am. I couldn't sleep that night as I was sure she'd wake up just as I was drifting off and I would end up grumpy.

The second night she slept from 9pm to 6am where my fianc got the morning feed done before he left for work while I got a long lie'. Something I hadn't had in a month!

We stuck to the routine and it has been 4 months and she is sleeping for nearly 12 hours each night. If I hadn't gotten a bedtime routine fixed I have no idea what I would be doing with the lack of sleep. I do realise that it might not stay this way but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

As a mother, I haven't had many troubles with my daughter. However I am a first time mother who has, compared to my friends children, a perfect baby who rarely gives me any trouble. One of my friends has a son of the same age and she is up every 2 hours feeding him. She tried the bedtime routine as me but it never worked for her. I am aware that this method doesn't work for everyone and there are other methods that wouldn't work either so what do you do when this happens?

Take a look at what helps them to sleep during the day. A certain teddy, a particular blanket. My fianc's nephew, who is nearly 2 years old, wouldn't sleep in his moses basket OR his cot. For the first 5 months his parents could only get him to sleep when he was in his bouncer, so that was his bed. If your child has a particular place they can fall asleep in such as a bouncer, try that. When you are sure they are in a deep sleep, very gently remove the baby from the bouncer and gently place them in their cot. There were some nights I had to do this with my daughter when she was a bit grumpy and refused to go to sleep in her cot.

At the end of the day you must do what suits your child. If keeping them up and becoming a bit of a night owl' helps them get to sleep, do it. If my daughter hadn't taken to her bedtime routine the way she did, I would have tried everything I could think of but if nothing worked then I would have to work with her and allow her to stay awake. As every parent knows, when it comes to babies they will do what the want, when they want!

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