Fretful after evening meal, cos he wants to sleep but I wont't let him!

[Loochyloo]

Hi all
advice needed please... ds is nearly 8 months and since starting on evening meals gets so grumpy and fretful after. He really wants to kip but I try and stop him cos he goes to bed early. At the mo schedule is:
3pm 3oz milk
6pm dinner (veg/ fruit etc)
7.30 bath
8 last bottle then bed
but between 6 and 7.30 he's sooooo grumpy that am beginning to dread evenings. Do i bite bullet, let him have a kip and move bath/ last feed later? Am on my own so am loath to keep little darling up cos it's only when he's gone to bed that I can "do things" (like have my dinner and drink wine yippee)
Any advice welcome.

[dinosaur]

Hi Loochyloo - why does he need to wait until 7.30 pm for his bath? My DS3 is nearly 8 months and is usually exhausted by 7 p.m. so I put him to bed soon after that - he sleeps until 6-6.30 a.m. Are you trying to avoid yours waking up so early?

[nailpolish]

what does he nap like during the day?

my dd2 (6 mths) sometimes gets a bit like that, i find sometimes putting her in her door bouncer will help, i chat to her while i do the dishes or something, then bath feed bed at 8pm too

or sometimes i give in and let her nap for half an hr (no longer) and she still goes down ok if i bath her after that feed and bed

all you can do if you want to let him have a wee nap after tea is try it and if it doesnt work then at least you tried

[Mum2Ela]

I know mine is a bit younger, but DS is in bed by 5.30 - 6pm! He is nearly 5 mths. He only has 2 naps a day atm of half hour each (nightmare!) so by 6 he is shattered! Ok, he isn't sleeping thru the night yet, he will feed at about 10.30 and then 3.30 and be up at 630 - 7am( dependant on how loud his big sis is).

If your DS is tired earlier,why not put him to bed earlier?

Although the clocks are going forward this weekend and so how will this affect his routine? (sorry, can't think this afternoon!)

[MamaMaiasaura]

Hi Loochy.. my ds is now 5 and i aim him to be in bed by 7.30. If you bring dinner forward to 5.30 and get him in bath straight after then straight to bed might help.

Also, for an interesting but science fact, after you eat alot of blood rushes to digestive system to sort out food, which means less elsewhere hence sleepyness - it is why animals sleep after good feed and we al want to after xmas dinner


Good luck x

[PrettyCandles]

What sort of naps does he have in the daytime? At that age mine had about 1hr from 9/9.30am, 2h from 12.30/1pm and a short 30-45min nap at about 4pm. They also had milk about 3/3.30, supper about 5/5.30, bath 6.15/6.30 and bed 7/7.30. From bath they went straight to bottle and story and then straight into bed. HTH

[PrettyCandles]

No, I think that by 8m they had probably dropped the third nap, and only had it if they were knackered. I probably moved lunch and the afternoon nap on by up to 1h.

[TracyK]

Agree with dinosaur. Put him to bed earlier esp. if he's grumpy. My ds was bathed and in bed by 7.30 at the latest at that age and now he's 12mo and walking - he's knackered and in bed for 6.30/6.45 pm.

[Loochyloo]

Thanks for the help!
I tend to wait a bit after diner for bath/ bottle cos I had impression that he wouldn't want bottle too soon after dinner (am also totally paranoid about sufficient milk intake!)and also someone once told me that you have to give them a decent amount of time to digest before having a bath(which is prob nonsense but you know how these things stick in your head!) At the mo he wakes up between 7 - 8 in the morning with a 1/2 hour nap at 10 then about 1 1/2 hours after lunch then possibly another 1/2 hour around 5 (if he in buggy or car) so not sleeping a huge amount in the day.
Will try earlier bedimes and as for changing clock, have put up my blackout blinds now so hopefully that'll help!

[MamaMaiasaura]

How was tonight loochy?

[TracyK]

I'd say sleeping plenty in the day for 8mo.
After a good few months of stress and analysing ds sleep/wake/feed times combinatoins - I read baby whisperer and it all got better. Look for sleepy signs and get them to bed straight away! whether it sleep is 'scheduled' or not. Sounds like your ds is sleeping well day and night - it's just the grumpiness at the end of the day you want to change.
I'd give him his dinner a little earlier than 6, let him play for 45 mins or so - then bath and bed. My ds has dinner between 4.30 and 5.30 (dep on how much he has for lunch), bath at 6.15 and he still takes 9 oz at 6.30.
Although be careful cos you may find he'll wake earlier in the morning if he's been down earlier. so you need to decide if this happens if you want a longer evening to yourself or a later morning. We decided longer eves were better as we are early risers ourselves and for babysitting/going out its easier if the babes are bathed and in bed before we go out.

[Loochyloo]

Thanks for asking Awen, last night was fine cos he had a longer than usual nap in the car on way back from a friend's house. Think I will go wih TracyK and baby whisperer, once I see those sleepy signs off to bed (or kip at least!)

[TracyK]

Sleepy signs were a life saver. Everyone used to look at ds (out shopping etc) and say 'ooh he looks hungry' or 'oooh he looks tired' and I used to look at him and say 'oh does he?' I didn't really have a clue!
The book is great and also a web site www.babywhisperer.co.uk or .com.
they have a chat board just like this.

[Loochyloo]

well I did whole routine earlier last night as he started getting grumpy and he was in bed asleep by 7.15 and woke up this morning at 7.30 so not bad going at all. In fact starting bedtime routine earlier seemed to work well as he had just started getting grumpy and yawning, but i whisked him off to bath, bottle bed before he had time to get ratty!

Thanks for all the help

[TracyK]

Well done. Enjoy your early evenings!
Plus as he gets older he'll drop his daytime naps and end up with a long one just after lunch and for a time will only be able to stay up till 6ish before getting tired - then he'll get more stamina and he'll stay up longer. So just be prepared to go with the sleepy signs as they change.

[Loochyloo]

and last night he was in bed asleep at 7:15 and slept til 7 this morning! Act I had a lovely eve but managed to eat, tidy etc etc so early I almost (almost!) felt at a loss for what to do next!

[TracyK]

I'm the same = can't wait for ds to go to bed - but then if im in on my own - I end up surfing and not doing anything constructive. But well done again.