When Eli was a newborn I breastfed him so he fed to sleep, once asleep I would place him in his bassinet/cot and he’d sleep for 2-3 hours.
At 3 months old he changed to formula and he slept all night and so much during the day it was great I thought it was the start of a great sleeper.
Then the 4 month sleep regression came and he barely slept, slept for a maximum time of 45 minutes each nap and during the night he woke up after 20 minutes each time I placed him in his cot.
After 6 months of feeding/rocking Eli to sleep I decided to get him into a routine and for him to self-settle. I contacted a mum on Instagram and asked about how her 7 month old self-settled, I followed everything she told me which I will share in this blog.
Not everyone is going to agree but this is what Eli’s sleep and routine is for him at 6 months old.
The first day was hard, it was 8:30am and time for Eli’s for first nap, I fed him a bottle and placed him in his cot with a dummy, his comforter and his glow-dreaming on. I set a timer for 5 minutes, went out and made myself busy so I wouldn’t want to go in and grab him. He winged and cried a little so when the timer went off I went in put his dummy back in and kissed him goodnight again. I repeated this for 30 minutes and he finally fell asleep. (I didn’t let him cry or scream to the point where he becomes distressed) I let him winge. I repeated this for all three of his naps and each nap he got better. One week into him self-settling and we’ve had some difficult nap times where I am questioning what I am doing but we’ve gotten through it and I know he’ll get used to it.
Night time is a different story though, not every night he’ll self – settle so sometimes I am still rocking him to sleep at night but I’ll transfer him into his cot and he’ll come in our bed early in the morning.
Eli’s 6 month routine
6am – wake up, play
7am – breakfast and bottle
8am – first nap (place him in his cot go in every 5 minutes until he’s asleep)
9:30am – wake up, play
10am – bottle, play
11am – lunch
11:30am – second nap (place him in his cot go in every 5 minutes until he’s asleep)
1pm – wake up, play
2pm – bottle, play
3pm – third and last nap for the day (place him in his cot go in every 5 minutes until he’s asleep)
4pm – wake up, play
5:30pm- dinner, bath, play
6/6:30pm – bottle, bed for the night (place him in his cot and go in every 5 minutes until he’s asleep or rock him to sleep and then transfer him)
3:30am – wake up, Co-Sleep until 6am
Raising My Blended Family 