Evening routine and the witching hour

Hi jano1

We have a little routine that I started at about 6 weeks and we have done the same thing since, we dont always do it at the same time but anywhere between 7 - 8.30 is the norm.

This all comes after afternoon nap say approx 6ish Feed, Play for 10 - 20 mins, Bath/Shower, massage (dim lights), dress for bed, feed, wrap, quick cuddle, put musical seahorse on and down for the night. With the musical seahorse thing its a stuffed toy that plays music & lights up and we only use it at night, I like the fact that we can take it with us so if we had to put her down for bed somewhere else we dont have to take a mobile with us.

It took a little while but DD now knows that this means bedtime and we have a different routine before naptime which seems to have helped with the day sleeps. They say babies like to know what is happening next and it definitley works for us.

The late afternoon always seems to be the hardest to get her down for a nap even now. It definitely is the "witching or arsenic hour"

Sounds a bit like us! (but Stu has a wee bit more sleep in the day). Stu has 2x2 hour sleeps then 1 hour in the afternoon if I'm lucky, then is awake usually from 3-3.30 until 7-7.30. Sometimes he'll sleep a little on me during that time but won't go to bed.

Don't know if it'll help at all but here's our evening routine: In the afternoon/evening I feed him every 2 hours. I usually feed him at 6/6.30, wait about 15 mins then dh gives him a bath and gets him into his nightie and wraps him. Then I give him a little bit more milk (I don't feed straight before bed during the day but he settles much better at night if I give him a bit more after his bath - maybe the bath uses lots of his energy) sit in his dimly lit room and have a cuddle, sing a song or read a book, and put him to bed. Sometimes he'll go straight to sleep, sometimes we'll have to resettle him 4 or 5 times but he's usually asleep by 8.30 at the latest.

Stu loves having a bath so it usually calms him down no matter how tired/grizzly he is. Oh and I've just started doing massage too, so if he's calm after his bath we'll do that - just his legs at the moment and only for a couple of minutes but I'm sure it'll get longer as we both get used to it

Its hard to get a routine going when they are that little. The main thing to remember with babies is that you can't force them into your routine, you have to watch them and then create a routine around their needs.
Feeding every 3 hours is completely normal and exactly what bubs should be doing at 5weeks. I would suggest trying to stick to that 3 hour cycle (except for when bubs needs to cluster feed in the evening, might be a growth spurt thing) and try to have a feed, play, sleep cycle going. Do an early evening bath (after her feed so she has a nice full tummy) follow up with a massage, dress, then cuddles and into bed. Whatever you choose to do be consistant and do the same thing at the same time everyday, soon bubs will get the message.
I don't know how you feel about them but sometimes a baby wants to suckle just for comfort rather than food and in that case you might find a dummy helpful.

we try to do the feed play sleep routine during the day (3-4 hourly) and then between 5 and 6 I try a feed, play, bath, massage, dress for bed, kisses, off to room for a quiet feed, cuddle, into bed, music on (ipod) and then usually I have to rock a little.  Usually all done by 7.30

Hey, sounds very normal.

we've always had finley is a routine but in his first few weeks he would not really go down much before 9, stick with it, keep doing what you're doing and they do settle down.

Don't change what you're doing though, just keep repeating it.
Took us probably nearer 3 months to get our evenings back and possibly a bit longer before we can know put him down around 6.30 and not go up at all.

I'm with everyone else and say just try to do the same each night. Rhys was going to bed late and not sleeping from 3-4pm until 9-9.30pm as well when he was the same age as your little one. It's hard, but it does get better. One day at a time. Now he's in bed between 7.30-8.00pm and Cuppatea's right, you won't know what to do with yourself