Liney

Hi ladies

I am after some advice, and I know the answer is really, it depends on your lo, but I would love to know how you go about getting them into a routine. My little one is only 3 weeks old and was sleeping for 5 hours at night, feed and then another 3-5 hours, which was fab. However that seems to have gone out of the window and I don't really know why. She seems to be awake most of the day and quite tired, but I can't seem to get her off to sleep. She has started to cry lots and just likes being held. I am finding it really hard to get her to sleep in her moses basket without her falling asleep on me practically first and then she often wakes up when she is put down. I have tried getting her to that dozy stage and then putting her down and staying with her and either rubbing her tummy or stroking her head but she just ends up screaming and we go round in circles with both of us just getting more and more tired. In the early evening she feeds every hour and then goes to sleep for about 3 hours but then is up for 2-3hours in the night and we are just not sleeping enough, either of us! It wouldn't be so bad if we could nap in the day but she doesn't seem to want to do that either!

So please, if you have any ideas how I can get this very lovely little one to be in a routine I would love to hear them.

Aidan's Mummy

I just really went with the flow. Aidan seemed to settle into his own rountine form about 8 weeks old. 5 weeks is so young hunni, she may have got he nights mixed up with her days1

But yea I went with he flow but always did the same things at the smae time in the evening for the bedtime rountine so it would be bath, have last bottle before bed and sit down for a cuddle in a dimly lit room and just rock and that rountine even works now. Its a wind down but now its, dinner, bath, book and bottle, bed

Does your LO have a bouncer?? If aidan was getting overtired and fighting it we used to rock him in his bouncer
xx

trickytrouble

Hiya

We were quite strict with Helena from when we bought her home from the hospital. She was initially placed on the bed in our spare bedroom in the dark at night time (even though she was too young to differentiate from night and day at the time). It was ballache though as I was breastfeeding so had to keep getting up. She refused point blank to sleep in her moses basket so I got rid of it and kept her on the spare bed for the first few weeks. She is rarely held (perhaps for an hour a day) but gets lots of talking time. She doesnt like napping too much in the day so we would tend to keep her relatively alert and put her down for cat naps in the spare room with the curtains open. We had a stage of having to rock her to sleep (using the car seat of rocking chair) but we stopped doing that at 7 weeks. When I changed her to the bottle she became much better. We have also had her cry it out sometimes and don't pick her up immediately if she does cry. We also use the feed, bath, bed method and ensure that she goes down in her cot (awake or not) before 10pm. We found that using a dummy helps loads too. In time she worked out that dark room in cot meant sleep (took a week to impose this though and some crying).

Your baby will find her own routine in good time, just keep things consistent and your baby will soon work out a routine. You may also find that wrapping her in an item of your clothing with your scent may soothe her or if youre rocking her gradually put her down but keep your arms around her so she feels soothed and stay in the room stroking her nose and eyebrows for a bit to see if she drops off. All babies are different but you never know remember your baby is only very little still and may just work out her own routine in time..

good luck

TT x

butrfly

we decided on a general sleep routine: bath, massage, cuddle & toy time, bottle & sleep. the other parts of the day, we basically let LO lead us.

mum2bee

what time does evry1 usualy do the bath,feed and sleep at??

DolceBella

I would say for now to not worry about too much. 3 weeks is super early to have a schedule. In the beginning with Bella, I breastfed her anytime she wanted, either for food or for comfort. She slept whenever she needed to, and I held her anytime she needed it. LOs need unlimited access to all of these things.

By the time she was 3ish months, she started to develop her own pattern. Awake at 7am, nap 9-11am, nap 1-3pm, nap 5-6pm, to bed around 8pm. She would wake a couple times overnight, but that's ok at this age.

She often needed to be rocked or nursed to sleep, but around 4.5 months when I felt she was old enough, we practiced some mild "cry-it-out" techniques and it worked like a gem after only a few days. I put her down sleepy, but awake... she fusses for just a couple minutes and is old cold.

This phase of inconsistency and needing you so much won't last forever. Hang in there!

grumpymoo

don't worry too much, it all works out in the end Your baby is still tiny and just needs lots of love and cuddles to make her feel safe and secure.

Rose was all over the place for ages and still is sometimes but she is getting into her own little routine in her own time with a little gentle guidance from me.

Good luck, hope it all settles down soon.

joeyjo

Like the others have saidit takes time to settle but I would really agree with making nighttime cues obvious..
Very dim lighting. Calm, quiet, no chatting/playing. No TV or loud music etc

sobersadie

ive always found its best to let baby decide on thier own routine. Let them sleep when they want to sleep, feed when they are hungry etc for at least the first couple of months. Keep noise normal during the day - hoover, telephone tv etc and keep the room dark and quiet at night. Cuddle them as much as you can when they are wee as this time goes so quick and u will miss it. I did this with my last 2 babies and they slept through the night at 6 weeks and were very contended happy, easy babies. Doing the same with my 4 week old daughter and she is sleeping 5 hours between feeds at night now. You cant 'spoil' a baby at this age and should just follow thier lead. xx

honey08

hiy ive not read other replies,but i tell u wot we(i) do (if it was up to oh he wud prob have him sat watching dvds all night
from the hospital there wasnt much that i cud do as they sleep so much,but when he got a little older in the morning i wud get up (he wud be fed every 4hrs still tho) and when it werent to ealry i wud be knackered but i wud take him out, even to the little shops and rd the block so he reconised day from night/light/dark, 4wk ago i fed him at 8pm instead of 10pm and i was knackered,he only drank 4oz instead of 7oz but i jsut had to go to bed i thought its fine i wil have to get up fed agian but he slept all night till 6am !!! so i think u can over fill them cos hes done this since, after bath at 6pm i give him 4oz he goes down then at 8/9pm he has the other 4oz and sleeps all night
i know its getting colder but try and get out and about with the baby x