My lo was 3 weeks old yesterday, and I just have a few questions for you experienced mums

- finnley is sleeping a lot less during the day now, with maybe 2 short naps at the most. What do you do to keep your lo's occupied while theyre awake? Hes a very alert baby and I think he gets bored. He loves being taken out in his pram, but I had an emerg c sec so am still quite limited to how much I can do.

- Most days, I am really struggling to get 5 minutes to myself. Today I had to leave him crying while I had a quick dip in the bath before the health visitor come round. It wouldnt be so bad if he was sleeping, but how am i meant to do things like bath when he's awake and crying?

- how do you find time to do things like housework and cook the dinner? Hubby is getting home from work every night and I havent even thought about dinner as I just havent had the time. He doesnt mind sorting it when he gets in, but were not eating till like 8pm and I hate eating that late. I also have no time or energy for housework.

- How early is it to start getting into a routine? We keep trying to start bathing finnley at the same time every night to try and get a routine started, but we can never find the time to do it! Ideally, we'd like him to wake at 6.30, then bath him, then bottle, then put him down to sleep. How would I go about doing this?

- How soon is it to let lo sleep in his cot? I want to try and get him used to his cot as I dont think he's gunna fit in his moses basket for much longer. should I start off putting him in there in the afternoon, or can I go straight to putting him in there at night? Where does your lo nap during the day?

Any advice appreciated!

Congrats, Kayleigh!

Few thoughts...

1. How about some soft toys that make noise? Also, anything black and white - little babies love black and white contrasting. We have some soft books with faces on, makes crinkly sound, all in black, white and yellow. DD still loves them.

2. Have you got friend / family who can come round and give you a hand for a while, just until you are recovered? They can keep an eye on DS while you have a bath, have cuppa etc?

3. I didn't do any of this for a good while! I took the advice of 'sleep when DD sleeps'...I had infection from episiotomy, so felt quite rough...and can imagine you've got some recovering to do? My Mum and MIL were fab help, as were neighbours. Mum and MIL kept house running, and supplied things like casseroles etc that could be stuck in the oven. Keep things v.simple like pasta etc, and don't overdo things. You need to recover.

4. I think you can start routines when you feel ready! We didn't really start until recently - but did bath, BF and bed relatively early (although not v. consistently, and not until she was a couple of months)

5. Not sure, as DD was in her Moses Basket until she was 2.5 months - we got a safa-sleeper for her cot, which helps, as she can't wriggle down etc. She does seem a lot happier in her cot...she used to make herself jump when she hit the sides of the basket!

DD naps on me during the day!! Lol - although we're currently trying to do some on me, and some in the cot...taking a bit of time (probs my fault, as I love her napping on me...but means I have to do jobs when she's awake, and I'd rather do them when she is napping, so playtime is uninterrupted)

- finnley is sleeping a lot less during the day now, with maybe 2 short naps at the most. What do you do to keep your lo's occupied while theyre awake? Hes a very alert baby and I think he gets bored. He loves being taken out in his pram, but I had an emerg c sec so am still quite limited to how much I can do.

have you got a play mat you could try him with that willliam liked tht quite early on

- Most days, I am really struggling to get 5 minutes to myself. Today I had to leave him crying while I had a quick dip in the bath before the health visitor come round. It wouldnt be so bad if he was sleeping, but how am i meant to do things like bath when he's awake and crying?

you could try him in his cot witha mobile on?

- how do you find time to do things like housework and cook the dinner? Hubby is getting home from work every night and I havent even thought about dinner as I just havent had the time. He doesnt mind sorting it when he gets in, but were not eating till like 8pm and I hate eating that late. I also have no time or energy for housework.

i woldnt worry about housework it took me a month or so to get back into all that just enjoy being with LO.

- How early is it to start getting into a routine? We keep trying to start bathing finnley at the same time every night to try and get a routine started, but we can never find the time to do it! Ideally, we'd like him to wake at 6.30, then bath him, then bottle, then put him down to sleep. How would I go about doing this?

no idea we still dont have routine lol

- How soon is it to let lo sleep in his cot? I want to try and get him used to his cot as I dont think he's gunna fit in his moses basket for much longer. should I start off putting him in there in the afternoon, or can I go straight to putting him in there at night? Where does your lo nap during the day?

at first when i noticed william was getting abi big for his moses basket i started putting him in his moses basket and then inside the cot at night and slowley transitioned him into the cot by trying him in there for naps and now he sleeps in his cot every night.

hope tht helps a little

Maybe I'm on my own here as my LO was a month early but I'm really surprised that your LO is awake so much. In the first few weeks Ethan just ate and slept pretty much, and was only awake like 15 mins after a feed, but as I said, maybe that's because he was prem?
We didn't and still don't enforce any kind of routine and by a month old Ethan had sorted himself out into one! We are only just about to start on a bedtime routine. Apparently they start remembering routine from 8 weeks old and as he was a month early we've left it until he's 12wo which he is today. Knowing when he feeds, naps, which books he responds to and how he reacts to bath time is really useful now. The only thing we did right away was to emphasise the difference between day and night. We kept it pretty noisy and bright right up until his 7pm feed which he has upstairs in the quiet darkened room where he sleeps.

To get time to do stuff, I pop Ethan in the bouncer or swing and take it into the room where I am. If I'm just sitting in the lounge then I'm with him. If I'm struggling then I put him in the baby carrier and carry on regardless - this is great as you can just do whatever and he'll sleep in it and when he's awake he's also happy as I can chat away to him. You can do small jobs or housework or cooking (within reason of safety obviously!) My recommendation is to get a cheap 2nd hand babycarrier!

As another poster said, black and white books are brilliant and babies love them. Socialbaby.com is a good source, although Amazon have a lot too.

Ethan is still in his moses at the mo. I just wanted him to feel content and sleep well so didn't want the upheaval of moving into cot but this is something we're contemplating now.

it took me at least 6 weeks to get back to a kind of normal state!!
have you got a bouncy chair or play mat he can kick about on? there very handy

Somedays I still dont get 5 mins to myself depending on what kind of mood Willow is in!
I do get to do housework now! Shes either in her bouncer, sleeping or chilling in her cot
= 0 )

x

I think mostly I had a bean bag and a bouncy chair (and later a sling, i had a c section too) and I'd take him round with me while I cleaned and showered so when he napped that was my free time. i still have a playpen in my bathroom so I can shower! lol. but it's important to say sod it to a lot of housework

Hi

We had the same problem with Alex re waking hours. I just assumed that because he was awake that he needed entertaining. I saw a paediatrician at 7 weeks who told me that the reason he was crying during the day was because he was actually knackered (why they don't just go to sleep naturally when they're knackered, I don't know!). So now I "force" him to sleep by using the "5 S's" theory (http://www.babyslumber.com/happiestbaby.html). This has worked wonders (and instantly) and I now get more time to myself during the day to do all the chores that I'd usually do once OH got home and took over. I was told that as long as I did at leat 3 of the 5 S's at the same time, he'd definitely fall asleep - I use Sucking (he loves his dummy), Shushing and Swaying. Re the shushing, as long as it is louder than their cries/screams and really close to their ear, you'll get an instant effect! Was also told that he should be getting between 16 and 20 hours' sleep in 24 hours - we tend to achieve about 18 or 19 hours now. xx

Just wanted to say congratulations! Haven't been on here since my little one arrived - on the same day as yours! My life and baby sound exactly the same as yours, apart from the emergency c-section, but I am finding it quite difficult to do a lot as my stitches have broken down and I have high BP so need to take things easy. Thanks for posting this, its good to hear other people's experiences. xx

^^ Thanks, thats really helpful! Will give that a go although I can guarantee he will be asleep in my arms then the 2nd i put him in his moses basket he will start crying again lol. Just half hour to myself in the morning to have a bath and get dressed would be lovely.

Re. everyone else, weve got a bouncer and a play mat for him. Sometimes he likes the bouncer, but other times he will just cry when we put him in it. Hes ok as long as you stay with him, then as soon as you move away to do something he will cry again! I tried him on the play mat today, but he didnt seem interested at all, maybe hes a bit young

when morgan started doing this i wud jsut take him out in the pram for longer and longer lol