How to get into a routine

[DIANNEKB]

Hi All,

Mu bubs is 4.5 weeks old and we are so not in a routine ... I dont even know where to start ...

He sleeps no more than 3 hours at night but he mostly wakes every 5 :eek:

This morning he woke at 6am and dozed for small amounts of time like 10 minutes here and there and didnt go back to sleep till lunch time ... he has now been asleep for 2 hours..

How to I get him into some sort of routine ... not worried so much about the day it's mainly the nights as it's killing me ... one night he was up every 45 minutes..

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Di...xxx

[Frazzled]

Diane, i hate to say it - but get used to it. Not that im all that experienced, but we went thru the same sort of thing with our little man and it has only been since about 11 weeks that he has had more of a 'routine' and is now sleeping thru most nights with mainly cat naps thru the day.

Have you read 'Baby love' by robin barker? a great book for first time mums - has a really good approach to 'routines'.

IMO you cant really mould tiny babies to time slots and we found it especially harder on hot days with Elliot - he just hted the heat and would be awake even more. He was exhausting from about 5 weeks till a few weeks ago, and as hard as it is we just rode it out and now he is great.

Plus, BF babies somtimes need to be fed more often and most modern day info will guid you that the 4 hourly routine is not really the go any,more - BF bubs do need to be fed more on a 3 hourly basis. plus babies get thirstier in the heat.

Hope this helps, let me know if there is anything else.

Kate

ps - the secret is a supportive great partner who can help as much as possible and take over when he gets home from work so u can have a breather. x

[poshBecks]

Start a diary. Write own what time he fed, for how long, how long he stays awake, when he goes to sleep, for how long etc. Do this for a few days & you'll begin to see a bit of a pattern. Then once you see a pattern imurging (sp?) you can then start pushing him a bit . Like keeping him awake a bit longer here, making him wait a little longer for a feed there ( I'm talking with 1/2 hour). Keep in mind though most babies dont start forming a routine until about 6 weeks or longer....:o Good luck!!

[lovemybub]

I think it depends what you mean by routine. If you mean by routine that you want to do live your life by the clock (eg feed at certain times, sleep at certain times) etc, then the book "The Contented Baby" is probably for you. This book advocates a "by the clock" routine where you have baby up at certain time, feed at certain times etc, but personally I found it so regimented that it freaked me out and I took the book back for a refund. :eek: I remain unconvinced that you can get a baby to follow the clock, no matter how successful the author said she had found her method!

Having said that, some people like that sort of thing, so if you do, you could probably find the book at Angus and Robertson or something like that.

Personally, the only routine I have really worried about implementing is the "feed-play-sleep" routine, where baby has a feed when she gets up, then has play time until she shows signs of becoming tired, and then sleeps. As a guide, baby will probably only be awake for about 1 hour at a time in the first six or so weeks before becoming tired, which will gradually stretch out to 1.5 hours over the following six weeks, etc... It varies for each baby, obviously, but that is what I found with my DD

The idea is that baby feeds first up when they have the most energy and are able to feed best. Then play time tires them out so that they are ready for their next sleep. The key is to look for signs that your baby is tired and then get them to bed before they become over tired (when they are more difficult to get to sleep and tend not to sleep as well when they do get to sleep). Even though this doesn't seem like much, I found having this routine in place made me feel a little less like I was wandering aimlessly through each day, and a little more in control simply because I had a sequence of events in my head, even if the sequence of events didn't have a strict timeframe.

If you're really stuck and would like some professional help, check out the following websites:

www.sleepandsettle.com.au
www.saveoursleep.com.au

Sorry if all that seems a bit waffly. I tend to go on sometimes... :o

Sending sleep vibes your way...

[jarrahsmumma]

Some good advice, but it all sounds pretty normal to me ;) At that age they are a bit little to grasp any sort of routine, so it will settle down soon enough. All you can do is read your baby's cues, and act upon it.:D

[DIANNEKB]

thanks for the advice ... I will try to bear with it .. I just thought I was doing it wrong being a 1st time mum and all but hey I will get there...

I will try the feed play sleep idea though and see how it goes...

Di..xxx

[draught]

Dianne - there are no right and wrongs so don't feel you are doing things wrong. Those first few weeks are a lot of 'sorting out' for mums and bubs while you both learn which end is up! I agree with the advice that the book "baby Love" is great - helps you to get perspective on what is normal and what is not and what you should be aiming for and what you should just ride with. It was my bible in the early days and I still refer to it - very sensible and pretty balanced advice. Target is the cheapest place I have found to buy it.

[reAllytee]

Everyone has given great advice & unfortunately it is a case of grinning & bearing it for now !
It will soon be over & you will be wondering where your little baby went !
Remember to let bub have some light through the day also indirect of course this helps them start gettin used to the idea of day & nite :D
Good luck hun :)

[Mel's Belle]

Hi DIANNEKB,

I have found the "BabyWise" book to be invaluable. They advocate a routine and you can be flexible, ie if the baby is hungry less than 3 hours between feeds, feed them but you try and get them back onto their "schedule" by later that day.

I have been very flexible with DD (now 10 weeks old), and it does take time to bed down, but DD is sleeping through the night (about 10 hours) and has been since about 5 weeks old. She is a very happy baby and doesn't really sleep much during the day, so I suppose that's a trade-off. She probably has 3 naps of about 45 minutes during the day, but the CHN said as long as she's happy and getting sleep at night, that's OK and works for her.

Please PM me if you would like to further info.

Best of luck!

[moonblossom]

Routine? Whats that LOL. After 24 years of child rearing, I still dont know what that word means LOL