# Getting 4 week old into routine?



## Staceysparkle

My baby boy will be 4 weeks old on Sunday and so far we haven't tried to get him into any kind of routine as he is still feeding pretty much on demand (on average feeds every 2 hours but occassionaly will go 3/4 hours and sometimes will want fed again after an hour). He has a bath every night but always at different times and my OH will keep him in his mozes basket downstairs until around 11.00 for me to get a few hours sleep and then he comes upstairs to sleep in his crib next to me but he always seems so unsettled for the first few hours after he comes upstairs and I was wondering if he might be more settled if we tried getting him into more of a bedtime routine. My OH went back to work at the start of this week and I'm really starting to struggle with the lack of sleep and all my friends that have babies said their LOs slept for at least 4 hours at a time by the time they were 3 weeks old so I'm panicing that I'm doing everything wrong :cry: Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## MilitaryMummy

At 4 weeks we didnt as such have a strict routine!
I was breastfeeding on demand and Macie was feeding every 2 hours on average (if not more often) and we used to bath her in nighttime bath every night at about 7/8, change her into a clean vest and baby grow with some night time cream and then at about 9/10 me and her would go upstairs so that i could just chill in bed and watch a film. I would have the tv on very quitely (but so i could still hear it) and no other lights on... that seemed to help and that was the start of our routine. xx


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## whoops

My LO is nearly 7 weeks old and only now starting to sleep 4-5 hours and that's only at night.

You sound like you're doing a good job - I've no real routine in place apart from trying to go eat, play, sleep and feeding roughly every 3 hours.


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## brittanyland

Mine is five weeks old and we have a very LOOSE routine started. I say loose because she is still waking every three hours at night to feed. But during the day she wants to eat every 2, so it IS an improvement. lol.

About an hour before I want to go to sleep I let her lay on her play mat. She loves that thing. She will kick and bat at stuff and generally wears herself out. Then it's a bottle and a swaddle. She's not a huge fan of being swaddled so we only do it at night and it helps her associate the swaddle with sleeping. Then we put her down and turn off all of the lights.

It seems to work, she goes right to sleep. I hope it turns into a more solid routine as she gets older. GOod luck to ya!


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## CeriB

At 4 weeks we didn't have a routine at all and there is no way she was sleeping for more than 2 or 3 hours a time at night!!

Saying that, doing our routine has been the best thing we did so far! She knows exactly what comes next and when its night time. She has started sleeping better too, which is loverly!! It cant hurt to start one early - you never know, it may work wonders!!

Our routine starts with feed every 2 hours (where possible) from 1pm. She has a bath at 6.30 and her last feed at 7pm. She is then in bed by 7.30pm at the latest. She goes staright off and last night slept 8 hours straight!


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## aliss

Hun my baby is 9.5 months and sleeps 4 hours straight on an average night before a feed - YOU ARE DOING EVERYTHING RIGHT!!! You don't need to listen to those friends. It takes quite a long time for a baby to 'learn' a routine so if you try and do things in the same order (not necessarily the same time), keep it up for several weeks, it will start to sink in. Most of it is your exhaustion from broken adult sleep cycles and labour recovery.

Again, you are doing everything right, please hang in there!


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## momofmister

4wks is a rough stage. My DS was an awful sleeper.. now at 7wks today he has started this week to sleep much better at night and during the day. DS was very unsettled when we brought him upstairs and it seems just has I closed my eyes he sensed it and would start to stir. We ended up having him sleep at night in his car seat (advised by the doctor) as he seemed to need to sleep more in an upright position. We slowly transitioned him from that to his crib. 

Hang in there in another 2-3wks you will feel like you have a better routine without really even trying.


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## Staceysparkle

Thanks everyone so glad to hear that mine isn't the only baby that feeds every 2 hours :) We've started trying to get him into a bit of a routine with bath, bottle then off up to bed with me with the lights off every night and he is starting to seem a bit more settled. Starting to think he might have a bit of colic as he is far more settled during the day and is just not settling for most of the night and crying a lot so going to speak to HV to see what she says.


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## CeriB

How are his day naps? He could be overtired in the evening rather than colicy? Erin gets unsettled at night, but she does not nap during the day and gets herself too tired!!


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## flubdub

Staceysparkle said:


> My baby boy will be 4 weeks old on Sunday and so far we haven't tried to get him into any kind of routine as he is still feeding pretty much on demand (on average feeds every 2 hours but occassionaly will go 3/4 hours and sometimes will want fed again after an hour). He has a bath every night but always at different times and my OH will keep him in his mozes basket downstairs until around 11.00 for me to get a few hours sleep and then *he comes upstairs to sleep in his crib next to me but he always seems so unsettled for the first few hours after he comes upstairs and I was wondering if he might be more settled if we tried getting him into more of a bedtime routine.* My OH went back to work at the start of this week and I'm really starting to struggle with the lack of sleep and all my friends that have babies said their LOs slept for at least 4 hours at a time by the time they were 3 weeks old so I'm panicing that I'm doing everything wrong :cry: Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Really, your LO is so tiny, all they need is to eat and sleep on demand :)
They do get themselves into a routine as they get older. I have never, ever tried to get my LO's into a routine. My new baby is 9 weeks old and has just started waking only once, or twice in the night.
I would go with the flow right now, although I know it is so tiring :hugs:

^Regarding the bit on bold in your post, have you thought about cosleeping? You would get more sleep and it would probably stop LO being unsettled when he is brought up to you at night :)


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## Dizzymum

We didn't have a routine up until 8 weeks. Jessica would wake up to 4 or 5 times a night, and then I found it hard to get her back to sleep. I used to go to sleep in bed, and the first time she woke I would take her downstairs and dose on the sofa with her in her rocking chair, and just feed her on and off for the rest of the night.

Now she is nearly 12 weeks, and for the past few weeks she has fallen nicely into a routine. It just sort of happened!

She falls into a deep sleep each night in her rocking chair at about 8pm, then I pick her up at 11pm , change her nappy, and put her sleeping bag on. She either stays asleep while I'm doing this, or wriggles around with her eyes shut lol. I then take her upstairs and give her a feed in my bed, and put her in her cot beside me. She then sleeps until 8am the next morning. She's a great sleeper now, which has been a surprise to me as she started off really unsettled.

Don't worry too much about finding a routine, I think pretty soon it will find you. 
4 weeks is still very young, alot of the time babies this young babies just need the comfort of knowing you're there. It's tough when you're not sleeping, but it won't last long. Hang in there, you're doing all the right things.


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## SmileyShazza

Hi Stacey 

Our little man is 4 weeks and 1 day old and we do not have any kind of routine yet. Like you he is feeding roughly every 2 - 2½ hours and we are just feeding on demand for the moment. I don't think many people manage to get a routine set up at this stage as it takes a few weeks for their feeding to become less regular and I think you are still getting used to having a baby around anyway.

Personally I wouldn't listen to people who say that at 3 weeks their little ones were sleeping for four hours as I think that is very few babies who get to that stage at that age. 

You are doing everything right and I am sure that you will know when the right time is for you to try and start some kind of routine :)


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