Routine or Not

[c1403]

Hi All

I am starting to think whether I should start trying to get my LO in a routine.
She is nearly 8 weeks and has some mild silent reflux (on gaviscon that has worked wonders)

I feed her roughly every 3 hours or whenever she wants it (FF) and she generally has 3-4oz.

Whilst her feeding patterns are quite good her sleeping ones are all over hte place, she will sleep/nap at different times. She generally goes to bed after her 'last bottle' at around 10-11pm however she could wake up twice or not at all during hte night.

Just wondering if maybe we should try putting her to bed earlier at say 8pm (she has a feed around 6.30-7) however this is when she likes to play?

I would love to get some more nighttime sleep out of her so we are fully energised for the next day but I dont want to feel like im forcing her into our schedule?

What are you ladies doing, letting baby lead the way with their bed/feeding times or sticking to a precise routine? Has it worked?

Thanks

C

x

 

[Sparkle2]

I am all for routine but a flexi one.
My baby is four months, at 8 weeks we were feedng 3 hourly or so like you, and her daytime naps were all over the shop, so think that's normal.
We started to implement a night time routine, bath, story, bottle, bed. Maybe if last bottle is at 7 ish, you could do an hour play, then bedtime with a top up bottle??
Don't worry about the daytime naps- My bub has just started to have regular ones now, it seems to fall into place xx

 

[Sparkle2]

I should say- we are now getting great night time sleep! She has top up bottle at 7, and then goes till 8am bliss!

 

[c1403]

Hi

Well we tried last night to implement a routine, we did bottle at 5ish then a hour play, bath, bedtime story, last bottle and bed. She went to sleep right away (8pm) but.....woke up a hour later and was up till 11pm which is when she has her last bottle normally.....she also woke up during the night at 3am and 6am.

Going to keep going and trying to put her to bed at 7-8pm after a bottle and hopefully we'll start to establish something soon and would love to drop the 3am feed if we could eventually.

x

 

[ke29]

There is no harm in starting a routine but your LO is too young to sleep through the night and those with LO's that are at that age are very lucky! With DS we let him lead and worked his bed time around his own feeding regime at around 8 weeks. He still woke for a feed at sometime between 9pm and midnight for a feed so if he hadnt woken before we went to bed at 10pm ish then we would dream feed him at 10pm so we at least got a good 3-4 hours of sleep at the start. With DD we will probably do roughly the same, I did contemplate starting early and trying to fit her in to DS's routine but I tend to fall asleep not long after he goes to bed.

 

[c1403]

I am not expecting her to sleep through the night but thought it maybe a good idea to start a bedtime routine so when she does eventually sleep longer she knows what to expect. She is our first child so up until now we just went to sleep when we felt like it.

I tried again last night of play, bath, story, bottle and bed and although it took over a hour for her to finally go to sleep she did fall asleep at 9pm (started at 7.30ish) and she then slept through to 4am so lovely for us....although every day is different.

I am going to stick with taking her up to bed at around 7.30-8pm and giving her last bottle up there and if she looks tired ill put her to bed, if not we'll have a little playtime/cuddle.


x

 

[mommy0629]

You do have to let baby lead still at 2 months, daytime naps are bound to still be inconsistent. You should have no problem getting a regular bedtime which shouldlead to regular night wakings time(s) and a regular wake up for the day time though.

Just keep doing what you're doing with the bed time routine That's the best way to start. I have to modify my lo's last nap of the day sometimes to keep bed time on track because her naps are still inconsistent. So, if bed time is 8:00 and lo is still taking her last nap come 6:30, wake her up for a little play time before the BT routine so you can keep bed time the same.