Routine?

[chelle7]

Hello
My lo was born 6 weeks early and is now 7 weeks old- she will be 8 weeks on Wednesday.
I am wondering when to try and get some sort of routine going. At the moment she still sleeps most of the day, she will wake for a feed in the morning, say at 7 then again at 9, will be awake for a short while - feeding on and off until around 11, then will go to sleep for 4 to 5 hours- probably more if I don't wake her. She will then feed and go back to sleep again for 4 to 5 hours when I wake her as I worry she should be being fed. In the evening (after being woken) she can be awake for an hour or so before falling asleep. In the night she usually wakes herself every 3 hours or sooner for a feed.
I am wondering if we should start a routine- should I wake her from her long naps to do this? Should I wake her if she goes more than 5 hours in the day to feed?
At the moment she falls asleep on us and we cuddle her but should we put her down for a proper nap? also at night as she is only awake in the eveing really, she falls asleep around 9 so we take her up with us around 10.30. This "pattern" isn't constistent though so it is hard to try and judge what to do.
Any advice would be appreciated, thank you!

 

[AP]

I think at her age its best to let her lead you hun, but everyones different

 

[nineena]

I agree with SB22, we let Ella lead us and she seems to be settling into a lovely little routine now. She wakes usually between 7 and 8am, has a feed then a sleep then feeds 3hrly for next 2 feeds then about 3-4ish has a 3-4hr nap then has 2 more feeds before falling asleep and we then have to wake her about midnight for final feed and she sleeps through til the morning. Its only recently that we're able to put her down in moses basket when she's asleep during day as before then she'd only sleep on us and as soon as u put her in basket she'd wake up and wud only really sleep in it at night. I think when weaning is in place thats more when ill be looking at a proper routine coz she'll need to be getting up earlier for when i go back to work xx

 

[Dani-lou]

I was wondering the same. My baby was 5wks early and tends to sleep pretty much all through the day with the occasional restless period but then wakes frequently during the night.

 

[cat81]

My baby was 6 weeks early and is now 16 weeks. I have never tried to put him into any sort of routine and instead have just let him lead us. He has now got himself into a kind of routine where he is awake most of the day, just taking a few naps for half an hour or so at various times. He is very alert in the evenings and then comes to bed with me at about 11. He will then sleep through to about 7, wake for a feed and then sleep again until about 10.
Ideally I would like him to sleep in the evenings so that I could have my dinner in peace and spend some time with DH but, on the other hand, I dont want to mess with things as at least at the moment, I am getting a good night sleep.
My opinion is that, especially when they are so little, you are better off just letting them do what they want to. If you start waking her up, you could just end up with a tired, crabby baby. When she is ready I am sure she will settle into a routine which hopefully will work for you aswell.

 

[bob2331]

i have let Harry work out his own way, he wakes up at 8 each morning and is awake for most of the day apart from the odd hour here and there (more when we are out and about walking) then once he has dinner at 5 he sleeps for a half an hour then is awake till bath time at 7 then its a bottle and he is in bed at 8 and its all starts again the next day x