Forum home Archived Birth Clubs My baby was born in Mar 09

Routines?

Is anyones baby in any sort of routine yet? Everyone keeps telling me it gets better when baby is in a routine but Millie isn't in any sort of routine yet, shes 5 weeks old tomorrow. I know shes still very little but the lack of sleep and not being able to plan to do anything is starting to get to me now. I'm breastfeeding too so some days feel like all i do is change nappies and feed her, i have no time to do anything for myself like eat or shower as she screams if i put her down. So who knows how to get on one of these magic routines? lol Whats everyone elses days go like?

xxx

Replies

  • Hey Beth, people have been going on at me about routines and my LO is only 2 weeks old!!!

    I know what you mean though, I feel like a milk machine, LO went the first week of needing feeds every 2-3 hours now its every 1.5 hours! I just can't get anything else done or catch up on sleep!

    Today was the first day that hubby went back to work and it was awful! LO was awake from 9am-3pm and would not let me put him down, even when I was holding him he kept crying so I spent all day rocking him or feeding and doing his nappy....I could have cried by the time hubby got home!

    I asked my MW when she thought things would settle down and she said not until 6 weeks, so hopefully for you Millie will find a nice routine soon!

    Good luck! xxx

  • Beth, OMG i could of written your exact post..only difference wud be that Erin is 4 weeks old.. i had my health visitor visit today and asked her about it...she just laughed at me and wished me luck (my hv is very very down to earth and great!) but i am hoping that we settle soon as getting quite fed up with not knowing what im doing...last i week i joked and said that answering a text or getting online is a luxuary but now i add going to the loo or showering would be wonderful!!!!
  • Hi ladies,

    I feel really silly for whinging about my bubs now. You all sound knackered.

    Evie is kinda on a routine on a three hour-ish cycle. I can recommend reading the Baby Whisperer book by Tracy Hogg. I've just taken out the bits that I think are relevant and it seems to have worked. It just means that I can plan my day to a point as I know that she will be asleep roughly an hour after her feed and when she will need her next feed.

    I have to admit that I found it much more difficult when I was breastfeeding, but unfortunately I wasn't producing enough so changed to a bottle.

    Have any of you thought of topping up with a bottle to give yourselves a break? Obviously, you have to do what you feel is right, but personally after the initial guilt of not being able to breastfeed, me and Evie are both much happier on the bottle.

    I hope that has help. You all sound like to are doing really really well. Keep perservering. Apparantly it does get easier!!

    xx
  • Hey, Nina isn't in a routine as such but has developed a pattern which is generally feed, small amount of awake time, sleep, feed, awake time, sleep. This is pretty much the routine from the baby whisperer book applesauce mentioned.

    In the evening when she wakes sometime between 7- 8.30 I give her a little feed from one side before her bath, bathe her then dim the lights and feed her as much as possible in the bedroom before putting her down awake. I then feed her again as much as possible (you will get full!) when she wakes again which is probably 10.30-11pm (although sometimes feed her inbetween as well if she's really unsettled) and then find that this is the longest stint of sleep she has (between 4-5 1/2 hours) I think we're on the right track.

    I think it's still early to have a definite routine in place but could maybe do a few things to encourage one. They say babies will fall into their own routine which I think is true of some. Nina seems to be going that way. But my son never found his routine and at 4 months had to firmly put him in one for my own sanity!

    Beth, have you tried putting Millie down awake and giving her some time to settle herself? Make sure she's not up for too long and getting overtired and stimulated and she will find it harder to settle.

    Good luck.x
  • i feel guilty when i put lo down awake, does it really work cause i think my lo is awake too long some times and gets over tired!
  • ah ladies, i feel really bad for moaning that i'm tired. Laila, isnt in a routine so much during the day; but is kinda of routine at night. Norm feed her (bf) about 8.30/9pm, then she falls asleep; so i change her nappy and get her dressed for bed which usually wakes her. Then i give her bit more of a feed, she norm falls asleep but then wakes when i put her to bed; but i just leave her and she settles herself. She then norm sleeps till about 1/2am the goes back off till about 7/8 am. So i am very lucky. During the day she has about an hour in the morn when she is awake and about hour in the eve, She norm feeds evry 3-4 hours during the day, and sleeps the rest of the time.
    Natalie- dont feel guilty for putting lo down awake, will get use to settling themselves, and will give you a bit of a rest.
    dont worry they will all get there. I havent read the baby whisper book, but did read contented baby when my 2yr old was a baby, and found it quite helpful although very strict, But i just took elements of it, to help me.
  • Natalie, don't feel guilty about putting lo down awake, I think it's quite a positive thing to do for them as they'll usually end up sleeping better this way. I just make sure my lo is fed, well winded and has a clean nappy, give her a lovely quiet cuddle in the bedroom so she's relaxed then pop her in her bed. She will usually settle within 5 minutes. It doesn't always work but does the majority of the time! Definitely try not to let lo get overtired.

    Tanroe, do you wake Laila for her evening feed or just let her do it naturally? I can never decide whether I should wake nina for a 10pm feed before we go to bed if she's not awake or leave her to do her own thing, If I don't I find it so much harder to wake up to feed her an hour later! Adore her name btw.x
  • ah thanku. sometimes i wake her depends what time she fed last. sometimes she'll have a feed about 6pm, so ill leave her in bouncy chair and then get her ready for bed about 9, which wakes her anyway- so will then feed her. tonight she fed at 7.30, have just put her to bed now so wont wake her. i'd say it depends on what time she last fed, if she fed 1-2hrs before i'd leave it, but if shes due a feed within about an hour id wake her. so hard to know though!!
    xx
  • Missymoo try dream feeding your baby. It is something the baby wisperer recommends, and I've found that it works really well for our lo. Basically, it just means feeding her whilst she is asleep. It can take a bit of lip stroking with the nipple to get my baby to latch on, but she will after awhile and then I hold her up-right for about minutes, and she normally burps and then I can just put her back down and go to bed!

    In terms of a routine, we are trying to work with the baby whisperer. I would recommend the book. She is a bit condesending at times, and you have to take some of it with a pinch of salt, but there is some good advice. And although it doesn't really feel much like a routine during the day, following her advice (roughly) in the evening has been good for getting a slightly more settled sleeping pattern (except when she has bad wind). During the day there is something roughly like a routine, but it is very rough.

    Ally x
  • My little one is just over 2 weeks old and I feel completly stumped about a rountine. At the moment she doesnt have one, I just bottle feed on demand and she sleeps in her moses basket downstairs till we go to bed about 11pm.
    Last night we tried putting her moses basket upstairs and putting her to bed around 7.30pm but she just laid there awake, then started screaming for food constantly from 8.30pm. Each time we fed her we put her back in the basket but then she'd be sreaming for food again an hour later !
    After her last feed which is usually between 11pm and midnight she will usually sleep until 3am-4am (a couple of nights she has woken earlier but its rare) then wakes again somewhere between 6am-8am. I must say though the broken sleep is really starting to affect me, what I would give for a solid 7 hour stretch !!
  • We have no routine-i do try and keep bedtime to around 7pm-Max sleeps all evening anyway so he's always up for going to bed! He's just nodded off on me now though so i'll wait until his next feed.

    Im bfing so he's going every 2-3hours still, can't wait until he lasts abit longer although he's 4 weeks now so im starting to think he'll always be like this!! Thankfully, he usually falls asleep on the boob so i just slip him back into his bed after each feed with not too much fuss!

    He usually wakes up at 6ish and has a few hours awake in the morning and again in the afternoon-about 20mins of this is 'happy time', the rest is spent being really grizzly and me constantly trying to stop him crying!!
Sign In or Register to comment.