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routines and sleeping through

Hi ladies,



Just wondering if you could give me some help and advice. What routines, if any are you following? Also is your LO sleeping through and if so what time do you do your last feed and how did you get them to sleep through.



At the moment Lucy is 14 weeks old and we are bottle feeding. She takes very little in the morning about 6.30 (3oz); 11ish (6oz); 2ish (6oz) and then she won't manage any later than 5.45(7oz). We then dreamfeed at about 10 when she has another 6oz. She keeps waking between 1-2am and occasionally between 4 or 5!!! She is having about 2 1/2 to 3 hours sleep during the day.

Replies

  • Hi Rascal,



    Oliver is 16 weeks and sleeps 8.00 - 5/6/7 He has 8oz 5 times a day. His last feed being just before he goes to bed. His bedtime routine is play, bath, feed, story then mobile on and off to sleep. He sometimes wakes in the night but i can settle him with his dummy.



    during the day he has small naps inbetween feeds but these will only be 30 - 45 mins.



    HTH



    SB x
  • Thank you, I'm thinking that maybe she is just really hungry. We have just changed her teats to fast flow which seems to be helping a bit. She slept last night form her last feed at 1030 to 3.30 and then through till 7.00 so much better!!
  • Hi,



    Connor is an exception and sleeps from between 8.30pm and 9.30pm to between 6-7am. Honestly we feel really lucky and know that babies of this age still do not typically sleep this long at night although more than half can go 'through the night' which is 5 hours +



    Don't panic - you'll get there.



    All we did was follow his own routine in the beginning and he did it himself. The tweeks we then made were minor such as trying to distract him into waiting longer between feeds in the day by playing but as soon as he cried we'd feed him.



    In the beginning he didn't go down until 11pm/12 but he 'told' us he was ready to down earlier by being really sleepy. Our 'routine' is still really loose partly because we're a bit lazy but mainly because we didn't want to be slaves to a complex ritual each night.



    So when he seems to get sleepy, we now realise its about 8pm we put him in his sleepsuit and change his nappy then we read a book quietly or just cuddle in front of the tv with only lamps on until he's ready for the last feed. After the feed we take him to his room (lights off) sing him a few songs and wait for him to look more sleepy (but not asleep).

    Then we put him in the cot say goodnight, kiss him and leave the room. He sometimes makes some noises as he tries to suck his thumb and even grizzles a bit sometimes but he's learned that this means bedtime and self settles after 10 minutes.

    If he's ill/teething etc though we will give him more help like holding his hand or shhing or just letting him see we are there. You should avoid things like turning on the light, picking them up, singing again etc as these can wake them more. They reckon if you persevere for 3-5 nights then the babies are great at picking it up.



    In a lot of ways I think Connor has picked this up earlier as he was a large baby and often this means they can stay asleep longer as their tums are bigger and hold enough milk for the night. We also started off bf but giving formula at the 11/12 feed. We honestly went with him and he naturally dropped out the 1-2am feed first, then the 4am and so on.



    My experience has been the more I try not to worry the better it all goes.



    We're currently working on his daytime naps so that I don't need to pick him up everytime he gets sleepy. He's doing better but it takes time. ;o)



    Oe friend recommended trying to get atleast 5-6 feeds in them in the day which means they've got a big store ready for the night...perhaps it might work?
  • Hi, don't worry too much just yet, it's still early days. Hannah is BFd so won't be 'sleeping through' for some time yet & with current growth spurts is having mummy up regularly throughout the night (feels like every 5mins at times). Will be expecting more of a routine to feeds & sleeps around the 6mth point. The only routine we have at present is getting into 'sleepy clothes' at 7pm ready to be put to bed at 8pm.
  • Its still really early to be sleeping through, my first didn't until 8 months. Abby has been sleeping through since 5 weeks (I was so worried at the start) she is now 18 weeks.



    Abby wakes at around 8-8:30am and has 7oz and her breakfast. she will stay awake for maybe half an hour to an hour.



    She will then go back to sleep and wake around 11-11:30am and take another 7oz. She stays awake for quite a while and we play etc she will then nap



    Wakes again at 2-2:30pm and has 7oz we play etc



    Then will have a feed at 5-5:30pm 7oz and her food.



    We then play and we run her a bath, she has her bath around 7pm and will then get into her sleeping bag, she will normally take a feed around now but only between 3-6oz.



    We put her to bed around 8:30-9pm and she will sleep until the next morning xx
  • Hi,



    Just wanted to say Connor is also breastfed only but sleeps for 11 hours a night now. I think sometimes its more to do with how much milk they can hold in their tummies rather than feeding method but formula definitely fills them a bit longer.



    Try not to compare babies and as everyone has said it really is early for going more than 5 hours at night.
  • Hi hun, we followed Mias lead too and she fell into a routine. I did find that if she had good sleep during the day she slept better at night, because when she didn't she was dozing off too early on the boob then the bottle so didn't take enough and woke in the night.



    Mia is bottle fed since 13wks and takes 7/8oz a feed 5 times a day ( shes a big girl, she was 17lbs 4 2wks ago) She gets up between 8 and 8.30am ( though its been later over the holidays prob tired out from all the excitement lol) She usually takes her first bottle around 9am and goes down for a nap at 10/10.30 for around an hour and a half.She also gets bottles at 12,3,6 and just after 8 and asleep for half 8 and sleeps around 12hrs. So she has 2 big feeds close together in the evening which I think carries her through.
  • forgot about her other naps, she has another in the afternoon for around an hour and goes down around 6.30 in the evening, we usually have to wake her from this one to do bath, bottle, bed!
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