help..baby routine

[confuzed 88]

heeelp
how do i get my lo into a routine, i have no structure in the day, everything just goes however whenever..i want to get my baby into a good routine,sleeping,feeding etc, ims o fed up and tired of not getting anything done! but im also worried that if i leave him to be looked after i dont know what to tell people about his routine, i.e. when he sleeps, feeds etc..Any help would be great!!x

 

[littlemiss83]

Its so difficult isn't it.

How much sleep does ur LO get during day times, does LO fight sleep during day times?

At around 6 m/o baby needs about 3 sleeps a day i'd say, one morning one afternoon one late afternoon. If baby doesn't get enough sleep they'll get over tired & might even sleep worse at night.

I've been kinda following this website - but not strictly.

The key is sorting out the naps & once you have them in a routine, you can start to do what you need to do during naps. This website also gives you tips on how to settle & re-settle for naps.

http://www.boswellbunch.com/simone/Babies/6_Month_Olds....html

 

[i.love]

3 sleeps a day? Seriously? My 2 months old only sleeps once a day for about 4 hours... Am I doing smith wrong then?

 

[littlemiss83]

Have a look at that link chick - it gives you lots of advice & tips. I was suprised at how much my LO apparently needs. I went searching for help coz LO wasn't sleeping much thro day & being very grumpy at night turns out he was overtired from not enough sleep - now i'm trying to follow that routine (in the link) & even though he's not sleeping for ages,he's defo napping more & giving me more free time & he's not been grumpy at night since.

 

[confuzed 88]

he was sleeping fine till a month ago, now its a fight to get him to doze off! he used to sleep thru the night but now thats stopped aswell, he wakes up twice!! omg its so hard thanks for the link will defo check it out, and if theres any other suggestions please share xx

 

[littlemiss83]

When they dont sleep at all or well during the day they get so overtired that they dont sleep well at night. This is soooo true for my LO & eldest too. Even though you think...they've not slept much during the day, surely they'll make up for it at night, instead it makes them worse at night.

 

[Nat26]

Wow, I must be doing things wrong, Its hard getting Jack to sleep in the day at all. He is a nightmare in the evening as I'm sure he is just really tired.

Thanks for the link Littlemiss xx

 

[hopefulmummy]

I'm the same, no routine. But, my main problem is my
Lo doesn't wake at the same Time every morning and everything hinges on that! X

 

[Jayceesmumma]

The more sleep they get the more they want!! Getting decent naps in the day will help them at night! Lilyanna is awake for max two hours in the day not in one go though.. And she still sleeps from 10:30-8:30 happily! Thursday night she went from 11pm-10am!
Start with a good bedtime routine that suits you.. Whether it be bath or just feeds in their room every night.. I shower the girls now but used to bath them every night before bed.. With lilyanna I bath her in the mornings as its more convenient now, but I've always given her her bedtime feed in my bed then swaddle her tight.. I don't swaddle in the day.. As for daily naps Jaycee used to just drop off anywhere lol, Ellie used to fall asleep in the car after taking Jaycee to afternoon nursery and I'd put her in her cot til it was time to pick Jaycee up and that gave me the duration of afternoon nursery to myself with Lilyanna she just falls asleep in her little chair all the time lol she's never held or rocked just left to it figure out what times are best for you and work around that. Work baby around u not the other way round

 

[confuzed 88]

I'm having to work around him, and as he teething he is extra clingy and doesn't feed much, such a pain, I'm stuck with my options. He falls asleep on the breast aswell oh my :'(

 

[nik106]

My LO has 1 of 2 routines, a lot depending upon us and her feeds, although she has set them herself. Most days, because my hubby has work in the morning, she has her last feed around 10pm and goes to bed shortly after. She will then wake around 9.30 in the morning. But, during the weekends and holidays, we find she doesn't want her last feed til closer to 1am and then she doesn't get up until 11.30am.

We don't have a set routine during the day, things just happen as and when

 

[littlemiss83]

The more sleep they get the more they want!! Getting decent naps in the day will help them at night! Lilyanna is awake for max two hours in the day not in one go though.. And she still sleeps from 10:30-8:30 happily! Thursday night she went from 11pm-10am!
Start with a good bedtime routine that suits you.. Whether it be bath or just feeds in their room every night.. I shower the girls now but used to bath them every night before bed.. With lilyanna I bath her in the mornings as its more convenient now, but I've always given her her bedtime feed in my bed then swaddle her tight.. I don't swaddle in the day.. As for daily naps Jaycee used to just drop off anywhere lol, Ellie used to fall asleep in the car after taking Jaycee to afternoon nursery and I'd put her in her cot til it was time to pick Jaycee up and that gave me the duration of afternoon nursery to myself with Lilyanna she just falls asleep in her little chair all the time lol she's never held or rocked just left to it figure out what times are best for you and work around that. Work baby around u not the other way round

Absolutely agree & more so if u've more than one child as we have our other LO's to think about too.

 

[i.love]

Hmmm... I think I'll try make him nap more during the day. Thanks for the link!

 

[ft90]

3 sleeps a day? Seriously? My 2 months old only sleeps once a day for about 4 hours... Am I doing smith wrong then?

Hey I was really worried about this too! Caleb only used to slep three hours max during the day! Then when me and OH were reading about routines saying that babies eat and play for an hour then sleep for about two we started to think we were doing something wrong! Most of the time he was good but some days he'd be naughty, so we tried the sleeping loads routine from 3 days ago. He eats, plays for 45 mins then sleeps for an hour and a half then does the same again and he's been a little angel ever since! Sometimes he gets a bit grizzly but is still wide awake so I put him in his cot with his dummy and he's asleep within minutes! Xx

 

[confuzed 88]

I'm going to sound well stupid but i don't know where to start.. do I wake him up same time everyday? I give him a dummy now to help him doze off without my boob. Oh I feel like a silly mum

 

[Franna75]

I got the link above off here (i think it was you LittleMiss) and it's been the best thing i've ever done. Have a good read of it from birth to 12 months. Tom missed his midday sleep today as we were out and all hell to pay at 4pm and it's the first time since we started he's kicked off.

DOnt feel silly, its very overwhelming at first. I gave my LO a dummy and it works a treat. Also, you prob won't have to wake LO up, but more so have to keep trying to get them to sleep. I started mine, with fitting in the daytime naps and letting him wake in the morning when he wanted. I think you can loosly go with 1.5/2 hours up, the same asleep throughout the day. We had lots of tears when he first had to sleep more than an hour during the day, but i just kept putting his dummy back in and leaving the room. It worked after five attempts.

More sleep is the way forward for both of us!

 

[littlemiss83]

Franna - its great to know that this routine is working for someone else - I thot i'd got the link from you. Only wish i'd came across it when I had my first. My parents had LO today from 11-7 & I said...how long did he sleep, they said 45min the whole day i thot omg im in for it tonight. He was really grumpy for a good cpl of hours because of it.

FT90 - Your routine sounds similar to the one Franna & I are following.

Confused88 - I agree with Franna, follow the routine loosly, whenever you decide to get up with LO start it from there. I wouldn't say to actually wake LO it doesn't need to be really strict.

 

[confuzed 88]

Ok so basically I let him wake up when he wants, and then take it from there, so 2hpurs awake, 2hpurs sleep? When its nap time i try get him to slp then and b persistent? I feel like I know nothing sometimes.. so of I start this routine key is Yp be consistent? And do the sane thing everyday?I know all babies are different but does it take long to see if I'm on the right path?xx

 

[confuzed 88]

so lo woke up at 815, i got him all cleaned up etc,fed him (i breastfeed in the morning) he started looking sleepy to me..rubbing his eyes etc so i put him in the cot with the dummy and turned on his light projector to get him to sleep, is that bad?

 

[Franna75]

That's perfect, try not to worry. If he is getting tired quite soon, put him down to sleep. I think the plan is to get to the stage where they don't look tired, you put them down before. But if your LO is catching up then he may need to sleep a bit more regularly.

You got it spot on in post no. 18 - consistency. Sometimes it not possible to do that though, but have a go.

The most difficult bit for me (and my Mum raised her eyebrow at me) was getting him to sleep for longer. When the link says your LO may protest she wasn't wrong. He had a right strop when he woke up after an hour but went back to sleep 15 mins later, next day it took 10 mins, next day 5 etc and now he just sleep when i put him down, usually for two hours.

Its also good to take note of what she says about wake time. So that LO has time on his own, then time watching Mummy and then interaction and also not to take him out too often. I'd been getting out every day, trying to do too much because i thought that's what everyone did!

Keep up the good work and let us know how it goes.

LittleMiss - glad its working, i wish i'd found it at 2months when my LO seemed to only be getting a couple of hours a day!!!

xx