How do you go about getting them in a routine?

[poochielove]

OH goes back to work next week and i wanted to try and get Teddy into a routine if i can. At the moment he feeds, has a nappy change and goes back to sleep for 3 hours and then wakes and does the same again. So he spends most of the day asleep. He does wake up for a play now and again and i try and wear him out by stimulating him on his mat/talking to him/playing with him. The pattern does not seem to differ from day to night at the moment. Question is, what time should i put him to bed at night as in bath and feed and down for trhe night (haha as if ) roughly? Also how do i get him into a bit more of an awake routine in the day? Or do i just leave him to sleep when he needs it? Thanks in advance

 

[Squiglet]

Make the house bright and noisy during the day and make it quiet and dark when its bedtime and at night. Wake him up at the same time everyday, and start the bedtime routine the same time every night. And eventually they just fall into the routine.

 

[ninjawomble]

I was just about to post the same question!

Thing is if I try to keep her awake longer in the day, shes just like "whatever mummy, Im having a kip...sod orf" , and stays asleep!!
At least she know to wake only the once at night now, just cant wait till she sleeps through!

 

[poochielove]

I was just about to post the same question!

Thing is if I try to keep her awake longer in the day, shes just like "whatever mummy, Im having a kip...sod orf" , and stays asleep!!
At least she know to wake only the once at night now, just cant wait till she sleeps through!

Only once! Why cant Teddy do that! Last night he slept for 4 hours between feeds insted of 3 so i guess thats some sort of improvement. I am hoping a bedtime routine may well have him drop one of the feeds so i can get some more sleep and start enjoying everything a bit more...at the moment i am totally sleep starved cos he starts wanting to play at about 4am

 

[kalia]

DD was the same for the first few months - only awake for food and nappy change then back to sleep for another 3 hours or so. As the feed and nappy change took about an hour it was about a 4 hour cycle.

We started a routine by deciding that the first nappy change after 7pm was time to get ready for bed, have milk and go to bed. The first waking after 7 am was time to get up and get dressed.

After a few weeks (we didn't care much about not having a routine so you could add after a few days) I decided that I would feed her at 11pm before I went to bed. Just from being fed at 11pm each night a whole new routine fell into place. Because she fed at 11 she didn't wake up again until about 3 and after that until 7am or 8am. So that meant that she was only waking once in the night. Even now, if we don't feed her just before we go to bed she will wake twice, if we feed her first she only wakes once. Then because she ate about 8 she wanted more at 11 or 12. and then again at 3 or 4. We would feed her at 7 before she went to bed. and that's the routine, full circle. The only bits that were our doing were the feeds at 11pm, everything else was her - she'd just fall asleep wherever and wanted fed around every 4 hours.

Now she sleeps until between 8.30 am and 10.30 am, having gone to bed at 7pm, with a feed before we go to bed and another about 4 or 5 am, whenever she wakes up. We have always just let her sleep when she wants it and wake when she feels ready.

 

[nori]

im having the opposite prob. i cant get ollie to sleep in the day atall then he gets over tired and wingy. the only time he sleeps is when i take him out in his pram. the only routine i try and stick to is having his first feed at 7am. it then works out he has his last at 10 or 11 then he only wakes once during the night.

 

[Sherlock]

Babies are not born with a body clock that recognises day and night. Its something that develops and is adjusted to over a few months.

Breastfed babies will also tend to feed more at night than formula fed ones as formula is thicker and heavier and takes longer to digest. So your LO feeding at night still is perfectly normal and will settle down as he gets older.

For now it really is a case of go with the flow, sleep in the day and night when he sleeps rather than rushing around trying to get things done. If he sleeps for 3 hours at a time then why don't you do this also in the day once or twice. Breastfeeding means getting rest and letting your LO demand feed to build your supply for them.

Squiglet made a good suggestion. You can introduce a bedtime routine of bath/wash feed and into basket each evening but don't expect your LO to follow it straight away. He'll still need feeding overnight and so on. But gradually he'll find his own routine in all this and start sleeping longer at night and being more awake in the day as his gut and brain matures. Usually by around 12 weeks is when BF babies can go longer at night (6 hours) without needing a feed. Some don't but thats the average. This is when their gut matures better and they are able to feed enough in the day and evening to not have to feed so much in the night.

I"m a big believer in letting LO guide you as much as possible. Trying to keep a newborn or small baby awake to play is a futile thing. At his age just cuddling him, smiling and so on is enough. Having tears and upset just to try to make them sleep better at night is pointless as it never really works. A hungry baby will still wake for food.

Please remember that breastfeeding in the first 6 weeks is hard sodding work. But worth it in the end. The main thing I learnt was to relax about things, let my expectations of doing housework etc go and to rest and sleep when my son did (as he was not a sleeper it meant no sleep really but there). Once you get to 6 weeks it gets a bit easier and then before you know it 12 weeks is here and it improves again. Yes there are growth spurts and your baby will demand to feed more, but go with it