routines.... im so confussed

[setdse]

ok girls im a total novice at this and dont have a clue where to even start!

My lil man is nearly 7w now so i want to start getting him in to a routine.
He is a very sleepy baby and is probably awake for half hour each feed (3hrs) and then an extra 3-4hrs over the day and night. He only wakes up for 1 feed in the night, but i'd like to get him in to a routine, and through the night and not so much during the day but just don't know where to start.

What do i do? and what routines are your lil ones in?

 

[pinkymum]

No idea hun, but I'll be keeping an eye on this thread
X

 

[Mummy2Adam]

I set Adams nightime routine up first so he knew the difference between daytime and nightime, he would get a bath, have a bottle in dimmed light then I would put him to bed after getting him into this routine he gradually did the rest himself as he got older but he never was a really sleepy baby, by the time he was 1 and a half he never slept through the day at all x x

 

[setdse]

i have been putting him down after his 7pm bottle in his moses basket in our bedroom making sue its dark. Hes good at settling himself at this time and so will be asleep within 10min without crying. He then wakes at 11 for another feed and then settles back after and then awake again at 3am for another...harder to get him to settle at this time, and can take half hour with our help some times upto an hour. he's then awake at 7am for his next feed, we then get up and by 8 he is gone for the count and wont wake till 12! have tried waking him up for his 11am feed but he just falls asleep during it and ends up drinking hardly anything!he is then waking and begging for a feed at 3pm and then sleeps till half 4/5 and will then be awake till his 7pm feed!

Seems like he is hardly awake and if left to his own devices will sleep for 6hr stretches from the 8am feed!

 

[Mummy2Adam]

I know this is going to sound really silly but have you tried leaving a radio on in his room, a station with either soft talking or classical music, we only stopped doing this just after Adam was two as he got used to it. Might be worth a try x x

 

[setdse]

what during the night?? :/ Durring the day the radio is constantly on in the living room even when he is asleep. Oh and durring the day if he's asleep he is either on the play mat or swing although we try to limit his sleeping in the swing because of the angle!

 

[munchkin1982]

aaawww, Layla was worse than this at the start - her days were our nights etc right up until 6 weeks and then she just changed them around randomly with a little help from the whole, bath, feed and bed routine. It started as her going down to bed anytime from 11-1am (basically whenever I went to bed) Layla was a very very clingy baby so couldn't be left in bedroom on her own so early (every baby is different though). Once she started sleeping at night though I gradually bought her bedtime forward and now she is in bed at 8pm at the very latest (depend on how quickly she has her bedtime feed). She sleeps right through now until 7am!!! Although this is fab for me, I do struggle to get her to nap in the day though for any longer than 15 mins...

I also decided to get Layla used to the dark from the start too... so when she does go down in her moses basket, the bedroom is dark (as dark as can be now we have the lighter evenings) The only light then is on the landing...

Don't know if that helps at all? Do remember that in the beginning they do have alot of mini growth spurts which is why he could be sleeping/eating more...? xx

 

[Mummy2Adam]

In this room at night it seemed to settle Adam if he was ever restless as always hearing something used to make him feel safe, if he starts being less restless at night, he may stop being so sleepy during the day.
When Adam got a little bit older he did get his day and night mixed up and did go through a stage where we used to have to keep him awake as much as we can by letting him have small snoozes 10 mins here and there then we were advised to distrub his sleep and get him back in his routine but im not too sure whether they would advise this for a 7w old. Sorry I cant be much more help x x

 

[setdse]

ok thanks girls. Going to get into the bathtime routine tho! do you wash you babies every night??

 

[Mummy2Adam]

Yes every night that way baby knows that after bathtime its bottle then sleeptime. Doing things differently just one night used to knock Adam out of his routine, he still loves his bathtime but instead of a bottle he has a drink and watches his bedtime tv before he goes up to bed, it does stick with them because he actually asks now
Let us know how you get on hunny x x

 

[setdse]

ahh ok im gunna start this tonight.. thanks girls!

Did you sent out certain times for them to sleep and certain times for them to play so they arent sleeping all day??

 

[Mummy2Adam]

When Adam got abit older we did, I think it quite hard when they are still quite young.
One thing I would say are routines are great but dont get bogged down with too many, i drove myself crazy and my OH because if id miss a certain part of Adams routine i would get stressed and start paniking that I have knocked him out of his routine. Goodluck hunny x x

 

[setdse]

ok thanks again... ill let you know how it goes!

 

[rbryan0205]

amelia has playtime in crib or with daddy she goes in the bath get dried into sleeping bag feed and then sleep did it since being 2 weeks old and i can do it any time and she sleeps and anywhere aslong as i got her pram to sleep in x

 

[Squeakz]

from josh being about 3-4 weeks old we set up a strict bed time routine. 6 its bath time followed by food and hugs and snuggles from mummy and daddy before bed. Orginally it was in the moses basket in our room with very dim lighting so we could see where we were going when we went to bed. It wasnt easy but it took about 30 minutes of running up stairs to give him a dummya nd re-swaddle hime etc toget him to sleep....over about 2.5 months he got lots easier to settle etc and by the time he was in his ow cot at about 3 months he was 'easy. it was about us being stubborn (or thats how it felt). However, now at 6 o clock he gets stroppy as its his bedtime routine. This includes a bath at about 6 ish, and then a solid mea (hes 7 months) with water and hes in bed bed by bang on 7 sometimes earlier if hes really tired. we got made to feel horrible about being so 'strit' about bedtime, but he goes to sleep in the dark in quiet without fussing so long as he gets a good night snuggle and phil and i get 3/4 hours of mummy and daddy time etc ...

but that worked personally for us, its not for everyone but thats how we did it. He has a bath every other night cos of bad eczema, but we try ad proong getting him in his jammies for 10/15 mins when he gets stroppy-ish so hes in sync sorta thing, otherwise we read him interactive stories like 'yellow worm' and 'green worm' LOL
xxxxx

 

[setdse]

thanks. the night times arent really too bad tbh other than not sleeping through. Its just the day time! he sleeps all day (asleep now!!) andi think thats why he isnt v. tired at night. Like he's got em mixed up. Dont get me wrong he still sleeps at night just not as much and not as well as during the day. I've tried keeping him awake more in the day but then he either screams the place down because he wants to sleep or just ignors you and falls asleep and then nothing wakes him!

 

[rbryan0205]

amelia slept a lot in the day but gradually she started being more and more awake in the day and no she sleeps through hardly sleeps in the day but she has one it naturally on her own x

 

[Loulabelle]

How soon did everyone start their bedtime routines? X

 

[rbryan0205]

amelia was 2 weeks old when i started bedtime routine and then i just brought the time down from 9-8 then to 7 but amelia did it herself she was falling asleep at about 7 then i would have to wake her to get her ready for bed and shed be grumpy so just put her in bath at 7 and shes usually in be for 7.30 but it doesnt make a difference at what time she wakes that varies from 4-6 depends on her at the mo she is taking her dummy out herself and cant get it back in lol