Is it possible to put a b'fed baby into a nighttime routine?

[Tagz269]

My dd2 is now 13 weeks and I would like to Introduce a night time routine for her. Dd1 goes to bed around 7/7.30 and would like dd2 to follow shortly after. The problems I have are....

• she doesn't have a feeding schedule and feeds on demand so I can't tell when her next feed would be
  
• most nights she LOVES to cluster feed and won't settle for sleep until around 10.30/11 (last night was 1.30am!!!!)
  

Is there any advice on how to do this?
Dd1 fell into her own routine naturally however she was formula fed so they are more predictable with feeds.
Thanks

[keely79]

She's still tiny - I'd relax about it and go with what she wants. Once her stomach is bigger and she's able to hold more, she'll start to sleep for longer periods.

[trilbydoll]

If she's anything like my dd2, she's about to start waking hourly throughout the night, brace yourself

We've been all going upstairs together and putting dd2 to "bed" same time as DD1. I then sit up on the bed next to her, feeding and resettling as necessary. She goes down fine around 8pm, just doesn't stay there. I don't know if it helps being in the dark bedroom or not tbh but it makes me feel like I'm doing the right thing!

[JasperDamerel]

At that age, I would have a bedtime routine at around 6-7pm of bath, sleep suit and sleeping bag, story and song, and then settle down for the cluster feed, initially in the living room and then, as they got a bit older and cluster-fed less, in the bedroom. They were both shit sleepers, though, so that's not necessarily a good way of doing things.

[Onsera3]

DS was like this. Going to be later and later. Then abruptly at 4mo started going to bed 6pm-6am. But like TrilbyDoll I used to feed and resettle frequently until I went to bed. Then it was every 2-5 hours. I didn't stay on the bed but had a video monitor so I got to him before he woke.

[Alibabsandthe40Musketeers]

You can have a routine about what you do with her around bedtimes, but if she is cluster feeding and has started to ramp it up then don't mess with that because it means she is wanting to increase your supply.

You will be hitting 4 month sleep regression, growth spurt, cluster feed --hell- shortly, so personally I would do 'bedtime' with her when you do with your DD1, but not worry about trying to get her to settle earlier in the evening just yet.

[Tagz269]

Oh yay can't wait till the 4 month mark!!
Is it also normal for her to refuse the same boob? She's just been refusing my right one for about 15mins and crying for milk but as soon as I turn her over she takes the left boob no problem- this is happening a lot recently and she's getting very distressed with it!!! This happens more so in the evenings- she's mostly fine in the day!

[Alibabsandthe40Musketeers]

That is normal yes. You probably have better supply in one breast than in the other, I know I always did.