Day in the life of a 5 week old?!

[Lunaberry]

Hi.
I'm a newbie and first time mum so please go easy ;-)
I'm exclusively breast feeding and have read so much about feeds, activity and sleeps now DD is past the initial few weeks I'm feeling I ought to be in a bit more of a rhythm with her.
Curious as to how your days go with little one at this age/what you do and when?
Especially with feeds. She wakes up hungry but also likes to drift off after or during feeds so I'm not sure if her awake time should be before or after IYKWIM
At the minute it's all been very much on her cues but not sure if this is right or if I should be bringing more routine in. During awake time do you hold baby or leave to entertain self? How long awake for? Do they settle self for naps? Etc etc. Show me a day in your life!
Thanks xx

[Hedgehogging]

Hi and congrats on your DD!

I actually kept a bit of a totally obsessive record of my DD's activities from around 6 weeks onwards as, like you, I had been totally baby led but wanted to have some idea of whether we actually had any kind of routine!

TBH with BFing she fed so often that I used to let that be my guide- she'd often nap on me after/during feeds and I sometimes wondered if I was actually interacting with her at all!

Gradually though I started to see she did have a little pattern of feeding every 1.5-2 hours and needing a nap after 1-1.5 hours (either on the boob, in her moses basket or while out walking)- it was all a bit too out of synch to do the whole eat/activity/sleep thing some posters talk about. But at least I felt like I could see some sort of structure to our days. Around that time too she started going to bed a little earlier each night.

In terms of activities ours seemed mostly to be "walked her around apartment", "had a chat with her while drinking tea", "kicked legs with nappy off" and "went for walk to shops". She'd sometimes sit and bat at toys in her little chair but mostly seemed happy to watch me potter about and listen to my stream of consciousness! The proper playing as such didn't start till later.

So I'd say if you and she are happy, keep being baby-led, but if you want to discern a bit of structure maybe keep a little note of her feeds and sleeps during the course of a few days and you may see there's some there already!

[Hedgehogging]

Oh and she didn't self-settle for sleep until about 4 months, but even then I think that's relatively young to achieve this. She needed feeding or rocking for naps and bedtime up till then, and still does for naps a lot of the time

[Lunaberry]

Hi Hedgehogging
Thanks so much for your reply. Can't tell you how much better it's made me feel.
You could have been describing my day so that's really reassuring! Think I might make noted of it as it will be interesting to see if there is a pattern.
Also good to hear about the self settling as I have had a few doubts (and comments) about me letting her fall asleep on me.
Thank you again. You've put my mind at rest :-) xx

[Hedgehogging]

You're very welcome Luna!

I think the main thing any of us wants in the early days is to know we're not doing anything ridiculously off the mark. I lived on mumsnet for the first few weeks and thank goodness because if I'd listened to all MIL's well meaning advice I'd have been in a right state!

Sounds like you and your DD are doing very nicely so keep listening to your instincts and following your lovely baby's cues and pat yourself on the back because you're doing a wonderful job.

Congrats again .

[Acorncat]

Mine is 6 weeks today. He's awake for a couple of hours at a time during the day. When he's awake I try and entertain him (tummy time, waving toys in his face, singing to him) or he's in his bouncy chair while I get showered etc. He feeds about every 3 hours now so really just work round him. We go to baby groups 3 times a week to stop me going crazy and try and get out for walks, go to shops. Some days we just sit on the sofa all day watching tv. Don't think I'll have a routine for ages though.