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10wo - how to start establishing a routine?? (long sorry)

3 replies

rachelh81 · 05/01/2008 18:53

We had terrible trouble with our ds when he was very little as he would not sleep at night and we tried following gina ford in the hope that structured days would mean sleepy nights - did not work!! in the end we co-slept for 3 weeks which helped him tell night from day and now he sleeps well in his basket during the night, usuaaly only waking once or (its happened once!) not at all.

So, now the nights are sorted (touch wood!) we want to establish some sort of (flexible) routine in the day as at the moment we're all over the place and especially in the evenings don't know what to do with him. His feeding (bf) is fairly predictable (3-4 hours) but nap times are erratic. we tend to wait til he seems tired then put him in his car seat or pram - he might sleep 10 mins, 40 mins or 3 hours, its anyone's guess!

QUESTION 1: should i wake him up after a certain period esp in the late afternoon (will lots of sleep in the late afternoon/eve affect night times?)

In the evenings he never sleeps more than 45 mins so bedtime at 7 does not seem possible - he's going to bed with us at the moment. We'd really like some time off in the evenings but don't know how to go about this - HV suggested cc which we tried for 2 weeks but i can't cope with that anymore, he will scream for 2 hours if we let him! we do bedtime routine (massage, bath etc) before our bedtime, but when we've done it earlier he seems to know its not night yet and wakes up after 45mins - even when we've got into bed to try and fool him!

QUESTION 2: when should we do the bedtime routine - at our bedtime (so he associates it with long sleep) or when we want him to go to bed (knowing he'll probably get up again in an hour)??
will he eventually sleep longer in the evenings?!?

QUESTION 3: should i wake him in the morning as he wakes up anywhere btwn 7 and 10 at the moment - DH says we wont get into a routine unless we always start the day at the same time, but he looks so peaceful and i love sleeping in...

Anyway, sorry about the epic post, any ideas greatly appreciated!

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pulapula · 05/01/2008 21:24

I've not got much experience of this but agree with your DH that you need a regular wake-up time if you want to develop a routine. With DD and DS i also preferred to let them sleep in if i'd been up feeding at 5 or 6- didn't see the point of waking them at 7. But once they made it to 6.30 or 7 it made the days more predictable.

So guess its up to you to decide but maybe if you started every day at 7, your DS would be ready for bed at 7pm?. I wouldn't encourage long sleeps late afternoon either - i suggest you wake him after 2 hours max or by 5pm at the latest?

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LavenderMist · 08/01/2008 11:43

Bumping for you as I am at about the same point (DS 9 weeks), and wondering what to do about this. Am very keen NOT to go down GF route as too structured for us. However, other baby books with a more laid-back approach don't seem to offer any guidance at all on the day-time nap problem, assuming that the baby will work it out for themselves. Well ours certainly hasn't! Also any advice about a baby that won't go to sleep or stay asleep anywhere but in sling/pram appreciated.
TIA

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karen999 · 08/01/2008 11:46

I followed GF - not to the letter but enough so that dd's sleep/feeding was structured. It worked a treat. It is structured but you can be flexible with it. It really helpled me lots.

I followed it on the recommendation of my sister. Both her lo and my lo are in good routines. I know some people don't like routines but I am a kind of routine person so it has been brilliant for me.

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