Routine in pieces

[shreek]

Dear All,

This is my first time on the discussion board, please can someone help!!!

I have a dd who is 7 weeks old and up until last week was in a very good Gina ford routine. We only started the routine at 3-4 weeks old but it worked straight away and hubby and I got our evenings back from 7pm onwards and i had time during the day to do stuff. HOWEVER, as mentioned, this all changed in the last week. The day time still seems to go well. She feeds every 3 hours and sleeps every two - only an hour each time and therfore only has 3 hours in the day. The problem is now the bedtime routine. I use to be able to bath, feed and then straight into moses basket by 6.45pm and she would sleep until i woke her for 10.30 feed.
Now when i put her in the basket she wakes and cries. i pick her up to feed abit more, put her down again, sometimes give her my finger to suck on - and this goes on. I am now having to put her on our bed and letting her suck my finger until she sleeps (she has her naps during the day on our bed). she is now going to sleep 8 - 8.30pm. THEN she woke up at 5pm this morning and didn't go back to sleep!!!

Please help - where has the routine gone wrong???

Sorry i have gone on - i hope it makes sense!!!

[charlie72]

Consistency is the key - ds had awful sleep problems for about a year off and on.

He was really good till about 6mths then (I still don't know how it happened) but he just went completely out of pattern. He'd wake at least 4 times every night and be awake for at least an hour each time - it was awful. Looking back, I have no idea how we managed.

HV (when I approached her) was brill. They organised someone who had done a sleep clinic to come out to see us at home and see what we were doing well and not so well.

We kept diaries to see if there was any pattern (none whatsoever); what action we took and how he responded. Over the course of about 5/6 weeks (doesn't seem as long when you say it fast!!!) he went from being up and down ALL night long to maybe waking once a week for a short while at a time. After a few months, he was doing really well & he's not woken up in the night for months and months (not since we did the night time wee run anyway). He still likes the light on though and won't go to bed unless its on but what the hell, it works for him.

Lots of luck - don't worry about asking HV for help if you need it. I wish I'd done it months before I actually did.

[aloha]

She's so very young and it's normal to be abnormal as a baby I think! ie they change all the time. Nothing has 'gone wrong' she's just being her. At this age she is probably having a growth spurt anyway and is hungrier. Have you thought of a dummy? A real godsend for some babies (inc my ds).

[handlemecarefully]

Don't start me on Gina Ford!

[csa]

shreek, gf mentions that babies usually experience a growth spurt at about 6 weeks so this might have been the reason for her not being able to settle (being more hungry than usual)? if so, maybe a top up of expressed milk after bath would help? agree with charlie about consistency. i would say perservere with the routine and it will work out in the end. good luck! sorry handlemecarefully, another gf disciple here

[Prufrock]

The routine hasn't gone wrong - your baby has just changed a bit (and I speak as a 2 times GF devotee). Please don't mak teh mistake though of thinkning that the routine is a test that you have to get right - it's there to help you, not make you a slave to it.

Ther is a growth spurt at 6 weeks or so. Are you bf or bottlefeeding - whichever, I would try to give more at the post bath feed. I would also second the dummy suggestion - it doesn't mean she will have one forever. My dd (first baby) would never settle at 7pm - we resorted to taking her for a walk so she would at least get an hours nap, then she would be up until the 10.30 feed. But if you try to stick to the principles of the routines eventually they do get back into the swing of it.

[Groggymama]

Hi shreek

I'm in the same boat - the routine's all gone to pot. Mostly because having visitors at the weekend throws me out of the pattern. DS fed every 2 hours through the night up at 6 up at 8 and is demand feeding and I want to get back on track. I'm going to use a dummy and cool boiled water today to get ds back to the schedule and put me and dh in a better mood. good luck with your routine, you must be as knackered as me!

lol

[Lizzylou]

Hi Shreek,
I loosely followed GF, not to the letter and found that it helped me enormously. Babies change as they grow and develop and the trick is trying to develop your routine to fit in with them. I did find that trying too hard to stick rigidly to GF was not right in my case. All babies are different, just keep trying to find what works for you and your little one.
I found that establishing a night time routine and sticking to that rigidly (bath at x time, feed at x time, put down at x time) worked and then the rest of the day just fell into line with that.
Good luck and congrats on the arrival of your little one!

[ghosty]

I would definitely try a dummy ... worked wonders with my DD.

[mears]

She could be going through a growth spurt so therefore is looking for extra milk. If she is breastfeeding then let her feed when she wants and she will probably settle again pretty quickly. Extra breastfeeds increases milk supplty over 36-48 hours.

She is still very young so it is not unusual for her pattern to change.

Can I ask why she is sleeping on your bed? Babies can suddenly learn to move and although it is unlikely at 7 weeks, babies do fall off of beds. She is much better getting used to sleeping in her own cot.

If all else fails, she may well just be wanting to suck and a dummy may help. Frees your finger up to do other things

[shreek]

Dear All

Thank you for your advice. I shall try adjusting the routine and chill out!!!

[alux]

Thanks for this thread. I started the Gina thing 2 weeks ago - baby now 6 wks and also reaching the stage where it feels like its going to pot. I think the growth spurt thing is here. Was up at 5 am and feeding on and off till 7 am. coupled with a bad case of wind for the last few days,well, you got the picture.

Trying to be flexible with the timetable - she is working 1 hr ahead of schedule (God, sounds so regimental) but keeping a timetable helps with my sanity - and hers imho. (Do I sound like a school teacher?) Eventhough I feel like I am muddling along a bit, well at least, its muddling with a plan in mind.

[Mads1]

Dear Alux

that's exactly how I feel!! As soon as i started the GF routine I suddenly felt abit more confident and sane!!

[meggymoo]

Message withdrawn

[Chuffed]

I didn't gf routine really more a baby whisperer but I did use a few of her techniques such as the split feed, gave one breast before bath and the other after bath and that helped with the growth spurt.

[girrafey]

Hi there, As a nanny i was a big fan of gf. But now i have my own i would really like her to be on the routines as i found them great as a nanny. But she is 4 weeks and i cant seem to get her on them. She cant handle more than 2.5 oz and therefore doesnt go 2 odd hours without getting hungary. how did u manage to get them on to the routine whn this young? Otherwise she is so good. sleeps at the right time and once down for the night at 7 wakes btween 10 and 11 for a feed and then goes through till 5ish. Has an ounze or so then and then starts the day at 7.30 ish. It is just the problem with the feeding. I have tried leaving her longer between feeds but she gets so hysterical that she still only takes the same amount as she is shattered by crying. Any advice would be great. sorry if i have hi jacked the thread. many thanks.

[loulabelle222]

i personally think that for the first few months there is no set routine. Your baby should fit in with your life and not the other way round, I never established a routine at all but saying that ds was a good baby. He was being fed every 4 hours from day 1 and by 4/5 weeks slept through the night. I fed him when he needed, changed him when needed. The one thing you need to do is relax. Be calm and your baby will be calm.
Try bathing baby at the same time of day (in the morning,or at night) and little things like that and your baby will be in an established routine in no time!

[loulabelle222]

dream feeding is also a great idea , always gave me a few extra hours sleep