Establishing a routine at 7wks

[Tagz269]

Hi,
My dd is now 7wks+4 and I cannot seem to est any sort of night time routine. It's purely based on how she's feeding in the day and what times she's feeding. At the moment she can go anywhere from 2-3 hrs in the day. At night she's better going 5hrs from last feed then 4hrs. What I want to do is get her to wake up at about 5ish so last feed being 11.30-12, but how do I do this?
The past few night I have been bathing at 9.30-10 feeding her and putting her to bed and she's been waking up at 3am! But today is gone terribly wrong! It's now 10.30pm and I haven't even bathed her, she is now sleeping and has just been fed.
Some advice would be great

Thanks

[Tagz269]

BTW I'm bottle feeding

[shouldIbecrossaboutthis]

So you want to feed her at 11.30pmish? Have you tried a dream feed at that time? You'll ahve to make sure the feed before that is 3-4 hours before so 7-8pm.

Someone like Gina Ford (very routine based) would suggest you fed your baby @ roughly, 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 11pm, 4am then 7am again.

But has your DD read the books?! ;)

[Tagz269]

I haven't tried the dream feed but may do
Tomorrow because she is sound asleep now (it's 12am) god knows what time she will wake next!!
The gina ford sounds good BUT how do you make a baby with no routine and feeding every 2 hours follow this pattern? I've tried making her wait for a min of 3 hours but it just won't work! Because she just cries and cries and cries!! Especially in the evenings! Also, did i mention that she doesn't take all of her feed in one go?! She takes max of 90-100ml and then the rest about an hour later (although this is not always the case) sometimes she doesn't drink the rest and then 2 hours later is very hungry again... Bad habits start over.

[BrainGoneAwol]

This probably isn't what you want to hear, but lots of babies don't do routine at that age (or for a lot longer!)

Are you trying to establish one because you need her to or because you think she should? If it's the former then hopefully someone wiser than me will be along to suggest something. If it's the latter then maybe try to just go with the flow for now?

[Eskino]

Babies this young aren't generally creatures of habit or routine. She's doing what she needs to do to feel warm and secure and have a comfortable belly so she can grow. She's not bothered what time it is.

Give her a little while to grow and develop and she may well progress into a sort of routine that might fit with your wants. Try not to have too many expectations of how babies are supposed to behave though, it'll make things harder for you in the long run.

[ThreeWheelsGood]

It's far to soon I reckon. Our baby has only just worked out difference between night and day, around 12 weeks onwards. Keep things quiet/dark at night, brighter/louder during the day - no talking during night feeds. You'll drive yourself to despair if you try a strict routine now.

[ThreeWheelsGood]

A 7wo can't have "bad habits" as you said, they change practically every few days! Hang in there.

[Tagz269]

Thanks for your replies. I guess reading up on the net and hearing about other friends "perfect" babies makes me upset sometimes but every baby is different. I wouldn't change my lo for the world!!

[meganw]

Don't stress about a routine just yet - my baby wasn't in a routine at all and then at about 9/10 weeks when she could take 150mls ish in one go, she put herself into a 3 hour feeding routine and started sleeping through. So our day looks roughly like this now, at 12 and a half weeks: feed at 7, 10, 1, 4.30, 6.15/6.30. All these times are flexible depending on her wake up time and how hungry she is, and if we are out and about at all. I always give her last two feeds close together as this is what she wants, then she is all tanked up and ready for bed at 6.45 - 7pm after a full tummy, cuddle in her sleeping bag and a burp!

[Tagz269]

Meganw
Did your lo always take her whole bottle before that? Or did she take some of it?

[Wishiwasanheiress]

I'm not nec the best for advice today as dd kept us up all night however I would agree that 7wks is possibly early for a Routine.

It might be easier to note what time she is doing things already. Over a few days can u see a pattern with in them? Rather than Gina Fording it and imposing times on ur baby iykwim.

As u go across next 2 mths I'd say it will settle out and a routine will appear. Mostly just because u just do things at similar times every day to suit ur family.

Good luck. Oh and other people's kids are rarely as good as they make it seem. Probs just caught em on a good day....

[mummysmellsofsick]

I'm sure I read they don't have short term memories before about 3 months so any routines at that age are purely for the parents' benefit. I always thought it must be harder work trying to deal with a hungry/ tired baby because it was not the 'right' time for a feed or a nap. Everything on demand worked for us until around 1 year. That way I never felt I was doing battle with DS's requests. Obviously that attitude can't last forever but it's good for the first 6 months+ imo