sleeping routine

[kelseyaj92]

ive started a routine with my 10 week old around 2 week ago which she just disregards i bath her tell her a story give her a bottle and cuddles then put her down.however she just seems to sleep most of the day now and is awake most of the night i try keep her awake but fail miserably.when she goes down for bed she stays asleep around a hour then wakes up and screams till she is picked up ive tried leaving her to cry but after 15 mins she doesnt stop so i end up picking her up.Im very tired and just dont know what to do any advice?

[SwivelHips]

It's really difficult isn't it. My DS was/is a nightmare sleeper so I feel your pain. Someone wiser than me will be along with advice for you soon, but I think at that age they're still adjusting to day/night. I used to make a big thing about morning wake ups, make sure he was in the light etc so he knew it was daytime.
10 wks is very young, she just wants to be with you and is crying because she doesn't understand. Virtual hugs to you I know its bloody hard. Wish I'd cracked it but I never did....

[VisualiseAHorse]

I wouldn't leave her to cry for 15 minutes so young, unless you really need a break. I would say 3 minutes should be the limit at that age.

Could you write down your routine for us?

[kelseyaj92]

sure..
7.30 bath
7.45 bottle
8.00 story
8.05 cuddles with me and daddy
8.10 i wrap her up and usually rock her whilst singing some sort of lullaby still working out which ones she likes
8.30 bed

i hated leaving her to cry but my partner has 2 otherr children and says because i never let her start crying (as soon as she starts to winge i go to her) she knows im there on demand

she ended up in my bed again by 2 am last night because i just got so tired i gave up she would only stay in her bed with my hand on her chest and holding my finger.

[Joiyuk]

I started sleep training when my DS was 5 mo. I started his routine at 4mo then started encouraging him to have longer sleeps at night. You need to start by giving encouragement that day time is awake time, bar naps young babies need. My DS used to have 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon while he was still young (a habit he kept up til a year old, bliss!). I used to do wind down time after dinner time (5.30pm onwards) and initially started getting a solid bed time established. I aimed to have him in bed by 9pm every night from the age of 3mo and then brought that time forwards so that just before he was 5mo he was in bed by 7pm every night. Once I established his bed time (and I would put him down after a bath, followed by baby lotion massaged in to relax him an a bottle) I would put him in bed drowsy but not sleeping. He would usually be asleep then for a reasonable stretch of time. He would usually wake around 1am, and I would distract him from milk for as long as I could without him getting upset. Putting a light display on, singing teddies etc etc. within a week or so he was waking around 6am, and by the age of 6mo he was sleeping 7-7 every night. My DH works nights so I desperately needed him to sleep through, and I was lucky that he was so 'easy' to get through the night. Maybe I was lucky. I remember wanting to bang my head against a wall during those first few months tho, and it was mega hard work at the time. It's worth it in the end. I had a very happy baby who was getting plenty of rest, and he's 2 now and sleeps well still (bar the odd sleepless night recently due to illness!). He did regress at about 7mo, but they can soon be encouraged back into routine. Just stick at it, they are learning as much as you are. If you get that routine established now it makes life much easier in the long run.

[Cindi01]

I was wondering if any one can give me any advice??
My baby is 5 weeks old, and is settling into a night time routine..
I feed him around 8 and he goes down at 9pm no problem, he then sleeps until around 2am for a feed...

This is where he problem starts... This feed takes about an hour after burping etc... Once he has fed, he wide awake... And won't go back to sleep...

If he does go to sleep it takes another half hour- hour to get him to sleep on top of the hour he's already been up, so he's not going to sleep until about 4 am and then he's awake again at 530-6..

I know he's young... But I hear so many people saying their baby slept through at 6 weeks, and I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong, and don't want to create any bad habits...

Any suggestions would be most appreciated..

Thanks

[VisualiseAHorse]

Cindi - sleeping through actually only means 5 hours! in medical terms. So don't panic. I would say that my baby was sleeping through when he went to bed at 7, woke at 11pm for food, straight back to sleep, awake again at 2am for more food, then brought into my bed.
I'm very lucky that he now sleeps 7pm-7am (although he is teething at the moment, so it's gone a little pear-shaped!).

At five weeks, I wouldn't worry too much. I think he needs to go to bed a little earlier. Really, he should be in bed anywhere between 6pm-8pm. If he's in bed by about 7ish, feed him at 10.30pm and then again at about 2-3am
Are you bottle-feeding at night Cindi? - if you are, try to feed him before he wakes at 2am, this is called a 'dream-feed' - have a look on the internet for more about dreamfeeds. If you are dream-feeding, you actually shouldn't need to burp baby.

Kelsey - I did controlled crying with my 5 month old, but I really think that leaving a 10 week old to cry (and by cry, I mean wailing and screaming, I think it's ok to leave them to 'fuss' a bit, but no longer than 5 minutes ) on a regular basis is not a good idea.
To be honest, I would also leave out the story. She is a little young, and this is 'stretching out' the bedtime routine quite a lot. You might find that if she was in bed earlier, she'd sleep better.

[kelseyaj92]

well ive cut the story out and the only reason she got left 15 mins was 2x when i was at the end of my tether but i have now been told she is teething ( i didnt know it could happen now) so i guess that explains the recent difficulties. so far tonight has gone well down at half 9 and 2 and half hours later still sleeping so am optimstic it also helps the oh is doing the night feeds tonight :) all advice is much appreciated its been an interesting learning curve so far.

[VisualiseAHorse]

It's ok to leave her if you're at the end of your tether! I've put LO in his cot and gone out to have a fag/cuppa a few times too, sometimes you just need that chill out bit!

Try and use the same lullaby (or maybe have 2 or 3 so you don't go mad singing the same one!!) each time, so that she begins to know that it bedtime. I've been using the same three songs for bedtime for the 7 months, and it now means that I can normally just sing one close to his ear, and he'll start to chill out.

At that age, I was doing:
5pm - feed
6pm - bath
6.30pm - massage/dressed for bed, feed in his room with the lights dim. Singing songs quietly.
7pm - into bed.