What should I be doing?

[Fionabird]

Hi, I am totally confused and worried for my 2 week old. Until a few days ago, he would sleep and eat in a 3 hourly cycle and be easy to settle. Now, he is a bit older, he doesn't want to settle himself to sleep during the day, and either needs a cuddle to sleep or lays in his crib and stares at the side. I then feel guilty to leave him, but he does get a lot of cuddles through out the day. At night he is good. He tends to settle when we go to bed at 10 till around 7 am. He was on 4 hourly night feeds but last night only went 3 hourly. I don't mind any of this, but don't want him to get over tired or dependant on cuddles to sleep. He was settling himself until a few days ago. Any tips on if this is OK at his age or should I try and establish a routine?

[lovelymama]

Lovely, please, please stop worrying. Your baby was easy to settle for the first 2 weeks as he was tired from the delivery and couldn't handle any stimulation. Now that he's starting to pay some attention to the outside world he will need a bit more attention and probably more food. He loves cuddles to sleep because he needs to feel the comfort that he got inside you. Don't worry about a routine yet - keep giving him cuddles and feed him whenever he needs it. A routine can wait for a good few weeks yet so just enjoy him. Re the lying in his crib and staring, my DS did this and this is how he learnt to self settle to sleep from a very young age, so I don't think it's a bad thing, provided you give him some sort of stimulation at other times.

Take it easy, enjoy your baby and be thankful that you've got a little one that sleeps so well!

[MoosieGirl]

Hi Fiona - is this your 1st baby? IMO babies of this age should not need to be cuddled to go to sleep and will drift off after a feed or when they are tired. Dont feel guilty about letting baby have some awake time in his crib - lying flat is best for the develpment of their spine and they will fall asleep when they are ready. Cuddling them to sleep will really create a rod for your own back if they get too used to this. In terms of feeds, at this stage I would just go with the flow and feed on demand and try settling him into a routine in a few weeks when he is a bit older. I dont think your baby will get overtired unless he is being over stimulated and cuddled excessively through out the day and not given the chance to sleep (I'm NOT saying you are doing this btw!!). Babies develop so quickly during the first few weeks and you will notice that he wont sleep as much as he did as the weeks go by.

With my DD (12m) being DC2 she was left in her crib a lot more in the first few weeks than DS (3) during the day (bascially I was so busy running after a toddler) - as tends to be the case with subsequent children - and I have found that she is a much better sleeper that DS and a more relaxed child.

Try not to worry about your DS, as long as hes feeding and sleeping and seems happy! And don't forget to try get some rest yourself!

[ches]

You can worry about settling himself to sleep at around 6 months old. Right now he has closely-spaced growth spurts which make him need to eat more often day and night. Newborns need loads of cuddles. :D