Sleep Questions - 4 weeks old...

[MrsRV]

Hi all,

First time mum to gorgeous baby girl who is nearly 3 weeks old, have now got over breakdown/crying stage and am very much enjoying her :-) just a couple of questions as I'm still bloody clueless!!

Baby settles relatively easily after night time feeds and generally wakes every 3 to 4 hours through day and night. Anything I could or should be doing to increase the gaps between feeds? As I'm writing this feeling very guilty as she is so good and I feel bad for wanting just a little more sleep.

Baby is bottle fed and seems to be finishing 4oz more than not, seems content, not sure whether to increase bottles or not - she is a little guzzler and I think she'd just go on feeding until I stop her!

At night, we go to bed at about 9ish, from 7/8ish we feed, change, (bath every couple of days) then wind down in lounge, dim lights, turn tv on low, have a cuddle and put her in her Moses basket - generally she doesn't settle properly until we go to bed at 9ish. Should we be keeping her in the lounge so late or put her up before with a monitor? Is she too young for that at the mo?

See... Said I was clueless didn't I!?!

Sorry... Nearly 4 weeks old..

Well that's acutaly very good for 4week's some baby's wake every 2hours. So going with the flow for now and if you can grab a nap during the day to catch up would be good.

As for keeping her down stairs I would and I'd also like to point out the SIDS guidlines say baby's under 6months should always sleep in the same room as an adult this inculdes nap's. It is your chocie if you choice not to do this but though you should know.

agree with migrill, also my daughter was told in the States where she had her second baby, that weeks/early months old babies going for long periods of sleep and no food ie 6hrs ++ can go into a coma. I was told by my pediatrician feed as much as they want it put soon weight and you will find that they sleep longer as time goes by. good luck

They stop waking in the night when they have had enough during the day, so definitely add another oz to each feed (maybe 2oz if needed) - some feeds she may take it all (usually first feed of the day, for example) and others she may not. Better to have an oz left over than not give her enough.

My first two children were in their rooms from day 1. DC3 has been exaactly as you describe in the evening. He is now 8 wo and at 6wo, he started to settle better in the evenings. Hold on in there.

Congratulations by the way - it sounds like you are doing a super job!

I'd Make bigger bottles if she's always finishing them, add an extra oz and if she doesn't need it fine, if she takes it she might start sleeping longer!

I put my LO in the bedroom at night from 8 weeks, which was when I realised that he will be completely fine and that I couldn't properly relax when he went down with him still there.

Oh, and I second nap during the day!

My LO started sleeping longer about 8/9 weeks when i stopped listening to people telling me how much he needed and listened to him (aka always guzzling every drop) he started having 6oz bottles, took week from that to sleeping through most nights.

Hi mrsrv. My ds (first & only) who is now 9.5 mths old, slept in his moses basket in living room until we went t bed and then we carried basket up t our room where he slept; he was also bottle fed and woke 2-3 times for a feed n generally had about 4oz. After 2.5 weeks we started putting his moses basket in his own room, he got himself into a bit of a routine of going t sleep at the same time (around 7ish) so we started putting him t bed in his own room from 7 (we just had a dim lamp and did his nappy change, pj's and bedtime bottle all in his room so he associated this with going t sleep, which we still do) n now he's an absolute little star. He now goes t bed at 6.30 n goes more or less straight t sleep (sometimes he may have a little winge) n wakes once around midnight for a feed and gets up around 7; meaning my husband and i get adult time to spend together ;-)

Hope this all makes sense as i've done it on mi phone. Xx