Helping baby to sleep through - any tips?

[Noko33]

Hi, I'm new on Mumsnet but have a 7 week old and we're trying to help her with a nightime routine. We're doing 'bath, bottle, bed' in a dim room and she's not too bad at going down (bit hit and miss!)

Would love any advice about how to get her to drop her 3am feed and then her 11pm feed so that she eventually sleeps through.

I know she's still young but want to try and encourage good behaviours as she grows.

Thanks lots!

I used to feed my baby at 7am, 10.30am,2.30pm, 5.30pm and then dream feed her at about 11pm. I used to find her feeds got closer together when she was preparing for her big sleep and then were closer together in the morning because she was hungry from sleeping all night.
Does your baby drink the right amount of ounces for her age/size in a 24hr period? Mine did but she drank them within a 16 hour period instead, then she would sleep from 7-7 with just a dream feed to make sure she was having the correct milk intake.
Hope this helps!

make night feeds boring and only change her nappy if it is extremely wet or is dirty. You are asking a bit much for her to drop feeds just yet - I aimed for feeds to be cut down from the age of 6 months as I had read they can need a night feed up till that age. DD gave her last night feed up at 5 1/2 months and ds gave his up at 8 months (I started cutting down what he was offered in his night time feed from the age of 6 months)

p.s. my lo's were both still feeding 3 hourly day and night at that age.

She is very young - my DD has only just started sleeping through and she is 11 months. I think this is down to the fact that she is older and can fit more in her tummy, she is crawling and so wearing herself out more and just a natural progression.

She was waking for one feed a night until fairly recently and it took 20 mins and was done. Trying to 'wean her off' it would have been cruel and much more effort. She was obviously hungry and needed those calories however inconvenient for me. It is only for a short while and feeding her in the night when she needs it does not mean she will never sleep through although sometimes it feels like it.

You will probably get some answers from people who have been waiting a lot longer than 11 months for an unbroken night's sleep.

The routine thing sounds like the way to go - you are sending her signals it is bedtime and she is learning to respond to them but she will sleep through when she is ready and she will drop the feeds when she is ready.

She is still tiny but I remember being slightly exasperated when my boys were the same age and wondering whether I'd ever get another night's sleep without interruption! Here are a few tips -
Make sure you always put her down without fail at 7pm, even if she woke up from her last nap late afternoon.
Make sure she drinks enough during the day (7-7) and in order to do so, wake her at 7am (I know I know, never wake a sleeping baby!) in order to fit in enough feeds. This is basically Gina Ford distilled - very sound advice. I was not a routine-obsessed mum but those 2 rules were golden, and seem to have worked! Good luck and enjoy the feeds - when she is older you will miss them, I promise you will!