How do I establish a routine

[Samantha1409]

Hi everyone,

I have got a 2 month old baby. He is actually a very good baby that isn't overall fussy. We do everything on demand - feeding and sleeping. Now it's been tough with sleepless nights but we are trying not to get a nanny and since I think I've gone through the worst, but still have a way to go and feel incredibly run down from those nights, I am trying to find out how can I establish a routine for the little one at night so that he can sleep in longer stretches?

Now he is actually really good, and I'd say that he does "sleep" at night already. But from 1am to 5am or so he keeps waking me up for either just a few sips of milk and falls back asleep, or I think he's got a lot of gas, wind, needs burping.. we do try and burp him a lot. But when I am with him at night I sometimes don't have the strength to stay up anymore. So overall I think I just need to find that thing that would work to stretch at least one cycle to 4 hours instead of what's happening now in the later part of the night.. thank you to everyone who will answer with any tips.
Best wishes
Sam

I’d try some colic drops to see if that will drop the waking for gas.

Could have colic, or it might be the start of reflux. Or it could be just a natural stage. It's really hard to tell at 8 weeks, they are still so new and a routine probably isn't possible. If you are bf you could try cutting things from your diet gradually such as dairy to see if it makes a difference. Can you get more sleep by sleeping in the evening, or does the baby cluster feed? Are you cosleeping? I'm afraid the only way out of this one is to roll with it while trying to diagnose if there is an underlying problem or if it's just a baby bring a baby x

Don't start cutting foods out of your diet.

What is your setup - is it just you and baby at home, where is baby sleeping during the day/night?

What makes you think baby has gas when he Wakes up?

Rather than a strict routine, aim for a rhythm. The cycle should be Eat -Active- sleep- eat -active -sleep.,. Through day and night. At night, the active bit can be short (nappy change) but stretch it out in the day.

So he keeps making noise such as "ah" or "eh" and stretching out, moving. Now every time around 4am he seems to want to poop but takes a long time to do so and cries as if he had some pain or discomfort. When that passes after 5am he literally falls asleep relieved. He pushes and pushes and struggles to eat at that moment despite sometimes wanting to.

The routine doesn’t have to be eat - active - sleep, per a PP. That is the opposite of what we do!

My 4 month old feeds to sleep and that works really well for us.

We also cosleep (as in I share a bed with baby, with appropriate safety precautions), so feeding at night means minimal waking up for me. Cosleeping has been a lifesaver for me as I get plenty of sleep now!

Mine was similar- struggled to deliver a poo c 5am, much happier once he'd done it but by then needed a nappy change (and sometimes clothes too :/)

I never really cracked it but he grew out of it and he isn't allergic to anything. They just have immature guts

I think at 2 months this is just what they do unfortunately
My baby always did really noisy active sleeping around that time of night. Is he definitely awake each time you're lifting him overnight?

I think that's based in the Baby Whisperer? I'm not sure that is evidence based.

@Samantha1409 try Baby Calming by Caroline Deacon.

It will help you to find a routine that suits both you and your LO however you feed your baby.

Unlike some other baby books, this one is evidence based and the author has had babies of her own

Also, you haven't said how tour feeding your LO.

If they are gassy and you're FFing you tried swapping formula brands?

If they are BF they shouldn't really need burping.

If they are very gassy have a read of this on Tongue Tie.

And if you're feeling down from the lack of sleep, please do talk to your HV about how you're feeling. You might also want to call the PANDAS Foundation and talk through how you're feeling with them