Sleep in a 18 week old - Advice

[carolcc]

What is the 7 to 7 routine and why not 8 to 8 etc?

I started about 8 weeks, bathing baby and then taking him upstairs for last feed and then putting in moses basket. He slept any time from 6 hours to 10 hours which meant he is up at different times each morning meaning he goes to bed at different times as he is still on 3 hourly feeds and his last feed determines what time he goes to bed at. He slept for 12 hours Sat and Sun night but for 7 hours on Monday.

How can I get him in some sort of routine as I am going back to work soon?

I forgot to say his daytime naps are becoming quite erratic - he's had 4 x 1 hour naps today

When he wakes up before 7, do you think he is actually hungry. Do you think he could be soothed back to sleep with a dummy or with only a small feed?

My theory to establishing a stable routine is to establish a stable wake up time. If you can predict when he is going to wake up, then it is much easier to establish a routine for the day iyswim.

I'm bottle feeding and if he wakes up at say 4.30 i've always assumed he must be hungry and feed him asap. He takes more or less the whole bottle. I've never thought he might not be hungry!!!

He won't take a dummy.

You sound as if you have experienced this, do you have a small feed already made up every night for this? How much do you consider a small feed - 3oz?

DD (22 weeks)normally goes through the night from 8pm-7am but did go through a patch about 5 weeks ago where she starting waking up in the wee small hours for no reason i could fathom.

My first thought was also that she must be hungry so i fed her. She took what i offered so i thought i must have been right but then watching her drink i noticed that she wasnt really eating like she was hungry iykwim. So i reduced what i was offering her and eventually stopped offering it to her at all. She wasnt bothered by the lack of bottle. Her waking as it turned out was due to her hitting a developmental milestone and she just need a little help to get back to sleep.

I sat in the dark nursery with her and cuddled until she was relaxed and then put her back into her cot and left. She went back to sleep. She is back to 8pm-7am.

When your son wakes in the night does he cry out for attention and get distressed or is he just snuffling/babbling in his basket?

If he is not distressed i would try leaving him to see if he will resettle himself on his own. Obviously if he gets distressed i would go to him though.

sorry, yes 3-4oz is a small feed.