Question for GF'ers!

[Beccaroll]

Hiya

Ive read the CLBB and while I like the idea of getting DS into a good routine for feeding and sleeping I have found it a bit too regimented especially as I cant help but have him in car seat and out and about with DD so he falls asleep at none GF times.

Anyway, Ive been reading some old threads today and some people refer to doing it in a slightly modified/flexible way or just cherry picking the bits they like - is this really possible? How much can you deviate from the strict times and still see good results.

I was thinking of starting by sticking to suggested feed times as much as possible then taking it from there.

Any thoughts/suggestions/input?

DS is just over 4 weeks
Was 8lb 7oz at birth and now 11lb13oz and is almost exclusively breastfed although I add the ocassional bottle of EBM or formula every few days.

Ta
Becca
xxx

I can only speak from experience.... I did it very strictly with DS and it worked REALLY well and not so strictly at all with DD because she was a better sleeper. DS slept throught the night (10 to 7) at 9 weeks and DD at 6 weeks.

From my talks with several mum about that specific question... to "guarantee" success you have to follow it fairly rigidly.... i.e. have naps of the right lengths for example and feeds at the suggested times.... you can deviate by 30 to 45 mins. But i know loads of mums who have said they were doing it but it wasn't working but when I inquired further they were not (IMO) doing it ....

Put DS into CLBB routine at 4 months. Shifted the whole lot forward by 1 hour as we fancied getting up at 8am not 7am. For about 6 months it worked like a dream and after that pretty well (but DS was in nursery).

Yes you do have to stick to it but don't let it rule your life. Keep the feeds at the same times but if you go out to friends one evening and the baby stays awake longer then that's fine - just you'll possibly have a harder day the next day. It's all compromise really. You ask baby to step out of routine and it'll ask you to do the same the next day.

The weaning chart was great and I really noticed that if we gave protein at lunch rather than in the evenings it messed up sleeping.

Also - having a rigid routine was great for us as we knew that come 2pm we would have 2 hours to ourselves! DP stayed at home with DS so he did most of the routine stuff and DS had many a nap in the pram in B&Q!

Personally, I found some of the basic structure useful regarding sleep times (i.e. the need to get them back to sleep within 2 hours if possible) but I completely ignored the feed times as I strongly felt that they were completely unrealistic, and possibly harmful, for my ds while he was exclusively bf - he never fed less than 6-7 times during the day (7-7) and still needs food or milk every 2-3 hours at the age of 2!! I also didn't start to structure his day deliberately until a bit later - bedtime routine from 8 weeks (worked a treat to get our evenings back) and day time naps from about 3 months.
I think you have to combine her views with your knowledge of your baby and their specific needs - for example ds found it hard to get himself to sleep during the day and very easily got overtired - though being a first time mum it took me a while to work this out - so the nap structure was really helpful. A different baby might respond well to other elements of the routine, like structured feeding.
HTH!

I think it is best if you stick to the nap and feed times as much as possible. The things I skipped were the swaddling and the expressing. Though I think with my second I will do them both too.

Re the naps, when my ds was small I planned my trips out for times when I wanted him to sleep, and stayed home when he was awake and then it changed to the complete opposite - I can't remember exactly when that was. When he was small I could transfer him to the pram or baby bjorn and he would either stay asleep or go straight back to sleep.