4 week old and routines?

[cherrypieplum]

As above really. I'm toying with the idea of the EASY routine. Did anyone find it helpful? I'm also thinking ahead to when I go back to work when my DD is nigh on 6 months- should I start her day earlier now e.g. Start the easy routine from 6 rather than 7am so that when I go to work she's use to a feed at that time? Or should I just chill out and wait for her own routine to develop?

I think the main fixed point I adopted that age was the end of day, bath/bed/feed routine. Everything else like naps and feeds was variable to start with, although DS has always been an early riser, but it turned into a rough pattern after two or three months. I did succeed in tweaking the schedule when the clocks went back but he was about 5m by that stage.

I would say just chill out for now. Going back to work is a long way off. I would try to relax and enjoy mat leave. Routines evolve in their own way. Congrats on your baby x

We had a routine but found EASY didnt work for us as dd always wanted to sleep after a feed, and trying to keep her awake was hard.

We did.more of a ESA on repeat.

Loved EASY! Have done it with both of mine, didn't start till about 6 weeks though once feeding was established and there started to be a pattern to the dc's waking/ feeding. The baby whisperer website is also very good.

4 weeks was about the stage I wanted a routine ? and we implemented the bath bed and settling similar to what CogitoErgOlympics. Some people will say that it is way too early for a routine but go with what is right for you and your family. I really needed one and it worked wonders for us. The structure of the day sleeps etc..took a while longer to fall into place but just getting your evening sorted is a good place to start 

Thanks so much! Part of me wants to try as she is starting to settle into a routine much like you both describe. The 'A' bit completely depends on when she feels like being awake! I don't want to pressure myself if I try and it doesn't work but the. I don't want to kick myself come December that I didn't try.

We started a rough EASY routine at 4w and I absolutely loved it, and DD took to it really well. Yes, they are very young and its highly unlikely that they will in any way follow a really strict routine but you can start to add a little structure in if you want. We offered feeds at the same time every day, and then did bath/bed at the same time too. For the mornings I made sure she was up and ready for her first feed at 8am (we did an 8-8 routine). Within a week or so we found that she started settling really well at night, because keeping a close eye on her feeds and naps throughout the day meant she was tired enough and full enough to sleep (we also did a dreamfeed which helped a lot). She's now 6mo and has slowly switched herself to a 7am-7.30pm routine, so I wouldn't worry a huge amount now about wake-up times - these can be gradually altered near the time if you want to.

The thing with starting a 'routine' at this age is to remember that they probably won't take to it too well, so don't get too caught up on the timings. Just slowly try and bring baby around to a pattern of eat-activity-sleep and over the weeks things should hopefully fall in to place.

Fab thanks! I've started to wake her more in the day and stopped setting alarms for the night. She was a poor feeder at first do the midwives scared the life out of me about making sure she didn't go too long at night but it meant she was sleepier in the day. She wakes up twice and takes about an hour to feed then settle back.