Please share your 17wk old's ( or thereabouts!) routine/pattern.

[AmIGoingMad]

Dd is coming up to 17 weeks and I'm finding getting her to nap impossible. This is made more difficult by a lovely but noisy older brother. It also makes life with him more difficult as I feel that at least is she napped, I could spend some quality time with DS and dd wouldn't end up overtired and screaming!!!

Ds is 16 weeks, my first and part-time only child (have 9 year old dss) and I am sort of ashamed to admit we have a non existent lax routine. I am doing everything randomly baby-led.

Our day sort of looks like this:

Between 7.30/8.30 he wakes up
Takes about half an hour before he will feed
If he got up and fed quickly I will wash, dress etc. if not I will play with him for a bit and then attempt to settle him for a nap
On a lucky day he will nap for around 30 minutes & I will shower/dress
When he wakes I will wash and dress him (if not done earlier)

Then ensues a day long battle of not napping / being tired / fighting sleep. I feed on demand and try to settle him every hour and a half by singing / rocking / going for a walk. Sometimes he sleeps, mainly not and not for longer than half an hour.

Bedtime is wash, pjs, bottle, cuddle. Ten minute nap. Cuddle. Bottle. Sleep at about 9.

Sometimes he wakes at 4 am, but only about twice a week.

Met a friend with a baby of a similar age this week, she said that hers didn't nap in th day at all either until she was about 4.5 months and suddenly the day napping started regularly.

That's reassuringly similar to here!

I'll persist with trying to get her to nap every hour and half or so.

She just fights so much in the day then goes into meltdown at nighttime routine time which is a stressful enough time when doing the two dcs on my own!

Yes, he regularly breaks down too. In fact, just had a 45 minute screaming fit (him, not me) and fell asleep mid scream. He might nap for half an hour or so now and will probably wake up screaming.

I would love to break the not napping thing. I had been trying to get him to nap since 1 o clock (upon tired signs) and he has literally just this moment dropped off.

Same here and now she's finally given in, she's sleeping through what would usually be feed time so things will get interesting when she wakes I'm sure!

Ha ha. Snap ! Perhaps the two of them are soul twins ;-)

How old is your ds?

I don't ever actively try and get my DD to nap (she's 17 weeks also), I just let her sleep when she gets sleepy. Am I supposed to be getting her to nap at the same time each day?

I feel like were all over the place!

Dd wakes up at any time between 6 and 7.30am she's changed and fed at some point before 8.30. She then falls asleep around 9-10 for 15-20 mins, not always though and she sometimes has a bottle.

She then has a nap for 30 minutes (on a good day) anytime around 11-12.30. If this goes to plan she wakes has a feed, plays till her next bottle around 2.30-4. Sometimes has a nap sometimes doesn't. Another 20-30 min nap around 5ish. Bath at 6.30 in her cot anytime from 7.30-9.

Sometimes wakes and feeds sometimes doesn't.

You can't ask more than this from a 17 week old.

DS is 2.9 and I'm currently feeling massively guilty as he's watching tv again whilst I feed dd ( who incidentally did have predicted meltdown on waking.

Cupcake I think the problem is that she's so obviously shattered and refusing to sleep as she doesn't want to close eyes and miss out on what DS is doing. She's only happy to sleep in my arms in the day at the moment which, whilst lovely in many ways, just isn't doable with a very active DS!

Have you tried a sling? Dd fights sleep and does wake up when I put her down. If she's hitting meltdown I just sit with her so she gets a good nap. Its hard on ds but it has to be done. Today ds has grounded me for letting dd nap on me.

Keep trying things it's another one of those things that they grow out of.

Yep it's not the not napping that is a problem, it's the fact he is shattered, melting down, exhausted, doesn't know what to do with himself etc

He too had predicted freak out when he woke up.

We have a sling and whilst it worked a few weeks ago he is now at the pint that going near anything that might mean sleep (car seat, sling, pram, cradle hold etc) results in aforementioned breakdown.

If he was good on no sleep I would be more than happy to go with it actually, it's the constant fight and the poor mite being in turmoil.

I know how guilty you must feel (let dss play on mine craft all morning the other weekend whilst baby had meltdown) but this too will pass and your toddler probably likes the tv. Go for walks and things when you can or maybe read to him whilst feeding the baby.

Lockie that's exactly it! If she was happy without the sleep then that would be fine but it doesn't seem to be the case at all.

I do have a sling that I've used with her occasionally. The first two times it was a hit and then after that disaster! I'd love it to work as visits to the park etc would be much easier. It's a babyhawk mei tei. Any ideas?

My DS will be 17 weeks tomorrow and have been desperately trying to get some semblance of order since he turned 3 months!

He wakes up between half 6 and 7 but I try to keep him settled until 7. 15 mins til his bottle which is usually a battle to get into him and he's ready for a nap about half 8. He'll sleep for a sleep cycle on his own but for up to 2 hours with/on me. Am currently working on extending his naps without much success so far!

I follow CLB bottle times as they seem to work well for us, but I just put him down for naps when he's tired. .usually around 1hr 45 - 2 hrs after waking. .day continues as such until bath/bottle/bed routine starting at 1845 aiming to be asleep for 1930.

Can't wait for more structure to my day!

Reading with interest - not sure how helpful this is but my 18 week old DS is napping like a dream ( excuse pun!) the last few weeks though only in the buggy - and I have to get him down before 1.5 hours awake time or he gets very cranky. I do still have to rock quite often to send him off but doesn't take long.
Do I sound smug ?!
Night times are bloody rubbish - have regressed to max 3 hour stints - so if yours are sleeping through take heart that their exhaustion might be at least giving you some rest at night!

We had jabs today and he has been cuddly, sleepy this afternoon and has napped on me for a few long stretches. What a changed baby come the evening ! Happy, cooing, playing, contented little thing. I need to break this no napping thing!

live do you have a nap wind down/routine you follow each time? You are right that it is easier to cope with daytime crankiness if they sleep at night.

Awake 8.00 (ish)

Change, wash, play, feed.

Then almost to the dot - 2 hours after waking, DD cries on my shoulder for 10 mins, then sleeps for approx 40-60mins.

(I actually look at the clock, as she is never more than a couple of mins either side of her 2 hours after waking)

Then shes pretty much wide awake/tired/grizzly until 7pm ish -

I should say that DD will only sleep on me.

Ive tried everything, pram, cot, travel cot in lounge buts its all a bit from her point of view!

Ds wakes between 0600 and 0630. We get up, I get a few chores done and head back to bed between 0740 and 0800 to feed him to sleep.

We get up 40 mins later, bath, get dressed - start the day.

He pretty much needs to be sent back to sleep every two hours now. He used to go for longer stretches, but if he is getting cranky and has been fed then its usually sleep required after teething has been looked after ( teetha of bonjela)

Use a variety of sleep methods. Feeding to sleep in bed, walking around and patting in sling, swinging in fisher price cradle swing , pram and car. Sometimes a combination of two of them is needed. It's not worth giving up on it even if it takes 30 mins as its worse if he doesn't sleep.

This goes on all day and then I feed him to sleep sometime between 1800 and 1900. Even if he's woken up at 1700. I was avoiding routine setting but he has led this one himself. He'll dream feed between 2200 and 2300 and again between 3 and 4 am.

At this time they have a lot going on - 4 month vaccinations, growth spurts and sleeping regression. Plus they're often teething.

If I want a nap to extend - I watch the pram at 40 mins into sleep and push in back at forth to put through next sleek cycle - he'll wake momentarily and then sleep for another 40 mins.

Someone in here said the other day that if the baby wakes up cranky that they are still tired rather than refreshed and you need to shush/rock/ whatever them into another sleep cycle.

Lockie - I do have a pattern so it's wake, feed, nappy, play then nap. No major routine but I am reading NCSS - so give DS a few key words and a comforter before he goes in buggy. To be honest the clock watching and tired signs seems to be more important.
I have no idea how relevant this is though as my dd was a pretty useless napoer - 3 x 40 mins max at 6 months but she slept through from 12 weeks so I currently feel like you can't have it all.
The main thing is I was despairing about 6-8 weeks ago that he needed to be on me / in sling to nap and this is a massive improvement!

I like the tip about keeping an eye on them 40 mins into nap and doing whatever you did to get them to sleep/ only problem is that we never get to 40 mins. 15 if we're lucky most days!

She goes down at about 6-6.30 at night as she's worn out by then. She sleeps pretty well but wakes for a feed most nights around 3/4. I do wonder if a bit more persistence with dummy/ cuddles would mean she'd feed around 6 instead. I think we're so quick to get her a feed that we don't really wonder if that's why she's waking. Although she does end up taking most of that bottle.

AmI we were having the same night waking thing until we stretched the bed time out a bit (and he now takes an extra bottle before bed) and then he happily went through.

He does wake up at nights sometimes (more often recently) and we were feeding too (I think out of habit/assumption). Now I think he wakes for various reasons just like we do - the storm this week, when the temperature drops, to make raspberry noises ... The HV suggested just leaving him for a while and seeing what happens ... We has been trying that for a fortnight or so and Most times he just falls back asleep.

A few times a cuddle has sorted him out and fewer still his noises have been for hunger so I have fed him. (Probably twice all fortnight).

She said once he has mastered this, the napping in the day might get easier.

Lockie, we've been trying this and it was working really well but the past few nights I've been up and down resettling 6 times a night and I've been caving and bringing him in with me so who knows how many it would've been! has this happened with yours? anyone have any tips/suggestions? sorry to hijack!

I think I'm going to have to try that! I think I've been avoiding it so far as I don't want DD to wake DS up. But he's been ill this week so he's been waking her up!

I actually put her into cot this morning for a nap. I was feeling really pleased and was going to post here- then after less than 5 mins asleep she wok e screaming and hasn't slept since. She's now feeding and falling asleep on the bottle

Repeat after me... This too shall pass!

Well that could be the "sleep regression" that everyone talks about at this age?

I have found he has been more unsettled since the clocks have changed and the weather has gotten colder. I have been waking more often myself with the storm and because I am cold - I figure he probably gets disturbed by these thing too. So, for the first time we have put him in a grobag to keep him cosy - do you grow bag him?

What happens if he is left to self settle? The HV said they can take anything up to an hour to drop back off.

I must admit, I cave on occasion and bring him in with us too.

Think mine is poorly, he has been sick after two feeds yesterday and one this morning. He woke up at 5 this morning with a nappy malfunction (he was soaked)! But did feed and go back after about an hour.

Anyone know anything about suddenly sicky babies?

Yep we were swaddling until about 3 weeks ago, swapped to a sleeping bag and he was instantly sleeping better (I think he wqs waking himself up trying to fight out of his swaddle). I thought he wad cold the other night but last night he was fine but still woke several times. I wonder if he'd sleep better in his own room without us disturbing him but I don't want to move him only to be back and forth to his room instead!

He had his last jabs this morning and the nurse there said it could be that milk isn't enough for him now and maybe try baby rice but I don't think it's hunger waking him? We were going to try it soon anyway in the hope it would help with his reflux..

Not sure about sudden sickness sorry. .if mine is sicky I blame reflux!