need advice about 'routine' for 5 week old and 3 year old....help!!!

[weewilliewinkie]

Hi
My dd is 5 weeks old tomorrow - still tiny, I know, but I'm starting to feel the need for a more structured day. I have a 3 yr old ds too who goes to creche every morning (9am-1pm) and his routine is pretty set...ie mealtimes and bedtime at 7pm every night. So I have to kind of fit it dd to his day, iykwim.

Anyway, I've looked at the SWMNBN book and I'm really not into something that regimented, and besides, the timings don't fit in to ds's day.

At the moment dd sleeps quite a lot during the day, today she's had about 5 hours naptime since 9am. She just naps in her car seat, or on her bouncy chair, I don't put her into her bed (she won't settle in it during the day). At night she tends to fall asleep by around 8pm, and often goes through till about 1am then she wakes for a feed and after that wakes every 2 hours or so for the rest of the night.

What can I do to encourage more of a routine? And better night sleep? Sorry, that was all a bit long winded, when really all I need is advice on how others have managed to cope...I'm finding it all a bit tough at the moment.

Thanks.

tbh it sounds like she's doing brilliantly and you've done amazing getting her to bed at 8pm.
We didn't really get into a rotine until 8 weeks and now at 6 months dd just naps when out and about or on me after a bottle.
She too has had to fit into my eldest's day really.
I would grit your teeth and carry on as you are for a few more weeks tbh.

I have a 5 yo, 3 yo and a 7 week old. What is the book you read? I read Secrets of the Baby Whisperer which suggests a rough three hour structure - feed, activity then sleep. I have started trying to do this from about 5 weeks. I put my baby in her pram for daytime naps so she is lying flat and in the moses basket in my room at night.

I wake her to feed at 7am, then she normally goes back to sleep at 8 or 8.30 ish, which means I can do school run and is ready for another feed at 9.30 or 10 ish. You could tweak it so she would need a feed either before or when you get back from picking up at nursery.

She seems to have fallen into this kind of routine prompted only by me making sure I woke her for feeds every 3 hours when she was tiny (she had jaundice).

Now I put her down at about 7.30 ish after a bath and feed and then give her a feed at 10.30 (that is what I am waiting to do now!)

I recommend the baby whisperer book - no set routines just common sense advice. And when the baby cries you have a good idea of what they want!

Still have to let the baby cry to get on with getting DS1 and DS2 ready though!

You can use the book by SWMNBN in a less regimented way. The timings worked really well for me as a general rule without getting too hung up on clock watching.

No idea on routines but I thought it might be worth mentioning that it is not recommended for babies to spend a lot of time in car seats or in chairs with an incline on them. It apparently affects their breathing. Babies should be flat most of the time.

I'm not too sure of the reasons why - perhpas someone else will know what I am talking about

Hi weewilliewinkie, I had the same feelings about my now 6wk old - see the thread on 'sleep', the comments I recieved were reasurring although I don't have another child to have to consider! good luck

thanks for your replies...

I'm just going to try to gently guide her into more set feed times, but I'll let her choose her own sleep times for now. Hopefully a pattern will emerge!

She's screaming now...better go....

TBH I've found that once you've got older children who are in a routine of going somewhere in the morning, having lunch, going to bed at a certain time etc, that new babies do eventually just fit in with this.

Personally for me I found that having the baby in bed with me once he woke from his long sleep at the beginning of the night was the best way of getting a good sleep; it takes a bit of practice to get comfortable with them next to you but I can honestly say that I've never really had a bad night's sleep since we started doing that.

weewillie - why not try writing down when she wants to feed and sleep for a week or so, you may find that she has a natural routine? my dd is 3 months and we are just settling into her natural routine (loosely) - she will always have a morning nap and a long nap in the afternoon at around the same time each day - not that i have written this down but i am thinking it would be easier to work with her rather than against her if you know what i mean, so you would have a starting point and might start to feel more on top of it all... i'm not really one for routines but it's useful to know when she is likely to need feeding. i also have a 3yo ds who has nursery every day. it is tough isn't it!!! x