Velcro baby at 3.5 weeks

[hoorayforharoldlloyd]

My son was born 7 weeks premature and was in hospital for 2 weeks - no health issues, just small and needed to establish feeding.

We've now been home 1.5 weeks, breastfeeding pretty much established with formula top ups. He was previously very sleepy and rarely awake - he's now a velcro baby who pretty much has to have my bosom for a pillow and sleeps most of the day, becoming lively but not crying much for the night.

I was happy enough with this but am I supposed to be trying to get him into a sleep routine now? Help!

That's just a baby. That's what they do!

The only bit of a routine you can hope for at that stage (unless you want to Gina Ford it) is to try and help them tell day from night by keeping daytime noisy (ish) and light and nighttime dark and quiet.

Congratulations on your baby!

He is still 4 weeks from full term so not even meant to be out of the womb yet. Go with what he needs as he’s still tiny. My DD was born at 33 weeks and not in any kind of routine until about 4 months - 2 months adjusted from due date. Early days, enjoy him being home and a routine will come in time.

Baby carrier or sling during the day
Maybe try a swaddle for sleep if you don't want to co-sleep
Some babies love to suckle and a dummy can be helpful, others are just hungry a lot
Enjoy the cuddles, they grow up very quickly

A sleep routine is a long way off. Just keep doing what you are he's very tiny, you're doing a great job!

He sounds like a normal baby!

Way too little for a routine, but you can help him start to distinguish night from day by keeping daytime naps in normal light and with some noise, and nice and quiet with dim light at night.

Black out blinds or curtains are great for creating a clear "day" and "night" but babies are still waking loads at that age and need very regular contact and feeds to bond

Thanks all - I think because he's our first and he was prem so there was a lot of feeding routine in the hospital, I'm a bit confused as to what I'm supposed to be doing! I'll just stick with cuddles and let him lead the way and not worry about routine apart from trying to distinguish day and night a bit

See it as the fourth trimester so keep him glued to you till at least 3 months...probably more because of the prematurity.
A sling is great.
Try and feed as often as you can in the day, so he gets used to eating in the day and maybe goes a little longer at night.
When he is a bit older you can entertain him during the awake times in the day...But for now...cuddle and feed.
No housework. Sleep when you can.

This is the type of thing it’s good to talk to your health visitor about - hopefully she’ll reassure you you are doing all the right things.

Premature babies often have very rigid routines set up in hospital. For some parents it helps them cope when they are discharged. These routines don’t work very well with breastfeeding though (which needs to be done on demand). They also aren’t very good at bonding you with your child’s needs - if you just give a bottle every 3 hours you aren’t being very sensitive to whether they are hungry after 2 or are tired from their outing and want to sleep and feed later etc.

You sound like you are doing an awesome job. You don’t want a sleepy baby - you want one alert and developing.

Try and get your day into a routine rather than baby - eg go out around the same time, eat at the same time, he’ll slowly pick up on the rhythm of life and get into a pattern

Exactly on the rigid hospital routine! I'm still breaking down my adherence to it as it gets really drummed into you and there is a huge focus on basically forcing them to drink their bottle as they have to eat certain amounts and hit weight limits to go home.

Have got an appointment with a sling consultant as he is on the cusp of minimum weight for a sling and want to be careful about positioning - fingers crossed it's all good as then he can get all the cuddles and safe feeling but I can still move.

Thanks for tip on having a routine in my day rather than trying to make the baby fit a routine