Bedtime routine 8 werk old

[FTMRLH]

My 8 week old baby currently feeds every 3 hours during the day (formula fed 4-5oz per feed) first feed is usually 9am which means the last feed is also due at 9pm however she is now at the stage where around 7.30pm she is exhausted. However it’s too late for a nap, but only an hour n half until her last feed is due…

What does everyone else do about the last feed before bed? Should I try and change her routine or continue to let her decide when she wants feeding.

Currently
Wake 8.30, feed, get ready for the day
Nap 10am
Feed 12pm
Nap 1pm
Feed 3pm
Nap 4pm
Feed 6pm (then no nap)
Feed as close to 9pm as I can get
Bedtime
Wake 4am for night feed

8 weeks is too little to expect any routine to stay the same for long. Feed on demand, let her sleep when she'll sleep. I don't mean to sound harsh but you will drive yourself mad trying to impose routine on such a tiny baby.

Agree with pp - any routine you have got will continually change due to her changing needs. It's not worth stressing yourself out about. Just feed her when she's hungry and follow her cues for sleeping.

I'd let her go to sleep after her 6pm feed. She will wake if she needs another feed, it doesn't have to be at 9pm.

Both mine used to have a long sleep from bedtime at around this age, about 5 hours. Then fairly frequent waking the rest of the night.

Go with the flow and do what she wants for now. It will settle down.

I'd mkve aeay from thinking it has tk be exactly 3 hours. Does she cry between feeds for food? Or after 2.5 hours say yo show she is hungry? Don't keep a tired vaby up. I'm not surprised if they cant stay up til 9pm!!!

Try and be as responsive to your baby as you can.

Sorry for all my typos 🤦🏼‍♀️

What’s the point, honestly?

By next week or the week after that could all switch around again. What’s the benefit to the baby to impose anything now? Just give them what they need when they need it, she’s obviously needing to go to sleep before 9pm. You can follow a pattern sure but a rigid routine is bonkers at this age.

I say this as a parent of an eight week old.

My 8 week old has absolutely no pattern. though they are EBF...yesterday looked like;
8am wake for feed
10am another feed
11am - 15 min nap
12 - another feed
1pm - 1 hr nap
2pm -6pm cluster feeding
6-9pm nap
9pm feed.
10.30pm feed
11pm - 4.15 am sleep
currently feeding with no idea when he will go back to sleep.

the day before looked entirely different... longer naps and more deliberate feeds.
the only routine we are establishing is longer period of sleep at night (5-6hrs) a nap in the evening doesn't seem to affect if he sleeps well during the night.

sounds like you are doing amazing but maybe take the pressure off yourself for some of the timings.
11 - 4am

It's easier to follow her lead rather than stick to prescribed timings. Feed her when she seems hungry, sleep when she seems tired. The routine will change a lot at this age

I think a routine is a series of events rather than times. A schedule has timings. Therefore, I actually think a routine for bedtime (a series of events) is a great idea. We did bath, bottle, bed from a really young age and im convinced its got us and him through some sleep regressions/illness etc. I really believes it helps sleep.

A schedule is different though. I think 8 weeks is too young for that. I dont think my son showed any predictability in terms of time until he was perhaps 6 or 7 months old.

Just follow her lead - they change so much in the first year any way that you could drive yourself nuts trying to figure it out. Both of mine have been on about 5 naps a day at 8 weeks so every baby is different. With DD she like a dream feed at about 11pm and that used to get her through till 6/7am.

I am following her lead. And she’s been doing the same thing for the past 3 weeks so whilst I understand you saying to not have a routine/schedule. That’s fine but she’s formed it herself and I’m following her lead.

My question was really how I get her last feed in without disturbing her sleep if I put her down, or whether I give it her early or wait for her to wait.

Gosh.

Put her down at 7.30, feed when she wakes up. She'll likely drop the 4am feed and wake at 11/12 for a feed instead. You'll find she wakes earlier for her morning feed but that's mo bother if she's currently waking at 8.30. Just go with the flow at this stage

Thank you I will try that @sa

Agree, wait for her to wake.