Routine for 8 week old

[Changingtides1234]

Hi everyone. Hoping to ask the experts here.
Is it wrong to have a routine for an 8 week old? Strange question I know.

My DD is 8 weeks (2 months in 2 days) she was born big 7lb 8 but seems to fallen a few centiles to 9th (breastfed) and is short (like me) so I think she’s in the right place.

Anyways. I’ve been putting her in her bassinet in my room today- in hopes to start a routine for naps.

Is this too early to start getting into a routine. I’m still demand feeding and waking at night for feeds.

The advice is for them to sleep in same room as you for first 6 months of their lives to reduce the risk of SIDS.

Have a look at the lullaby trust website. Research based evidence.

Yes it's too little. They need to be with you for atleast the first six months. It's to reduce the risk of SIDS.

Tbh i think it is. The sort of routine i got into at that age was more a pattern of sleep feed play which worked for us for a while! I did start a bedtime routine at that sort of age though which i just did roughly at the same time.

They change so much and so quickly that i wish i hadn't spent so long trying to make a routine happen/work out his natural routine and just went with it!

Also just in case you aren't aware, you should keep baby in the same room as you for at least 6 months to help prevent SIDS - your breathing helps them to regulate x

Absolutely fine time to work towards a routine. No pressure though. Plenty of time to perfect it. I think you also need to let them have an input. I was always reluctant to cut a nap short so kind of let them set the daytime sleep schedule. Always in bed for the night at 7pm following a bath and feed.

7lb 8 isn't big surely??

I know a lot of people have preferred to get baby into a routine and sleeping on their own earlier than recommended but for me, 8 weeks is way too young. My baby is nearly 5 months and I have only just started putting him in his cot for naps but I keep the bedroom door open and potter about upstairs while he snoozes.

I think a loose routine is OK if you want to do that and it seems to work for baby. DD was in a loose feeding routine (EBF) of 3 hourly at that age and we got her up for the day at 7 am and put to bed at 7pm every day. We used the blissful baby book which was helpful. We didn't get into a nap routine till 3-4 months though and she just napped whenever before that. It worked for DD but my older DS was a completely different kettle of fish and was nowhere near a routine at that age!

www.happiestbaby.com/blogs/baby/baby-schedule

This is a good read for a new baby schedule. Routine is great, we tend to try and stick to regular feeds and naps from 5/6 weeks nothign wrong with that at all. I just wouldn't want baby to be far away for naps at such a young age.

Gosh I wouldn’t stress myself out with a routine at 8 weeks! Far too young I think.
Enjoy the cuddles, feed on demand and let baby get used to the world

Horses for courses really.

Having a loose routine or rhythm from a young age helped me as a mum as I thrive on plans and having things in order! You do just have to be relaxed about it though as the baby isn't necessarily on the same page as you.

I find Nanny Louenna really helpful and got her routines from her Instagram page

What do you mean by a routine? If you mean a rough flow to your day then sure. If you mean scheduling feeds and naps then I’d say yes, it’s too early. If your DC’s weight is still a bit unpredictable I would definitely continue feeding on demand.

How often would you be expecting baby to be awake for between day time sleeps at 8 weeks? I read so many conflicting ideas.

My second child is 12 weeks, I felt some pressure this time round to get her into a routine but have resisted. Babies will fall into their own routine, feed and sleep on demand. Change when dirty. Bath, play when awake, happy and alert. Your baby will form their own routine, just respond for now is my advice. You could try a feeding and sleeping schedule but I think your baby might have other ideas. Plus their sleeping and feeding needs change constantly- it's changing daily for us at the minute.

I found a rhythm works much better than a strict routine. So the classic baby rhythm is Eat-Activity-Sleep-eat-activity-sleep ... and repeat. You might get 3or 4 repeats in 24 hrs at 8 weeks, but gradually it will settle to something that fits your day.

Thanks for all your responses.
Just so the commenters about sids are aware; she sleeps in the same room as me at night. We live in a small apartment so when she naps she’s in the room next to me with a camera.

Thank you for the ideas x

My little one has seemed to be routine driven since birth (I'm very routine driven so think he gets it from me) he would nap in his Moses basket or swing chair in the living room with us then wake every 3 hours for a feed even though the night he kept to this. Then as he got older he naturally dropped feeds and slept for longer periods. I have always gone with him let him set his own routine and work with it, I feel a routine helps you as much as it does them so as long as your happy to adjust as they do and take their lead putting some form of routine in place is perfect xx

At that age I didn't try to implement any specific routine so to speak but I used the huckleberry app with DS and tried to follow his wake windows which according to huckleberry at that age is about 45 minutes to 1 hour 15.

For DS he's always been on the shorter end of the wake windows so at that age I found he was tired after around 45 minutes of awake time.

So our very rough routine would be to feed on demand, try and get him to sleep every 45 minutes roughly, whether that was a contact nap, a nap in his moses basket (in the same room as us to reduce SIDS risk), in the sling or in the pram. So for naps I didn't implement any specific routine. He'd take around 4/5 naps a day and roughly by 9.30pm if he wasn't asleep for the night already I'd get him ready for bed which I did have more of a routine for which was to get him into pj's, into his swaddle blanket, read a book with lullabies on quietly then feed to sleep. Once asleep I'd transfer him to his moses basket (again in the same room) then carry him to our bedroom when we went to bed.

For us this worked well because it means as he's grown we can get him to sleep in a range of ways (sling, pram, being rocked, fed etc) so means me or DP can do nap times. And having the specific routine at bedtime has helped as he's always done his longest stretch of sleep after the bedtime routine almost as if he knows that's night time.

I've never been super super strict with it though and if I've been out the house and he falls asleep earlier than wake windows or anything I don't intervene etc, so I used that sort of schedule/routine as a guide but still went with the flow

No routine yet, and later on they found their own routines. Then I just moved it when they started school, now DS 14 sets his own bedtime.

Honestly things change SO much week by week that it isn't worth worrying about a routine. As someone else said, wake, feed, play, sleep is reasonable (though not sure we were even at that by 8 weeks!)

5 weeks ago I thought my baby's bedtime would forever be 11pm - he's now 17 weeks and was in asleep at 7pm! Just go with the flow. X

Hey all

Looking for some advice please!!!

My 8 week old son has started crying so much for the last 2 days. He goes red in the face, sometimes eats loads sometimes doesn't, he has lots of wet nappies but the poo has decreased. He also seems to grunt and strain (like he is trying to poo) BUT when he does poo (maybe every 2 days at the moment) it is normal (albeit sometimes a lot). When he strains, he stretches his legs and like stiffens up where you can't sit him down, we make sure to burp and have tried infacol, gripe water and recently started debtunox colic drops. He is combination fed.

Looked at his bottom gum earlier and you can see the white outline of the two bottom front teeth. Surely he is too young to teethe??

I have spoke to HV about his pooing and she said due to his poo being normal and not hard, no constipation. I really don't know what to do, it's so horrible seeing him cry so much and I'm going out of my mind!

TIA

Xx

So sorry! I thought I clicked on making a new post !!! Tiredness x

Don’t worry
alot happens before teething breaks through. So can experience pain before hand.

They gentle massage to see if they have gas :) even if breastfed
couple of days is fine for no poops
if breast fed they can go for like a week without going