I'm a bit worried now, should I be getting DD (6 weeks) into a bedtime routine?

[GoodGollyMissMolly]

DD is 6 weeks old today and for the last 10 days or so it has been sheer hell. I have had next to no sleep.
As soon as we brought dd home, she was initially cluster feeding from 5pm till 2am, then it went from 7pm till 2am. now it is going 10pm till about 5-6am (7am this morning). I am breast feeding her on demand so as you can guess I am knackered.

Should we be getting her in to a bedtime routine now?, if so how do we go about starting it.
Also is this normal?
Will it get better?
Will DD sort herself out with regards to her body clock.

Do I need to co sleep with her? (I really dont think I will be able to co sleep without worrying I'll squash her)

I dont know what else to do with her, I am so tired I feel like I am loosing the plot.

mincepies, your routine sounds lovely.

What is important is that there is a difference between routine and regrimenation.

Most babies establish their own routine within the first 6 months. Although a little gentle help is sometimes useful.

Wow, loads of responses, thank you all.
I have ordered and received the book that reallytired recommended I have just started to read it and it seems that the book was written about me and DD for me and DD.

Last night was wonderful, my new HV recommended not putting DD to the breast every time she so much as wimpers (at night) as she thinks DD is just using me for a dummy, because she is not having a feed only playing with it iYSWIM to help her sleep.
DD had a feed at 7.30pm (ish) and slept from 8pm till 12.30am, I went to bed at 10pm so I got a couple of hours then.
She woke up at 5.30am and had a feed then slept from about 6am till 9.30am, when we got up and I fed her again.
She cried occasionally but I just picked her up and rocked her back to sleep with the aid of a dummy (I know I shouldn't but I needed the sleep)

I feel wonderful for having got a decent nights sleep, I hope this is the start of better things to come, either that or DD is lulling me into a false sense of security

Thanks Justabout, I will bear that in mind.
DD was just a good last night, I feel like I can enjoy her more and more now that I have had some sleep. I don't constantly feel the need to catch 5 minutes here and there.

DD is awake more in the day now as well so I am able to interact with her more.

GoodGollyMissMolly I successfully bf both of mine, but what I found helped was this...

What is your normal bedtime? 10pm? 11pm?

Why feel compelled to settle the baby for the night any earlier? I used to try to keep mine awake as much as possible until at least 10pm (though of course you can't really do that just yet as she hasn't reached the age where she will 'play' much!)

It's fairly obvious, really - the later you keep her up, the later she will wake.

There's plenty of time to bring bedtime forward when she's a little older - it won't be a problem, honestly! By keeping her up later you won't be re-setting her body clock or anything!

Even now mine seem to go to bed earlier than a lot of their friends - usually by 9.30 on a school day even though ds1 is 14 now.

hi, getting your baby into bedtime rutine does not have to mean letting it scream till it falls asleep!!!we started with our dd when she was 2 weeks.at first we gave ourselfs between 6 and 9 to bath her, feed her and put her to sleep (it tires them out, all that activity) and we slowly narrowed the gap.within 2 weeks she was in bed by 7 and sleeping.of course she still needed night feeds but she is 3 months now and is still going to bed at 7 with no problem.imn really glad we done it as we appriciate time and respite it gives us.best of luck!!!

Hi Mica23
have read all the comments here
Lots of people have read GF by the sounds of it, but with my LO i read the babywhisperer but that wasn't until he was about near 3months old before i initiated the 'routine' .,. this time with baby 2 is who is now 2 weeks old im not sure how to do it, as it seems too young to introduce one, do you feed her first and bathe her and then bed,?? i don't want to wake her for her bath...do you cluster feed her?? im about to feed her in 30 mins... bottlefeeding every 3 hours - 4 hours... depending and then thinking of giving her a bath and then put her to bed..

Hi,
I loosely used the baby whisperer's suggestions for DD, now 17 months, and started our little bedtime ritual when she was two weeks old, when I was just about coming out of the fug of giving birth. I found it really helped to get bedtime sorted first and everything flowed from that. Bath around six, massage, milk, (then story since around 11 months) and bed by 7. Until she was 7 months I woke her between 10 and 11 before I went to bed for her 'dream feed', until she started refusing it, and after nine weeks old she would sleep through until 6.30/7 in the morning. She sort of put herself on a routine of asking for the boob every three hours when she was very new, with naps in between, which I gradually massaged so my day was predictable and I could plan outings etc. She was eating about every four hours from wake-up time to bedtime when she was about four months. The one real mistake I made was getting sucked into watching the clock too closely and I got really anxious about feeding times to the minute (madness) - am expecting number two this summer and I will be more relaxed about things! I never fed her to sleep - always had a little bit of awake time before settling her with the same lullabies, words etc. Often she would cry for a few minutes if I missed her window and she was a bit overtired, but she very quickly learned to settle herself to sleep and now absolutely loves going to bed for naps and bedtime.
The best bit about our bedtime ritual was having adult time in the evening, so even with a very new baby we had a couple of hours to cook, watch telly, have dinner with friends and family etc as before, which did wonders for our relationship and our social life.
Every baby is different, and only you know what sorts of rituals and routines will and won't suit you, your baby and your family. Although many of the parenting books are useful guides, they aren't manuals for your baby and you'll find your own way of doing things over the next few months. The one thing I know is that as soon as you've got it cracked, everything changes again, whether it's growth spurts, illness or developmental stuff. Vive la difference!