When to start a routine?

[hw7342]

My baby was 4 weeks early and is now 5 weeks old. I am not sure when to try and start bedtime routine etc and how much longer i need to leave it as he was slightly premature and v small?

Well, I am a routine lover, but wuold say it was still a bit on the early side. It might be good to do a bedtime routine if you like, but I wouldn't get too stressed about it.

You will probably notice your wee one feeds and gets sleepy at similar times, so keep a mental note and find a routine for you both. I tried imposing my own routine on ds and it didn't work. Gradually, we kind of found one together.

awwwww a new baby

TBH I told myself that I was establishing a routine but on reflection it was just a go with the flow strategy camouflaged as a routine

So things like bath at the same time each evening, feeding in the bedroom at night time, that kind of thing

Baby seems to sleep all day some days and is awake all day other days and still won't sleep at night. I just don't know if i should be doing more to try and control naps etc to help him sleep more at night but he only seems to do what he wants to do. Has been awake all day and is just crying and crying this evening. I figured he must be overtired and to leave him a bit but he just continues...

Tbh, I found that if ds was really tired, he didn't settle at night.
It is seriously early days though and he will not know if it is day or night. The night feeding in the dark/dim lighting with no chat is a good idea as is making a big fuss of him when he is up inthe day time. I don't mind leaving a baby to cry if I think he is tired, but not a wee one for more than a few minutes really. A few minutes is fine though - after all when you have more than one you HAVE to sometimes. Or if you like doing luxurious things like, you know, going to the loo. You could try a dummy if you are not averse to them. Saved my sanity and yes, it's a bad habit, but so is pretty much everything you do to get through the early months.