GF sleep routine

[Miv]

My DS is now 12 weeks. Has previously slept up to 7 hours at one strech but is now waking every 2-3 hours throughout the night for feeds. We haven't got a routine as such. Is 12 weeks too late to implement GF routine or is it never too late? Don't want to buy the book if no use for it

Or maybe he's just going through a growth spurt!? What ever the reason it is making me a very tired, grumpy mum and feels like having a newborn again...

Don't know about GF, but same happens to my ds every time he has a growth spurt. Just had 2 nights of being up every 2 hours - but it will get better soon (for a bit). 12 week one was the worst - hang in there.

12 weeks isn't too late at all. She uses loads of examples in the book of babies who've gone on to it late. I know other people will disagree with me I think you can pick and choose with her routines - you don't have to stick to the full monty. The bed time stuff was the most useful to us. Ours is a fab sleeer now. Good luck with it - thinking of you in your sleep deprivation - it's just the worst.

Hi Miv. Never too late to start GF I'm a great fan, used it for both dd (now 2) and ds (5 months). They both had/have their moments but generally they are very, very good babies who sleep well, eat well and are pretty contented (most of the time!).
I agree that you don't have to follow the routines in the book to the letter, but to get your ds to sleep well it would be worth trying to stick to the nap times during the day and also the milk feeds as per the routines, and as Welshmum suggests the bedtime routine is important.
You might also find that if you do get the book, your ds might not necessarily slot into the routine for his age, you might need to start him off on an earlier one to get him into the swing of things, I think this is mentioned somewhere in the book. If he adapts to them well, you then gradually move him along in the routines until he is at the appropriate one for his age. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how well your ds at 12 weeks will get into the routines. Despite what a lot of GF's critics say, by and large the routines are written to fit in with a babies natural sleep rhythms etc and by structuring the milk feeds as she does, this hopefully means they sleep the long stretch at night when you are also sleeping
From experience I would say; try not to let your ds sleep too much more than the total of 3 hours during the day and don't worry if he seems to want an extra feed at 5 pm when GF suggests they should wait, my two both had this feed and slept right the night at a very early age.
Best of luck and let us know how you get on.
There are lots of GF followers who use this site and I'm sure you will get loads of help.

gina ford interesting but too rigid!!!!
When would you get a life!!!!

Go for it - itcould be exactly what you need, but don't take it too seriously. The secret to succesful GF routines is to use them to help you, not to feel presured into doing exactlywhat she says, or feel a failure if your baby doesn't follow her instructions to the letter.

Mottie - I found it much easier to have a life when I'd started to get some sleep!

Hurray!!! After a week of broken sleep, ds slept from 10.30pm - 6.30am last night and back to sleep again from 7.00 - 9.00. Feel so much better after a good nights sleep. Though kept waking from 4.30am to check he was ok
Hopefully it was just a growthspurt..

Think I'll still get GF's book as I would like to get an earlier bedtime. Am afraid that if I put him to bed at 7pm he will have his long sleep in the evening and wake every couple of hours during the night.
Any advice on moving bedtime would be much appreciated.

Mottie - after a hard few weeks to start with, you get a bloody brilliant life, baby kipping 12 hours a night every night. I agree it's rigid but no pain no gain

Miv, I think if you do decide to follow the routines you'll be pleasantly surprised and you will be able to put ds to bed at 7 pm, wake him for a feed at 10 ish and he will go through to 7 am ish. Is your ds breast or bottle fed? I do agree with Prufrock about not getting to stressed if your ds doesn't fit in exactly. Just use the routines to suit you but try to fit in all the feeds between 7 am - 7pm plus the extra one at 10 if he still needs it. I do think it's hard and quite restricting in the first few weeks because it seems like a constant round of feeding throughout the day, especially around teatime, but given the choice I know I would rather do this than be up in the night.....I just can't function properly if I'm sleep deprived.
Good luck and post back if you need any more help or advice.

Miv, hope you don't mind me joining in on this one!

I used GF from 2wks but had to stop after 1 week as ds (now 13wks) wasn't gaining any weight and I found it too rigid. Just started it again and he does follow a similar eating pattern to the one she suggests for his age and sleeps approx 3-3.5hrs in the day, however, he NEVER seems to want to go to sleep at the right nap times, and with a last feed at 5:30/6pm he doesn't want to go to sleep at 7pm. He usually starts to get sleepy around 7:30/8:30pm. Even though I try and keep this time quiet he still gets over-tired and wakes either 02:30 then 05:30 some nights or 01:30/04:30 on others. I usually give him a "sleepy feed" when I go to bed (around 9:30pm).

Do I have to force myself to stay awake until 10/10:30pm for the sleepy feed? I have tried this on odd nights but find he wakes twice anyway and it leaves me feeling completely rough for a few days.. Also sometimes he doesn't last until 10:30pm and wakes up for food earlier anyway!?! Breastfeeding all feeds at the moment (except for 1 EBM bottle at the weekend).

I've just started to "ignore" the 4:30/5am waking as I don't think it is because of hunger (he is well above average weight for his age) and end up soothing him back to sleep in his cot. But it still means I'm out of bed Plus he has had odd nights where he's slept through with only one waking at 2:30/3am so I know he can do it..

Help!

Just read "Why would he still be waking at this time" thread and realised this is very much a repeated problem!

Still, any further advice would be appreciated. I've become very snappy with DH and need to get some sleep to become sain again!