a little bit of everything!

[SugarBatty]

My ds is 20 weeks. He is a very good happy baby, very smily rarely cries. He is a very light sleeper though. During the day I cuddle him to sleep or I lay next to him stroke him. Sometimes he wakes after 10 mins and won't go back off other times he stays asleep. He sleeps fine out and about in pram. I'm not too concerned with daytime naps though.

At night he usually goes down between 8 and 9pm I think he should be going to bed earlier but find it hard to fit all his feeds in before then. Plus he tends to nap for about 20 mins at 6pm so not ready for bed earlier than that. He wakes up about 2.30 for a bottle always drinks most of it and back to sleep for about 3. After that he never settles properly, wakes about 4 then after 5 then after 6. At about 5 I usuallu breastfeed him and leave him in our bed as I'm really tired!

He has a dummy but not really bothered about it. He goes down and self settles at bedtime which is great as he goes to sleep on his own. When he wakes he makes noises but does not cry should I leave him to it to go back off on his own instead of getting him out of his crib.

Should I introduce more of a routine during the day?

Any ideas?

Think routines are entirely up to you. I became obsessed with routines when my DD was only a few weeks old and I wish I'd just enjoyed it rather than stress about naps! I found she naturally fell into a routine at about 6 months anyway, once we started weaning. I just worked on a 3 hour feeding cycle at first with naps in between, then when she started solids, I went to four hourly feeding with 'meals' about an hour afterwards. She now has a nap about 9am after breakfast and another at 2pm after lunch, then bed at 7.30pm. She usually wakes then at about 6.30 (or 7 if I am lucky!)

As for getting him up when he stirs, I guess you coild just try and see if he goes back off? My DD would always wake at 3am (she wouldn't cry either), and I got in the habit of feeding her, then for a couple of nights I tried just leaving her and, after about 20 mins of sighing and some light fussing, she went back of to sleep and started sleeping through.

Hope this helps!

Thank you it really does help! I think when I hear other people talking about bed for 7 and sleeps through I question myself a bit! I have an older dd and we do socialise as a family so a struct routine might not suit us as our weekends are totally different to weekdays.

I usually pick him up after 5 mins! I'll try leave him longer tonight and see what happens. I'm sure he will find his way. I think because I know I'm going back to work in september I feel I need things in place for then.

Different bed times work for different people (and babies!) I think. My friend puts her daughter to bed at 9pm, just so she can get a nice lie in the next day. I tried all sorts of bed times until I found one that worked for us. I tried putting her to bed at 7pm, but she just kept waking up at 5.30am which was hideous! 7.30 seems to fit better for us both.

Another thing that worked for me when she stirred in the night was a comforter. I just tied a big knot in the corner of a muslin cloth and wore it in my bra for a couple of hours, then popped it in her cot. I noticed when she stirred in the night, she started tickling her face with it and went back to sleep. Might be worth a try if you haven't already.

Good luck!