when should i start trying to get DS into a routine of daytime naps?

[DangerMousey]

It all feels very chaotic at the moment and I am not a chaotic kinda person - I like order and predictability perhaps i should not have had DC then, hehehe??

DS is 8 weeks old, and a large boy (over 13 lbs) who is FF - a bottle every 3 hours during the day. He seems to sleep pretty well at night, usually only waking for one bottle in the night, any time between 2am - 6am depending on when he has his last bottle before bed (which can be anywhere between 8pm and 10pm, depending on how his 3 hourly bottles have 'fallen' on that particular day).

He has a nap in the morning, and usually one over lunchtime, but then after that it all gets a bit chaotic, with him having a little nap between every bottle up until his 'bedtime'...I use the term loosely cos bedtime isnt really happening for us at the moment. He ends up having bottles at different times every day and I am not sure when we should be putting him into bed in his room in the dark, and when we should be letting him have little catnaps in the lounge with us (we live in a small flat, and he is in his own room at night).

Should I start trying to institute a set pattern of daytime naps (ie, 3 morning lunchtime and evening), or is he too young for this? Does he still need to have a sleep after being awake for every 2 hours?? why is none of this instinctive to me??

Hi DM. I'm a newbie mum, albeit a whole 10 whopping weeks down the track from you. :) I found that DS was too little to attempt anything structured at 8 weeks and we totally went with the flow. I must say though, when he reached about 3.5 months he started to create his own groove and became a little more predictable. We started to practice having proper naps at about 4 months, as in I'm trying to not feed him to sleep and aim to have him calm and sleepy but still awake so he can hopefully self settle. He obviously hasn't read that chapter in the book yet, so that's why I say we're practicing. We don't have times as such, it's just that everything still seems to ft in to 2.5-3-3.5 hour periods.

(sorry, stupid phone cut me off so hence no paragraphs and sudden ending). Anyway, once he got into his own little groove, it's become easier to anticipate his wants/needs as they generally follow the same order. In fact you can almost set your watch by him on a regular day.

I would say definitely not til after 6 months. Just let them sleep on the go til then- buggy / sling/ car etc. With my ds1 I spent the first 6 months feeling inadequate cos I couldn't get him into a routine. With ds 2 I just went with the flow til 6 months it was much easier

I alwas did a routine, from day one, and like you did a FF every three hours.

I used to time 'awake time' and at 8wo t was an hour, so DD would wake for a feed at around seven so I knew in my head that at eight I would be putting her back down. Whatever time she woke from that (would nap anything from 45mins to two hrs), I would.know the time for the next nap.

I did this so as to avoid her getting overtired, so would rely on the clock.

I know routines for this age arent usually supported.on MN, but it worked for us and DD was totally settled with it. If she had not wanted to follow the routine, we would have had to be a lot.more.flexible but gladly she seemed to like it.

Went with the flow with Dc1 in first 6 months when he then fell into a routine, Planned the same with now 4mo DC2, but then noticed that by the time she was think 12 wo she actually had her own little pattern of sleep/feed. Depends on the child i would say, but i personally would not push them into any routine before 6 mo at least as too much going on in a baby's life.