Routine

[Kafri]

Hi, I don't know if any of you have read my other threads or not but here goes...

Could someone please give me an example of a rough routine they aim for/have for their LO. Preferable round about a 10/11 week old.

He's just started to fall into some sort of routine (isn) and was wondering how this compares to more settled baby.

ATM...

He's on 3 hourly feeds at 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm and 11pm so 6 x 6oz daily. Some bottles he has all 6oz, others less. SOmetimes he appears to want more than the 6oz. (He's on Aptamil Pepti 1 which I was advised could make him hungrier as it's so thin and watery)

He's starting to sleep well overnight, sleeping between his 8pm and 11pm feed and then sleeping between 11pm and 7.30am when he starts to stir for the day.

I struggle to get him to nap in the day - he doesn't sleep in the car or pram. I have just about started to be able to fight him to a bit of a doze but would like to know when I should be aiming to get him to nap. He gets overtired so cranky come evening and by 4pm onwards he's starting to want to sleep. I\m guessing I don't want him to sleep from 3/4pm onwards as he'll start waking earlier rather than sleeping at night???

Any suggestions or examples of what worked for you would be appreciated. (i know what works for one doesn't for another but it would be nice to have something to go off)

Thanks

K

Since pfb DS was born I have used Gina's timings for roughly what DS needs sleep wise and then ignored pretty much all the rest of it! He goes on a slightly earlier schedule than she says, he tends to be in bed by 6.30 latest and therefore wakes a bit earlier. I bf on demand so any feeding schedule went out the window until we went onto solids and formula (6mo). If he's sleeping that well at night you are damn lucky and I wouldn't mess around with that at all!

For that age I think it's wake at 7, nap at 9 for an hour, nap at 12 for two hours, catnap at 4.30ish and bed at 7. We tended to only ever have two naps really as he's always needed an early bedtime.

As for getting him to nap, that's a whole world of fun... I got him into the habit of napping at certain times by using any means possible (feeding, rocking, pushchair, car seat etc) and worked on self settling at bedtime at the same time. Then eventually I managed to transfer his naps to the cot. I won't lie, there was some crying!

I have also read (very controversially!) the Ferber book, 'solve your child's sleep problems'. Obviously your little one is far too small for any sort of sleep training at the moment and am definitely not recommending it! However I have read loads of baby sleep books in desperation as DS was so crap and I think they are interesting for getting ideas. I don't know about you but I had NO IDEA what to do with DS. I honestly thought with babies that you put them in their cot and they went to sleep. DS was a big shock!