5 week old bedtime?

[sophiaslullaby]

Hello
My 5 week old DS cluster feeds from around 4pm and can then sleep from 8/9pm to 1am -lovely bit of peace you may think but he's then up every 3hrs in the night to feed! How do I shift his 'super nap' to the nighttime? I've tried forcing a nap around dinner time (with the added bonus I can eat dinner!) for a couple of hours and then keeping him awake until 11/11.30 to give him his bedtime feed at midnight. (In time I can start sleep training then). But he's still so young and when he's asleep he's ASLEEP! I'm actually surprised how much movement and tickling, kissing he can take and still snore away! Bless him.
Am I being soft by being baby-led? What am I doing wrong? I'm needing to get my night sleep back -I woke up dizzy this morning from sleep deprivation.

Oh...wait it's 7pm and he's dropped off, yesssss....wish me luck!!

5 weeks? I think it's very very premature to be expecting him to fall into a routine anytime soon. And three hourly night feeds at that age are absolutely normal, usually more. Are you breast feeding? Night feeds build supply.

The rational thing to do would be to shift your bedtime to his five hour stretch so that you get your sleep.

Tiny babies aren't meant to be trained into adult sleep times or patterns. They don't even know have a self perception of themselves as seperate from their mum yet.

I've got a 9 week old myself so am in the midst of all this myself so I know how hard it is. Good luck!

I thought you'd say that - reassuring though so thankyou. I think it's because I WAS sleeping when he was (so 9pm bedtime and then just managing through the night) but I keep reading of 6 week olds "sleeping through the night" from 7pm -how?! I understand and appreciate my DS needs to feed frequently so why are other babies sleeping through?
Think I'm just getting frantic with over exhaustion.

Yes breastfeeding. .

Yes what the pp said. Sounds fine to me too. Similar situation here, and I agree it is a bit annoying if they have the long sleep early - I just said the same to dh exactly.

Enjoy the cuddles and don't worry about the should/coulds

Lie down beside him at 8pm.
He sounds pretty snoozy to me.
Very tiring though, really is; more so if you zoom around in his nap times trying to do lots of things.
Google 'fourth trimester'; he is barely not a foetus still!

Ignore what you are reading
Baby needs to feed often & that leads to night wakings when your milk is richest.
5 weeks and your supply is still establishing so every day is new.
Don't worry & do just try to rest when you can
It really isn't forever x

Way too early to even think about a 'routine' at 5 weeks. Just go with it

Thankyou for all you replies, feeling more relaxed now I don't have this 'ideal' to enforce. I've had a cry to DH, eaten a load of chocolate and now sat watching Twilight (guilty pleasure!) and enjoying the cuddles as previously said to do.

casualJersey most days are new and different, only thing that's constant is his morning wake time -around 6 and he's actually awake and cooing. Funny as that was the time I'd get up for work when pregnant.

He might give you a in the next week or two. That's so lovely.

Yes mine is waking at 6 this week too. And his sisters have just settled into an 8am.

This not fair!!!

I'm
Glad you are feeling better.
X

My DS is 5 weeks too and we are nowhere near an established routine. He is sometimes at his most alert in the evening and sometimes dozes on and off. He usually gets his last feed of the evening around 10.30pm, after which it might take an hour to sett him. Then he goes to between 3 and 4am, when it also takes an hour to feed and settle him. Then he's usually awake at 6.30ish (this might be because my toddler is awake and loud then) and then asleep again around 8.30/9am. This is the pattern I notice but I'm not doing anything till establish a routine. He's almost certainly my last baby all I'm just trying to enjoy each stage :-)

If you're breastfeeding the night feeds are important for your body knowing how much milk to supply the next day, apparently this is when a key hormone is at its highest.
Ignore what others are doing, (remember all babies are different) go with the flow and try to be relaxed about it as far as you can. I know it might not seem like it now but honestly it doesn't last long.