Please help me get my baby into a routine?

[NomsQualityStreets]

I want to start my baby on a routine when he's 6 weeks old.
I'm not expecting instant results or miracles but I know at around this age they begin to start telling the difference between night and day and I have a toddler too so need them to work around each other.

He's 5 weeks ATM and currently has frequent naps through the day and the last 3-4 nights have been tough. He won't go in his snuzpod anymore, wants to be held and has been staying up until just after 1am after which he sleeps until around 4 then 7 then tends to wake for the day around 8ish. He's often bringing milk back up because he refuses dummy at night (even through he will have it through the day) and just comfort feeds a lot.

So please wise mumsnetters, where do I start with a routine? How do I get him to go down at a better time? I just want to start as I mean to go on.

Eveurthing you are describing is totally normal for a 5 week old and tbh I woulda have killed for that night sleep even at the 4 month mark. Newborns normally have a late bed time and it I’ll get earlier and earlier the older he gets. You’ll get different opinions regarding this but personally I think it’s just a tad too soon for a routine. Tiny babies should sleep when they want and feed frequently, on demand. When they are so little I found it faaaar less stressful/time consuming to just follow their lead and let them sleep how they want, when they want etc. The only thing i really focused on was awake times, making sure baby wasn’t awake too long as an over tired baby is harder to settle.

We only really started a routine when my DS was 4 months old. Again this is early and I didn’t force it, he naturally started taking naps at the same time and getting up at the same time. For us routine only came when he naturally started to extend his naps.

I'd say it's really too early to be expecting him to follow a routine, particularly if you're breastfeeding. I remember at that time DS was still cluster feeding a lot throughout the evening and night as it's within that time frame of establishing milk supply + he was going through a growth spurt. I agree with PP, just try to follow his lead, as trying to impose a routine on a newborn will only stress you out even more.

My advice is to get a baby sling, one of those elastic wraps. Pop the baby in there and you can move about and have two free hands so you can focus on your toddler while the baby sleeps and even eats (you can nurse in it).

Also try to get him out every day and expose him to as much natural light as you can. And keep the lighting as dim as possible in the evening.

We started a very loose routine at about 8 weeks. Less about timings but more about associations so when we were getting ready to head to bed and before her late evening feed (somewhere around 10 or 11 oclock at that point) we would do the whole bath, bottle, cuddle/lullaby routine. It was more so that she would start to get used to the idea of going to sleep for longer than a normal nap. It worked for us because she was able to sleep for 3-4 hours at that point so your baby may or may not be ready for it just yet. Follow their lead- when theyre ready for it theyll start sleeping for longer and better stretches. You will get there eventually but try not to stress yourself out in the meantime. Although I know thats easier said than done