5 week old sleep routine?

[TwinkleMerrick]

Help, advice pls. My baby girl had jaundice so slept and slept in the first weeks. Now she is 5 weeks old I thought I should start to establish a sleep routine. I've been trying to aim for:

Bath time at 7 and last feed with nap in big cot and transfer to Moses basket when cries. Dream feed at 11pm.

But what has actually been happening is:

Bath time at 7, play in big cot (looking at music mobile). Won't settle, cuddles with mummy in bedroom, only falls asleep in my arms . Sleeps in bed with me (on own mattress). Wakes up at 4am for feed, takes an hour to feed and settle again. Sleeps till 8/9am.

Help! Is she too young to try a sleep routine? What tips do you have for getting her to sleep earlier and back in her Moses basket. She will sleep in there but wakes up after 10 mins. I have put rolled up towels in make it secure for her.

Thanks x

I think your expecting a bit much tbh. She’s only 5 weeks old, she’s still so new to the world and she’s not been well in the beginning. It’s very very normal for newborns to need to be close to mummy to sleep and feel secure. Newborns also tend to have later bed times closer to 10/11pm- this will edge forward as she gets older. DS didn’t go to bed consistently at 7pm untill 6 months. It probably doesn’t feel it but that sleep sounds pretty great to me tbh! Why not let her sleep on you downstairs while you eat/watch tv and then take her up with you at bed time?

This stage doesn’t last forever, so try not to stress to much, your baby is totally normal and you’re doing a great job

Hi there,

I will not be the only one to tell you that your baby is tiny and is behaving totally normally. They instinctively want and need to be close to you to sleep, it's absolutely fine. Needing comfort and help to sleep by rocking in arms is normal and healthy. Co-sleeping is normal and protective against SIDS if you do it safely (which it sounds like you are).
Your baby waking up in the evening a lot is once again, totally normal. Expecting a 5 week old to go down for the night (even with a dream feed at 11) is very unrealistic, it's typical that they are wakeful in the evenings, they're only just adjusting to day and night cycles.
You don't say if you are breastfeeding or using formula, but in either case once wakeup between 11 and 8 am, even if lasts a while is very very lucky! You would still need to change nappy overnight anyway at this age usually.

Please try to relax and work out ways that you can accommodate the baby's need to be close and comforted to help them learn to sleep gently. There's no need to leave them alone in moses cots in the evening, they can sleep with you in your arms/lap while you chill and watch TV or whatever on the sofa.
Or you can learn to use slings/wraps and just carry them about while you get on with stuff, or sit on sofa, they'll be close and happy, more likely to remain settled, then you can transfer to co-sleeping mattress next to you when you go to sleep.

It;s totally unnecessary to try and establish any fixed routines with a newborn- which your baby is until they're 4 months old! You'll just end up causing you both unnecessary stress. Babies don't need strict night routines to learn to sleep, they do it slowly over time.
Avoiding them getting overtired in the day with napping every 1.5-2 hours can be a good idea at this age, but really if you drop the expectation to manage the evening sleep, you won't feel that them wanting to cuddle and be rocked to sleep warrants a reaction from you.
Good luck

You might be putting him down too early. My son is just 8 weeks and slept through the past couple of nights 11-6 but he's done it on his own. We have always done the same routine just take him up with us nappy and clothes change low light (nightlight) play or sing for a little while and he has his last feed about 10:30. I cuddle til he relaxes then put him down. He will usually send himself off if He moans I cuddle then put back down. Sometimes it takes a few goes. He was waking at 3am for feed but has dropped it himself the past week. Sometimes he wakes at 6 then goes back to sleep. If I try to put him down any earlier he would just kick off most of his wake time is evening. He's mostly learnt the difference between night and day this way. Hope that helps x

Also I've found he doesn't like space around him I have a slide sleeper and he still finds it a bit big so I put him in a sleeping bag which makes him feel more secure when he kicks about there's less space

Hi

I also have a 7 week old. We change him into his PJs at some point during the evening when he is awake and then let him fall asleep on whomever he happens to be sitting. We transfer him asleep to the cost when we go up around 10/11 but always after his last evening feed. At the moment he wakes between 1 and 2 and again around 4. Mornings are hot and miss, sometimes he sleep til 9 sometimes he's wide awake at 6. I express and feed him from a bottle.

Thanks guys, I feel so much better now hearing your experiences. People say 'get the routine sorted or your making a rod for your own back' but it was just stressing me and baby out. I will now enjoy cuddles down stairs and watch a bit of tv

As pointed out, your baby is only 5 weeks old and doing what babies do. At that age mine would sleep for 2-3 hours then feed then sleep for 2-3 hours and so on and so on. I think it is anywhere from 3-4 months that they start to do more of a sleep pattern, but even then it won't be right through the night generally.

Every baby is different, and every parent is different, but you need to relax a bit and go with the flow.

You might get on with a routine, I didn't want one as I wanted to be able to go out when I wanted, not be tied to nap times like my friend was and she couldn't leave the house.

HI Twinkle glad you feel better. So many mothers on here seem to be picking up the notion from sleep training advocates that newborns are being 'difficult' when they're just being newborn mammals, needing to be close to feel safe and be able to sleep.

Wishing you a happy journey in helping your baby learn through gentle means x