Advice needed for 5 nearly 6 week old baby...

[theresaplaceforus]

My little one will be 6 weeks on Monday. At the moment she has some naps in the daytime, sometimes on me or sometimes in her Moses basket/Pram if we are out.
At night, she goes down around 9.30-10pm and sleeps until around 1-2am and then feeds - by the time I settle her this can take anything from 30 mins - 2 hours and then she’s back down again until 6-7am.

Are we doing ok? I’ve no idea what is normal but I’m really shattered - I don’t know if her nighttime routine is ok and I’m wondering how do I get to the stage where she does sleep through - how do I help this? as I’m really struggling with the awake time between the two night stints.

She is combination fed and has a bottle in the night time of either breast milk or formula

I’m sorry lack of sleep is a killer. Sleeping during the day seems a bit light to me. Have you tried a carrier? Saying that you are still finding your feet.
I can’t talk about routine as we were baby led.
I’m mostly bumping so someone can along with better advice
I am sure you’re doing wonderfully! Enjoy your new baby xx

Nothing useful to offer in the way of advice accept to say that I would have given anything if my babies had slept that well at 6 weeks! Or even at 12 weeks....

It sounds like you are doing really well and actually I feel like I should be asking you for advice as to how you got your dd into that routine. Does she sleep in her own cot / moses basket at night? I could never get mine down or to go longer than 2 hours between wakings....

Oh my gosh you're worrying about sleep routines way too soon. I sympathise so much with the exhaustion but it sounds as if you've actually got it fairly okay right now - it will change so much more in the months to come, up and down, with regressions etc. So, even if your baby slept through now it likely wouldn't last anyway. Small babies are not meant to sleep through - too deep a sleep puts them at greater risk of sids. My DC slept each through for the first time from about 18 months/ 2 years old maybe! And then only sporadically. I think you need to adjust your expectations a little - try to go to bed early yourself, nap whenever you can etc, rather than expecting your baby to sleep through at this tiny age. It does get better OP even without sleeping through or night routines - as it soon won't take quite as long to settle them back again, so the night wakings continue but become less draining. xx

That's really good for one so young. It will change many times before you really get a settled pattern that lasts.
So when it changes for better or worse remember it is completely normal, usually down to development and/or growth spurts and you are doing a great job.

That sounds great to me! Most people find it all gets a bit easier at the 6 week mark but DS was 8 weeks. Do you go to bed yourself shortly after 10? DS went down at about 7/8 (took a while to settle) and woke about 10/11 and again about 1/2 and again 4/5 and then up for the day at 7/8. I was very tired!

Remember you're not just tired from not having much sleep, you're also still in recovery from birth. I'm getting less sleep now than I was at 6 weeks (now 16 weeks) but I feel better as my body isn't having to work so hard to heal. Sounds like you're doing a great job :)

She's doing good. Sounds very similar to what my DC were like. If its any comfort, both of mine dropped the middle of the night feed by about three months.

I'd recommend working in shifts with DH if you're combi feeding. Get yourself to bed early about 8/9pm so you can get a good chunk of sleep before getting up again. Let DH do the last feed and settle DC for the night. This is what we did and it worked well.

Congrats OP by the sounds of things you are doing brilliant. I wish my two had been that settled. I never got them to sleep in the Moses basket, in bed with us every night.

Congrats! My baby is also 6 weeks on Monday and our 'routine' is almost identical to yours. This is my second and it feels familiar to last time!

Sounds like you have a good little sleeper!

Thank you for your responses - as a FTM I just really wasn’t sure what’s ‘normal’ I know it will change as time goes on.
I do have a carrier and she’s actually sleeping in it on me at the moment while we have had our dinner.
@Puddlelane123 she sleeps in the Moses basket in the day time and then at night she is in a sleepyhead in a next to me, I know people have differing opinions on the sleepyhead but she seems happy in there and I’m right next to her. I’ve tried to make night time a bit different so I talk quietly to her or not that much at all when she wakes and keep the lights down to try and make her go back to sleep, in the day we don’t make an effort to be quiet if she’s sleeping and keep lights/tv on and talking etc no idea if that has made her aware of night and day probably not but I read it in a book so tried it!

I did the same, it worked well for me and made settling back down at night easier even when older, there was no expectation that mummy might play at 2am!
Sounds like you're doing an awesome job... Another thing to consider to help her diurnal rhythm get into synch is lots of daylight so take her outdoors as much as you can manage. Fresh air and daylight help with lots of things for babies, like if they are getting a lot and you are feeling stressed out helps, somehow the impact of crying is less outdoors, perhaps it's an acoustics thing.

Crying a lot 🙄

I did the night day thing too, OP. I think it's good for your own sanity too to be lying in bed at night and not up in the middle of the night completely. DS is 12 now and I'd love to be starting at the start and have all those lovely times back again. I did my best to enjoy every minute but I do remember the tiredness very well!

I used to go to bed myself after the 10/11 feed. It's best to catch as much sleep as you can. I wouldn't say he dropped a feed as such, it was more that the spaces between the night feeds got longer. So he might be asleep at 8 and not wake till 12 or 1 and then not wake till 5 or 6. So I was getting longer stretches of sleep in between, but he sometimes didn't want to go back to sleep if he woke at 6 rather than 5, but that's a whole other struggle trying to adjust the feeding times to suit!

My baby is exactly the same age as yours, to the day. She’s also my second so I have a bit of context about what’s normal!

Both mine at this age don’t/didn’t go to sleep until late. They don’t have a consistent bed time yet, but definitely wouldn’t be asleep for 7pm. Lots of feeding in the evening on and off.

We then have a feed at 11pm, 2.30am and 6am-ish. Again, this isn’t consistent. We are in the middle of the 6 week growth spurt so she’s awake a bit more than normal. My first DD was the same. With my first DD she then settled into a pretty regular 10.30/2:30/6am feeding pattern after the six week sleep regression.

By 12 weeks my first DD was sleeping through the night with just a dream feed and had a regular bed time. By 17 weeks she was sleeping fully through the night. I’m hoping my second will be the same! It all changes so fast.

Hope that helps.

I’ve put ‘six week sleep regression’ above, but I mean ‘six week growth spurt’. Can tell I’m tired!!

Both of mine of mine woke every 2
Hours for at least 6 months. So
I can’t offer any advice, only sympathy because lack of sleep is hideous!

Hi Op, perhaps focus on your sleep. Comfy warm pjamas on and your teeth cleaned before you settle her so you are tucked up in bed at 10pm. Keep warm and relaxed for that early hours feed, lights low so that you are ready to go back to sleep.
This stage will soon pass, good luck!