7 week old no signs of routine

[hrp2020]

My 7 week old was in a good pattern (well sort of) with naps and feeding. Feeding (formula fed) every 3 hours after her naps and throughout the night. This seems to have gone out of the window a bit now that she has decided to have short naps. I want to continue with sleep/eat/play but I can't when her naps are so short snd her wake window really is only about it 45-60minutes before over-tiredness would kick in. So sometimes I end up having to feed her just before a nap (which I want to avoid especially as she has reflux and needs to be upright for a while after feeding). She is now getting herself to sleep for some naps and if it doesn't work we sometimes have to rescue the nap by having her on us or in a sling or something. Nighttimes she still doesn't seem to manage anything longer than sleeping for 2 hours 2.5 max. She is funny with feeds as will sometimes only have 2oz (particularly in the night) or up to 4oz mainly in the day but not often. My son took large feeds quite early on and so he slept for longer stretches. Any tips on how to get any form of routine with her? She is up at about 7am as that's when the day starts with our toddler. Again bath time is 6pm to fit in with him. She has also skipped her nap before bath time (only due to being overtired from short naps) and therefore the past 2 nights she has fallen asleep before 7pm for bedtime. It just feels like we are all over the place and no idea how to get back on track.

My unpopular opinion would be she is so tiny/young. She needs to be fed on demand and as she is rapidly growing and developing, her naps and sleeps will be all over the place. Full tummy does not necessarily mean longer sleeps as some babies are just more wakeful or she may be waking needing comfort - she’s still a newborn. I personally would follow her cues and stop watching the clock. I found I enjoyed my baby much more this way.

But I know some people do follow schedules for naps and feeding from very early and would laugh at my way.

I'm up with my almost five month old reading this thinking you're doing great and it's all normal. My only tip is have lower expectations. Sleep eat play is great but babies love feeding to sleep I'm afraid. I've been reassured it's biologically normal and holding our refluxy ones upright afterwards is part of it. On sleep - my baby didn't sleep for more than 2 hours max until the end of the fourth trimester.

@Amammai and @Flittingaboutagain I know you are right. She is so tiny still. I think the issue I have is that she wakes from short 30 min naps so unhappy and crying as tired still that her awake time she spends crying and just isn't very happy at all for most of the day. Makes it pretty tough especially as I have a 22month old who wants me to play with him.

@hrp2020 I tend to keep baby awake if she wakes too early and then contact nap when she's tired before her next feed.