Eat, play, sleep? Opinions wanted!

[Buttercup0505]

Hi all!

LO is one month old and I'm struggling with where to slot 'play' into her routine without disrupting sleep?

Until recently she was awake, nappy change, and feed to sleep. She always wakes up hungry so I'm reluctant to play before eating, but as she often sleeps best straight after eating I'm not sure what to do. She has gone well past the newborn 'awake window' of an hourish several times and I have ended up with a wired baby 5 hours later, so am worried about this!

Anyone have any suggestions about what worked well for them?

Never bothered with play at one month old with any of mine. Didn't know it was a thing!

I normally do eat, play, eat, sleep. I think I kept this up with my eldest until he was 7/8 months and eating more solids, then the schedule naturally sort of changed. My babies have both been breastfed exclusively until 6 months, not sure if this makes a difference. Even if they don't feed completely to sleep I always want to make sure they've got enough in their stomachs for a good sleep before putting them down. I can't imagine eat, play, sleep working for either of my babies.

In a years time you’ll have forgotten all about this and reread this post and think about how neurotic you were. And I mean that in a nice way, it’s totally normal.

Realistically, you do what works for your baby. They’re changing by the minute at that age.

Hungry babies don't sleep. Babies also don't follow the routines in books. Just give her what she needs when she needs it, don't worry about a routine yet. Around 12 weeks they will often start to settle into some sort of rhythm themselves.

You're massively over thinking this. I feed my nearly 4 month old whenever she wants it, cuddle / hold her as much as I can and she sleeps when she is tired. Occasionally she gets put on her play mat when I need to do something with my preschooler, occasionally she gets sang to etc. That's it!

One month olds don't play, they're just getting used to being alive and are massively stimulated by just observing the world. So don't worry about it, just follow her lead. As PP said, they change so rapidly, what she is like this week won't be what she is like next week.

With mine at that age I would wake, feed, nappy change, then it would be time to sleep again!
For sleep I would use a dummy, white noise, pop them in the sling, rock in the pram.

Actual 'play' as in putting them down on a play mat with some toys was more like 3 months.

Do you mean baby is awake for 5 hours?? My baby is 8 months and her wake windows are maximum 3 hours before she needs a nap!

a 1 month old doesn’t care about play. They are still gaining eye sight. I would just maybe use some sensory black and white things to help with eye sight. Don’t pressure yourself so much about what your baby should and shouldn’t be doing honestly. When you’re baby is more interested in things then I would start introduce some play. A play mat might be a good idea to lie them down on and look at the dangling objects. That’s about as much as you can expect at the moment.

I think it's good to have a routine, but at that age I concentrated on the evening going to bed routine and let the day go as it did (though I would wake my baby if they slept too long).
As for 'play' your baby is so new that you just talking and holding is enough.

One month!! She’ll get into her own routine in time. My youngest is nearly 4 months old and starting to have longer wake periods and get more interested in the world around her.

Download the Wonder Weeks app.

My older 2 always naturally got into the 2,3,4 routine and EASY routines on their own so I think it’s just the way they end up. But 1 month olds are just blobs who sleep and feed all the time IME.

Too young for play! DD2 is 5 weeks and isn't even looking in my direction most of the time She's generally either feeding or sleeping acid brief wake windows where she just kind of looks around the place. Don't worry about it. You'll naturally fall into that pattern when she's old enough to do it, no need to schedule it.

And yes, if she's hungry then feed her asap!

I have a 5 week old, I think the routine that suits you both becomes clearer later on, we’re still in the newborn bubble phase here. Play at this age for me is things like raspberries on the tummy at nappy change, or “this little piggy” with toes at bath time/getting dressed i.e. playful, affectionate things that are building communication and bond that you are very likely already doing without thinking.

I think just talking to her is enough at her age. I used to rabbit on to mine about all sorts of things, and they always seemed fascinated then by what I had to say. Happy days!

At one month (and if I remember with my dc, up to around 3 months) 'play' is tickling their feet, singing a song, giving them something textured to hold. All this can be done at the same time as just cuddling or changing their clothes, putting them in the pram.

As PP have said: put the books down! Your baby needs food, sleep, clean nappies and love. In whichever order works best that day.