6 week old sleep schedule

[nnagy]

Hi there, just have a few questions about sleep schedule for my dd
We are having napping issues, right now im working on that and trying to find a proper schedule for putting her to sleep at bedtime.  Up until now it has been quite random, but generally its 7:30 feed, perhaps a bath, then feed again at 8:30 or 9 then off to bed.  She will usually sleep till around 3:30 but dh and i get no alone time at all!
Then last night i tried to change it to 7:30 feed, then put her to bed right away, and i did at 10:30 df to hopefully let her sleep even longer, this did not work as she woke arounde 1:30 .. she was in and out till 3:00 where i fed her again. 

Is it better to do the cluster feeding and let her sleep a longer time, or to try to implement the df, where she doesnt sleep as long.. or will that change after a few tries. 
The only reason i tried the df was to give myself and my husband some time to ourselves, but if shes sleeping longer without it, i might just stop it. 
Also, when doing a night time routine, are you supposed to feed and then put to bed right away?  or should there be some activity time too?  so confused!  any suggestions would be greaty appreciated!

[deckchariot]

congrats on your new bub and welcome to BW!  Establishing a routine at 6 weeks is pretty tough, so it's ok if it varies a bit.  It's a routine, not a schedule, so each day may be a bit different.  At this young age, most bubs need about a 12hr day/12 hr  night.  Are you bfing or bottle feeding?  Bf bubs often need to eat more frequently.  With my dd, we did both cluster feeding and a df.  Our "rough" routine was a bit like this:

E: 7:30 (when she woke up)
A
S: 8:30

E: 10/10:30 (when she woke - or at the 3 hr mark at the latest)
A
S: 11:30

E: 1:30
A:
S: 2:30

E: 4:30
A
S: 5/5:30 (just a catnap here)

E:6ish (after catnap)
A (watch us eat dinner)

bedtime routine and final feed start at 7, in bed by 7:30ish, df at 10:30

We didn't do any A time after that bedtime feed - I'd feed her at 6ish, we'd eat dinner, then upstairs for  a bath, then into jammies, and I'd feed her while dh read stories, then we'd swaddle her, pray and into bed.  so a bit of separation between feeding and sleeping, but only so she didn't fall asleep on me.

I know some mums have  trouble with the df, and I believe Tracy recommends trying it for 2 weeks.  The key is to do it before 11 (afterwards it can mess with night sleep) and to not wake them.  I pumped and dh gave her a bottle - she wouldn't bf in her sleep.  And at 6 weeks, she'd go from the df til about 4 and do a night feed then.

hth
michelle

[nnagy]

Thank you for replying so fast! that is very helpful, im going to try that out, and see what we can make of it.  And yes, i am Breastfeeding, although we used a bottle for the df.. hoping to give that task to the husband..
My other big problem with trying to implement this routine.. my dd won't nap!  I have been trying all day and i managed to get one hour of a nap out of her since 7 am.  it is now 2 pm. I dont know if i shouold give up after an hour and just let her sleep on me, so she actually gets some sleep on during the 3 hour cycle, as of right now, shes extremely sleep deprived in the day time.. the only sure thing is to drive somewhere and let her sleep in the car seat.
I have been trying to put her down in her bassinet, trying the patt/shh, she likes it when im holding her but as soon as she goes down, she wakes up and patting her while shes laying there doesnt do anything she just keeps screaming.   Im wondering how long i have to keep trying before i give in and let my overtired dd sleep on me, also how long something like this will take to implement!

[deckchariot]

We did a bottle for the df as well, and dh did it

With  napping - she's really early to have naps sorted out.  The key at this point is consistency.  Are you doing any kind of a wind down?  Is she swaddled?  Is she still awake when you lay her down?  How are  you using shhh/pat (wind down, in bassinette, only when she wakes, etc.?)

It's up to you whether you do some APing to help her get to sleep.  One thing you might want to try first is shortening her next A time if her nap is short.  I can remember in the early days (my dd did not nap til almost 3 mos...it was awful), we'd do shhh/pat at the end of the wind down, and then in the crib til she went to sleep, or til it had been 2.5 hrs since her last feed or until I couldn't stand up straight from the crick in my back after bending over!  Then I'd feed her (because if she wasn't sleeping and was crying, she'd be hungry at 2.5 hrs rather than 3) and then we'd start all over again.  So instead of 1 hr of A time between naps, it was more like 30ish minutes - just a brief break, a feed, a little break for mommy, and back to the wind down.  Then for the catnap, we AP'd almost every day so she could get at least one good nap in before bedtime.

Here's some good links to check out:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=128419.0 and http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=85500.0 and http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64277.0

It is really hard in the beginning.  Nighttime sleep tends to develop first, and daytime sleep later, so don't feel like you've got to get it all right now.  The habits you start now will only continue later, so good habits now...great rewards later.  Here's an excellent link for just being encouraged:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=106837.0

hth
michelle