uh oh.....

[bunnyfuller]

Hi all,

we have one perfectly EASY'd 14m toddler who is a little joy, and are now eager to get DD #2 onto the same thing.

Florence is 9 days old.  She was 4 weeks premature and had some feeding issues to begin with.  She has now, with virtually no effort from ourselves, settled into 3oz evry 4 hrs.

The queries/problems I am hoping for some advice on are:

She is an incredibly sleepy baby - she needs waking for feeds in the day sometimes, and is a quick feeder, also Daddy and Mummy are quick on the draw with nappy changes so in the daytime getting her to have activity time is virtually impossible.  As the day goes on se does have a little more wake time after feeds.

Are we asking too much for more activity time at this early stage?

Following on from there..last night Florence became unsettled around 10pm (at the moment she's in her moses basket with us downstairs until I go to bed at 10pmish)  I took her upstairs to settle in her moses basket next to bed and she just kept crying on and off.  Eventually at 12.30 I offered her a bottle (cursing myself because I knew tihs would be 'snacked on' and would prob mess up the rest of the night)  She had maybe half of it, and STILL fussed/cried.  Eventually DH gave in and gently rocked the moses basket until she dropped off.  Obviously this isn't something we wish to become a habit.

Would putting a bedtime routine in right now, and actually settling her upstairs at a bedtime worked around her sister actually be appropriate now?  At the moment she detests bathtime and it doesn't seem to actually settle her.  What sort of routine could we introduce?

Just after some ideas when to start and with what really.  Tracey's books don't seem to point out when exactly to kick in with things, just newborns are different...

Please answer soon cos Daddy is an accidental parent waiting to happen!!!


Nic xxx

[JennŠ]

Is 9 days she chronological age or her adjusted age?  Either way, she is going to be a sleepy one.  Mine was 5 weeks early and it was at least 6-8 weeks before she did anything else besides eat and sleep.  We are talking wake, diaper change, eat, start to fall asleep again.   One of the dear ladies here reassured me that this is normal at the time.  At this age, she really does not need a daily bath.  You might try earlier in the day and see if she prefers that.  She is also a bit young for a "formal" sleep routine.  Rocking in the basket sounds fine, you can gradually reduce the intensity and length of time.   

[woopster]

I tend to agree with mouse mom, at 9 days old all they will want to do is eat and sleep.  If she is 4 weeks prem you will need to allow for that too.
Mine were 12 weeks early and came home after 9 weeks and for the first 6 weeks they were home, all they did was eat, nappy change and bed.

Personally, I would bring bedtime forward - maybe 7/7.30pm - it sounds to me like she is overtired.

Bathtime - do you bathe her in the big bath or use a baby bath?  Mine hated the big bath until they were that little big bigger - I think using a smaller bath helped them to feel a bit more secure.

Our routine consists of bath, bottle, and bed, basically!  I didn't want to get into a more involved routine, especially with a toddler as well.