New here with 6mo in no routine

[purplesmiley]

Hello! I have a breastfed 6mo baby girl who has been in no routine at all after a shaky start - she was losing weight and had tongue tie that wasn't fixed till she was 9wks and also has silent reflux (screamed with pain and refused to feed) that is kept under control by me having a dairy free diet from 6wks - her weight and feeding is fine now but cos of all the problems we had when she was newborn she's learned lots of bad habits that I'm now ready to help her undo. She's just starting solids now.

She has a pacifier,
She has no regular naps or set bedtime
She will only go to sleep when rocked or breastfed or in sling and usually wakes when we put her down which means naps are often taken on my lap,
She will sleep for a long time in a carseat (not ideal but I sometimes leave her there for a bit of peace  but its not everyday),
She normally goes in a sling when I take my older kids to school and I push my toddler in the pram,
In the evenings she stays downstairs with me until I go to bed (feeds on and off, dozes on my lap, wakes easily) - I did try taking her up to bed earlier for a week or so but she would wake 5/10/20mins after leaving her, even though she seemed flat out and I was up and downstairs like a yoyo all night (I BF her to sleep in our bed and then snuck off LOL)
We co-sleep and she snacks on the boob all night - has never settled in cot or moses basket

I'm tired and touched out and need things to change - Where do I start?! LOL

How can I get her routine to fit with me being out on school run from 830-930am and 230-330pm (its half hour each way walking)

Oh and I just realised I bought the wrong book, I have "secrets of the baby whisperer", so am waiting for my new copy "solves all your problems" to come from amazon 

[anna*]

Hello! Welcome to the boards

The mods will be along soon to say hi and move your post over to one of the Sleep boards but let's see if I can help out at all.

First, don't panic. Cosleeping and BF to sleep are hard props to break to be sure, but not impossible, not at all. There will be crying though, probably lots, so the first thing to check is that her reflux really is totally controlled, that it's not an issue for her right now. The fact that she will sleep a bit upright in a carseat makes me wonder if she's totally comfortable lying down. You'll likely need to use shush-pat AND Pick Up Put Down to wean the props, and PUPD can exacerbate reflux if it's not well controlled.

If she's on the boob all night, when does she use a paci?

So as a guide, here's the sort of routine you could aim for:

6.30am wake up, BF
7.30am solids
8.45-10am nap (this could be taken in pram on school run) (I know the school run is 8.30 but this includes time for her to fall asleep)
10.30 BF
11.30 solids
12.30-2pm nap in crib
2pm awake, BF
4pm (solids if doing 3 meals already)
4.30pm catnap in crib, 30 mins
5pm awake, start bed/bath routine
6pm last BF
6.30pm in bed asleep for the night.

[aisling]

Welcome! xx

[mymay1]

Hi and welcome
My son is almost 6mo as well with reflux... we have had him on EASY from the very begining which helped alot with the colic of the first few months and the reflux.

How is your A times? How long does she stay up?
I think that you can start building a routine by having A times that will make her tired enough for her naps.
I'm sure that at the begining she will wake up but I hope that after a while (and maybe some wake2sleep) she will be tired and will understand the activity followed by sleep routine.

Good luck!