Routine advice pls!

[yaya]

DD is now 6 weeks old so I really want to try to get her onto a good routine. So far our days USUALLY look like this altho this are still really unsettled and its hard work to get her to sleep.
E 5- 6ish
wakeup 7-8ish
E 9ish
she then ahs about 1 hr A time between sleeps, try for catnap in evening untill bathtime at 6pm, then fee4d and bed, usually takes 1-2 hrs to get her to sleep!!
She goes a 4hr soemtime (altho rarely ) a 5hr then from 4 or 5 am onwards shes really fussy usually needing to do a poo!

I have noticed she will go longer than 4hrs between feeds if i let her and is rarely famished (unlike the first few weeks) should i be pressing 3 hrs feeds so as to get more calories into her in the day?
What can I do about early am fussiness? even if she has a poo in the night or the eve before she doesnt sleep soundly after 4 am.

After morning wakeup she seems tired very quickly and will have along sleep (nap) do u think shes's taking this for night sleep?

I guess my Q is how much should I be clock watching at this age with sleeping and eating coz if i go by how she behaves shes wanting to feed every 4hrs have long sleeps am then hard to settle evening (mayeb ha dtoo much sleep??) and light sleep early am.

any thoughts??? thanx

[vadensmommy]

I wouldn't let her take a longer than 2 hour nap - interferes with night sleep too much.  At this age I also watched the clock pretty closely for feeds just so I made sure she got as much as possible during the day to avoid more night feedings if possible.  On hour between naps sounds pretty good for this age from what I remember.  That's all I can think of at the moment!

[yaya]

really? u would wake? I hadnt tried that

[vadensmommy]

absolutely.  More than a 2 hour nap can interfere with them sleeping as soundly at night.  And it helps make sure you're getting more calories in during the day where you want them, instead of at night.  When dd was your lo's age is about when we started EASY, and I was pretty strict for the first few weeks and watched the clock pretty closely.  It was the best way for me to get everything in working order, and then we were able to be more flexible with times and feedings and naps, but in the beginning if it was time to eat, I woke her up and fed her, and if she was tired shortly afterwards - and couldn't handle the 1hr A time, I'd put her down a little earlier, and let her go a little past two hours if she still needed it for the next nap, but still got her up at the three hour mark to feed.  After two weeks of sticking to a really strict routine dd was sleeping through the night from 8pm-7:30am with a dream feed at 10 which was great!  Good luck I hope that helps!!

[donna_issabella]

What can I do about early am fussiness? even if she has a poo in the night or the eve before she doesnt sleep soundly after 4 am.

After morning wakeup she seems tired very quickly and will have along sleep (nap) do u think shes's taking this for night sleep?

Hi Michelle,

Henry did EXACTLY the same and it drove me bonkers. honestly I think he jys outgrew it, but I have read that Tracey intimated that it was due to a growth spurt, with the LO being too hungry to sleep, but not hungry enough to wake up. Henry would feed and still be restless. It has improved, but unfortunately took time.

The thing that worked is I think he treated his bedtime as 10 pm although his bath time was at 6pm. He would be awake super short at 6-7 and then sleep like the dead until 10 am. After I made a huge spiel of keeping him awake and alot of light and play with his 6-7 am wake time, did he adjust. Don't know why, but it worked.

Good luck, I think you are doing very well.

xx
DI