Easy with 12 week old: where to start

[hairbrained]

Hi, I need to try and get a routine going with my dd but just wondered where to start. She has only ever fed to sleep or fallen asleep in the sling but neither of those are working too well now and she's only napping for 45 minutes when she does go down.

I was trying to follow easy and have a current A time of about 1hr20 but unless I'm actually out of the house walking the sling doesn't get her to sleep so I end up feeding her to sleep which messes up the routine. I have a 4yo at home too so getting out walking with the sling isn't always possible.

Should I try getting her to sleep independently first and then work on extending naps and the routine after?

If I do work on sleeping independently first should this be for all sleep right away or start with bedtime then work on naps afterwards?

Any thoughts would be really appreciated. Thanks

[creations]

Hello and welcome back to BW forums

Should I try getting her to sleep independently first and then work on extending naps and the routine after?

Both are linked really. A LO who feeds to sleep is not learning to self settle so might find it impossible to self settle mid nap and therefore wake up at the transition between sleep cycles.  Teaching independent sleep can really help with the nap length but if she is UT for her naps then it is going to be hard to self settle for sleep anyway and hard to transition between cycles. So really self settling and A times are all linked.

If I do work on sleeping independently first should this be for all sleep right away or start with bedtime then work on naps afterwards?

If you can't work on all sleeps in one go I'd suggest starting with nap 1.  Some babies can feed to sleep at BT or at night feeds and it doesn't effect their night sleep so much.  As babies are habitual you might find you can drop the feed to sleep prop for nap 1 and teacher her to self settle for that nap even though you continue on the other naps. Honestly though dropping the prop altogether is going to see more rapid results and be less confusing for her.

1hr 20 might be too short for her A time. Maybe try 1hr 30/40 and see if things are easier.

[hairbrained]

Thank you for responding. Do you think I should try and work out her A times first then so I know when I'm getting rid of the prop its at the right time? Thanks

[creations]

The two are linked, if she is in the habit of feeding to sleep she could well stay up 3 hrs screaming her head off for food/sleep so it's isn't as simple as just working out her A time but like I said, I'd try more like 1hr 30/40 as the 1hr 20 isn't getting her off even in the sling walking.

If you're ready to stop the feed to sleep prop then I'd just go for it - remember she can't change this, only you can.

[hairbrained]

Thanks. I think I'll try the pantley gr plan before shh pat. Fingers crossed x