routine?

[rachel77]

My baby is 3 weeks old tomorrow and we thought he was a dream, going 3 hours between feeds in the night by 1 week and feeding on demand in the day.

However, the last few days he has refused to go down to sleep anywhere but being cuddled by me or dad or grannies (or anyone who'll hold him close to be honest!)  This extended into the night last night and I was still trying to settle him at 4am and gave up taking into bed with us.

Should I stop demand feeding in the daytime and try and impose a routine or is he still too young?

How to I get him to go down in his pram/crib to sleep? I have to wait until he is almost comatose and I don't want him to learn to rely on being craddled to sleep.

Thanks for your help,

Rachel and Henry xx

[GraceKellysmom]

I'm going to move this to the sleep forum since it is a sleep-related question.

I will say, as far as "demand feeding" you should follow your baby's hunger cues at the moment. He should need to eat every 2-3 hrs during the day, and waking 2-4 times at night to eat is normal for this age. At 3 weeks they go through a big growth spurt where he may seem hungry every hour - you need to nurse him that frequently to increase your supply.

Make sure that you read parts of the Babywhisper book, there are special sections on getting your baby to sleep.

[Jaime]

hi Rachel,

(keep in mind, i mean all of this a lot more gently that it looks when it's typed!  )

in a nutshell, you have taught your baby that the way he's supposed to sleep is on somebody else.  if you want him to sleep in his crib, you have to break that association and help him learn a new way to go to sleep and stay asleep.  Henry will be confused at first, and will show you that by crying.  The best thing you can do for him is to decide on a plan of action, and then stick to it.  Consistency and persistance is key.

To help you sort out a plan of action, i'm going to list 2 links for you that give you lots of details & techniques.

this will give you the basic idea of what you should be doing:
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/pat-shush-for-babies-under-3-months-old-vt26672.html

this is an interview with tracy that you can download.  it's really long, but there is a ton of great information in it.
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/a-special-sleep-interview-with-tracy-hogg-vt451.html

HTH 

[rachel77]

Hi,

We tried the shh/pat last night and today and it seems to be working (though I don't want to tempt fate!).

Henry went to sleep, eventually, in his crib when he went down for the night and again after his last feed of the day.  Took us 2 hours at 1am and then he fell asleep on the breast at 4 and 7 (not sure if this is ok or not!) and didn't wake on going back in the crib as he has done previously.


Then during today we settled him for 2 naps in his pram so we're feeling quite pleased ... just hope it continues.

Tonight he took about 40 minutes to settle but I used a dummy as he seemed to want to suck and had already had his feed.

Thanks again for your advise, feeling much happier now!!

Rachel xx