Newborn - Routine ?

[Gwen456]

Hi, sorry didn't know where to post this...

my babe is 2wks old tom & at the mo we seem to be floundering a bit... She dictates to us as to when she's fed, changed etc etc... we are haveing trouble as she seems to be colicky, although i have read this isn't sposed to appear till 6-8wks ?? but she has all the symptoms.. fri night she wouldn't stop crying from 6pm to 6am when she finally slept till 12pm the foll day...!!!

we have changed her formula from sma gold - aptimal as she seemed in pain when pooing and are now up to 2 drops of infacol before each feed & are useing a dummy for her worst moments, however this doesn't always work..

at the moment we feel like such bad parents, all our good intentions have gone out the window.. bottle feeding, infacol, dummy and no routine ??

what do we do ??, do we just carry on letting her dictate ? or do we try and get some sort of routine going ?

i keep thinking about all these terms i have heard and read about and am worried we are creating a rod for our own backs..

'accidental parenting'

she settles on us before she goes in the moses, what about self soothing ?

Baby Whisperers EASY ?? how do you keep your baby active when all she wants to do is sleep ?

oh & lots more....

anyone ? HELPPPPPPPPPPPPP !!!!

(at the mo she is asleep on me and when i try and put her in the moses, she crys ? this doesn't happen all the time to be fair..)

 

Cheers Gwen x (Leeds)

[HeatherC]

Gwen, {{{HUGS}}} to you and congrats on your new child.  You are right in the throws of a fast changing time period-the very beginning of her little life.  It would be hard to expect her to fall into a routine right now, much less you know what routine to set her on.  This is a "get to know each other" period.  Here are a few questions, then we'll see how we can help:
1.  how often is she eating?
2.  how many times a day and for how long is she napping?
3.  are you waking her for feedings during the day?

At this age you should not expect real activity time.  That is part of the EASY guideline, but that really comes later.  Right now, she will be fed, diaper changed, and then put back to sleep.  For my dd's first 2 weeks of life, she slept all the time, then, we couldn't get her to sleep and it seemed like we were up with her all hours of the night.  Well, she had days and nights confused and we had to help her reset her clock.  Do you think this could be the problem?  She is crying when you try to put her down b/c mommy is so much more comfy  , but we can help with that as well.  Do you have the BW Solves All Your Problems book?
You are a wonderful parent.  Keep your chin up and stay positive.  The best thing you can do for her is to have a good outlook b/c she can sense your tension.  You'll get through this!

[frankiesmom]

Hi.  I am writing in this post, b/c I saw what Heather wrote back to you and I was wondering if she could help me too.  My ds is almost 2 weeks old and is on a 3 hour EASY  but he seems to have days and nights confused and I really need help figuring it out.  Last night he was up from 2 until 5!  But during the day he seems to sleep really well, in fact I have to wake him alot of the time to feed him. 
If anyone is able to give me some advice on this issue, let me know and I can post my schedule.  Maybe it will help both of us out.

Thanks, Kim

[HeatherC]

The day and night issue can be tricky.  Sometimes you have to let the baby sort it out, but there are little things you can do to help.  First, keep the inside of the house well lit during the day.  Even the nursery or where the baby sleeps should not be totally dark when you're trying to sort this out (after that, you can darken the room for naps to aid sleep).  Keep the noise level as normal as you did before the baby was home.  Make sure you wake her/him for each feed, and try to not let him sleep more than 2.5 hrs at a time.  There won't be much "A" time other than changing clothes, sponge bath, diaper change, and the feedings.  Do your best to keep him awake during feedings.  If he doses off, break the latch or remove the bottle, sit him up and resume once he's awake.  Undress him down to his onsie if necessary and rub his hands during the feeding. 
The day night reversal didn't last too long for us so don't worry.  I hope this helps.

[frankiesmom]

Thanks Heather, so should I not be using white noise in his room for his naps, so that there is more noise?
Kim

[HeatherC]

Well, I'm not completely sure about that.  We have always used white noise with dd, but I don't think we started it with naps for a few months.  Of course that really means nothing as she was a 30 min napper for 6 months  .  I think using it for naps would be okay, you just want him to realize in some slight ways the difference between day and night sleep.