hijack away!!

Susie sorry to hear it all went a bit nuts, but sounds like you got some sleep afterwards and yay for dh.

DS has been good today following the 3 hour thing, but i cannot get him to have a nap early evening which means he does not go to bed at 7 either, however i can seem to get him down around 8ish, which is fine by me so won't stress (too much)

Hi Susiec

It takes quite a long time to get a baby used to a new routine and you may just have to adjust things slowly over time. Like put her down 10 minutes earlier each night, until she's going to sleep at the time you want her to.

The evening is commonly an unsettled time for young babies - they may be a bit overtired from the day's activities and your milk not might be as satisfying for her at that time of day either (cause you're probably tired too!).

Some babies need more sleep during the day in order to sleep well at night - our son often had a total of 18 hours sleep during a 24 hour period when he was her age. Whereas others need much less. Did she seem grumpy during her awake time today? Don't be afraid to experiment with the routine a bit - if you do have to keep waking her up to stick to the routine and she always seems grumpy I'd probably just leave her to sleep for longer. But no more than 3 hours at a time during a day, as that's when their days and nights start to get mixed up. Good luck!

thanks for all the comments ladies, in my emotional state i got all teary at the support and help this website has given me since i joined, its such a great place.

well  he has just gone down again now after feeding at 3 hour periods throughout the day, he woke at 3 hour periods for a couple and i woke him at one so kept it going.

Wish I'd started implementing a routine sooner (didn't try until DS was 3 months old) . I did read Gina Ford's book, but ended up also reading the Baby Whisperer & The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems (Tracy Hogg) and going with her advice as it worked for us. Still based on routines, but not as strict - you learn to read and act on baby's cues aswell. A compromise between strict clock-driven schedules and "following" baby.

ha ha, no probably not!! It'll be our secret

thanks ladies, the book does seem super strict and i don't want to become obsessed by the clock.

Do you count the 3 hours from start of feed to start of feed?

Sue very interested to see how you get on - we can discuss over some tea later in the week perhaps?

Finley seems to be waking every 3 hours for food anyway which is good and this is day and night, so i think i should be grateful.

Hi, I have had these routines recommended to me and got the book.

Just interested to hear if anyone else has tried it and does it work for you.

The only part that confuses me is it seems to work on a 3 hourly routine between 7 am and 7pm but then in the night you let them sleep as long as they can????

Any input on this would be great!!