HELP! Into bed on tired signs vs routine

I have read the books on sleep, tired signs, routine etc. But my 7 week old is on constant tired sign land...for those who began a routine such Contented baby or other did you focus on the routine and ignore tired signs for the first time? I thought we coudl catch up on sleep and his awake time woudl extend but he is tired after being up for 10 mins and finished feeding, but often lies in his cot awake, wakes up mid sleep or other so we are never catching up. I wonder now if I shoudl go to a longer up time after feeding regardless of signs so he gets into a better patten. Advice desperately needed as at the moment its just 'feed' then try to get him to sleep which equals all stress no joy!

I replied to you on the other thread, but with Maya we followed a routine - up for an hour down for two, pretty much until she started solids at around 16 weeks. The gremlins are more 'demand' babies than 'routine' babies, they have a routine of sorts but it's much more flexible which is funny coz I always thought I'd just do what I did with Maya with them and it didn't work. I guess all babies are different.

As I said in the other thread tho, the gremlins used to only cope with being awake for half an hour or so at a time, then all of a sudden at about 10 weeks they started wanting to be awake longer and now they are awake up to an hour and a half at a time.

I went simply with tired signs to begin with. It was hard with Oscar as he has Cerebral Palsy he doesnt have all that much control of his muscles and cant talk so there was no way of really knowing if he needed to go to bed. I usually pus him to bed once he fell to slepe in my arms (bad i know)
Now though he is able to express that he is tired more easily by rubbing his eyes and arching his back. So during the day he is put into bed if he shows he is tired and at night he is in bed at 9pm sometimes before if he shows he is tired. Often he doesnt want to be there but is learning to settle himself.


My best advice would be to try not to listen to the books too much and follw them to the button. Its better to spend some time watching your babys patterns (even get a notebook) and make your own routine. Because every baby is different and i just dont think a book can tell you the perfect solution. You will be able to organise that yoursefl. It is great to have a book for suggestions but i would try to make your own routine

Edited by Lucy