Routine for newborns

Would be interested to hear if anyone has routines for newborns to 3months. J is six weeks old and I'm parenting solo and trying to get into our groove. I've over stimulated him previously and am now putting him down at first sign of tiredness but still cant get my head around this. We had good night last night with him sleeping 10.45pm - 2.00am, 2.30am-5.45am, 6.30am-9.15am. I got him up, changed nappies and clothes, brought him into the lounge with me, fed for five minutes (thats all he wanted), tickled his tummy and then he started yawning again. Surely he can't be tired again I thought - his total time up was only half an hour. But I put him down again. He kicked and cooed for a while and then fell asleep ?!! Great for a solo Mum to get some things done and to stop him getting overtired but I can't help feeling guilty that I'm not spending more time with him.

I basically followed the SOS routines from 4 weeks with a few tweaks. Madison only stayed up about an hour max, if that some times. Even now she is only awake for 2 hours usually before needing another sleep.

It sounds as if you are doing a fantastic job

Tom still only manages an hour max when he first gets up. It was around the 6 week mark that Tom changed. Before that I felt like you...all he did was get up, feed and go back to sleep. I worried that I wasnt doing anything with him. Overnight it changes (literally overnight) and he will want to be awake more and smile and interact with you but I still remember 45 min was often it for Tom.

It's true every bub is diff, my boy was very alert from day one and practically never slept! He would do 4-5 hour stretches (where he was awake) easily. He would sleep for 2-3 hours in between. And fed for around half an hour at one feed. His lack of sleep is yet to effect his growth - he is constantly under the 95th centile line on growth chart! Always has been.

Even now he can do 10-12 hour periods...but i aim for a nap every 2-2.5hours because I end up being the tired one after all the running around & playing

Hi Laura,

The SOS routine is the save our sleep by tizzie hall. I found it really good because they give you a routine if you are breastfeeding and another if bottle feeding. The routines also changes as the baby gets older, every 2 weeks or so i think there is a slight change. As i said i use this as a guideline but it really works for us.

sounds like you are doing a great job hun