Another question frm this 1st time mum!

I had a 30-min catnapper, and she didn't sleep longer than that really until about a year old The best thing I did was to forget about what she 'should' be doing, and just stick to whatever routine she set. That did mean she got fed every 2 hours or so during the day (so sometimes I did blockfeeding on one side), but she was only up for maybe an hour before putting her back to bed. It also meant she sometimes had 5 x 30min naps during the day, which obviously wasn't that much fun, but she really did get tired after being up for an hour.....and the annoying little naps didn't last forever!

I also tried re-settling as much as I could, but she wasn't having a bar of it, and nothing would get her to sleep longer than 30mins at a time, especially as she woke up happy for the most part!

Does your DS get tired after about an hour up? If so, why try and stick to the 3-hour routine (which really is a bit of a myth for many people!), and just put him back to bed after being up for a shorter time (and feed him when he wakes - if he's waking happy, it seems like that's enough sleep for him.) It might be an issue if you are FF, but if you are BF - you can't really overfeed a BF baby, I wouldn't worry too much about the timing.

Sorry for the rambly post, but what I am trying to say is you may need to just go with the flow of what your DS does, and throw the 'textbook/plunket' routine out the window Someone might have something else that worked, but for me, my stress levels plummeted as soon as i realised i didn't have to do things by the book

ETA: I forgot to say I followed the basic pattern in the baby whisperer book: EASY (Eat, activity, sleep), but did also sometimes give her a top-up feed before sleep.

Edited by blondy

kebakat wrote: We didn't bother with 2 or 3 or 4hrly feeding. We just stuck with our routine which worked for us. For us it was sleep, nappy change, play time, feed, sleep. We found feeding before sleep meant he slept longer so we went with that. If he slept for 30 mins or for 3hrs, we would still use that same routine. But I wouldn't keep him up for any more than an hour. As for what we did when he was awake, we cuddled and had tummy time on his play mat and went outside for a little walk and fresh air

Same with us

by 9 weeks I would just start to extend the time he is awake for, not all babies follow a strict routine or make uop their own. You could play with him, or give him something to play with, or hire a swing for him and he can hang out with you where ever you are in the house
If you think he actually does need the sleep wear him while you do whatever you need to do

DS is 3 months now and since 4 weeks he has 3 30-45 min sleeps and one 2 hour one (not in that order, it can be in any order!). He then sleeps for approx 10 hours at night.

We are FF so it is a bit difficult to feed every 2 hours - I think he would end up bigger than he is now! (He isn't a small boy!). So I try and resettle him for 10 mins if he wakes sooner than an hour, if no luck, I get him up (still wrapped) and put him in the bouncinette. He will happily sit there until 3 hours is up and I can feed him. I have tried and tried to get him to sleep longer - white noise, wrapping, no noise, blockout curtains etc etc and no luck! It used to get me stressed but now I just go with the flow a bit more and we are both happier

Edited by monkey33

I think the 3-hourly feed is a myth, or at least something not many babies I know seem to follow. I keep waiting for the day Teyla can go 3 hours between a feed more than once, if at all, on any given day! Often now, at almost 4 months, she'll only last an hour awake - in the morning especially, although is happy for up to 2 hours at other times of the day. I've given up trying to get her to sleep when I think she's ready, I tried watching for first tired signs, but if she's not totally ready she won't sleep. Now I just wait for her to have a little grizzle, and then she'll either feed or have her dummy to go to sleep. She sleeps for 45 minutes most times, sometimes (no more than one nap a day) I can resettle her with dummy or a feed and she'll have another hour or so, but if after 5-10 minutes she shows no signs of still being sleepy, I just get her up and we carry on with the day. I am letting her just dictate to me for now ;-) she knows when she's hungry, when she's tired and when she's ready to play ;-)

Oh and in terms of feeding, its more like every 2 hours for most of the day, with them clustered in the morning and the evening

Edited by myonlineself