routines
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Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
Forum Description: Want help? Need support? Want tips? Men and women share advice and tips in this supportive community
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=21482
Printed Date: 25 June 2025 at 1:35pm
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Topic: routines
Posted By: gypsynita
Subject: routines
Date Posted: 06 October 2008 at 3:18pm
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Just following on from another thread where everyone was praising 3-4 hourly sleep/feed routines -- what do you do if they won't go down for a sleep after their awake hour?
and if they wake early and want feeding do you give it to them or try and re-settle them till the time is up? ------------- Anita Mum to Cian (Aug 08), Josh (Jun 10) http://lilypie.com"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: hooper
Date Posted: 06 October 2008 at 3:54pm
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i must say i just go with the flow! i try and keep a rountine but it doesnt always work. ------------- Desiree 
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Posted By: Kelpa
Date Posted: 06 October 2008 at 4:11pm
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You basically need to start from the beginning and start off with a sleep first then go from there. Brennan was due for a feed when they go there but had only had a cat nap so they popped him down and he slept in pram for 2 hours..then we started the weighing etc....
Up to 3 months they are up between 1-1.5 hours and down til the next 4 hourly feed. Ie Brennans feeds are generally......6, 10, 2, 6. 10......sometimes a night feed. Recognise tired signs then swaddle and put down.....its controlled crying ten minute periods after that.....sounds awful but it does work if you have the time and effort I guess to do it. If they wake before the next feed....its about teaching to self settle...or using rocking of the basinette or patting or dummy ..but not getting up. -------------  
 
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Posted By: blondy
Date Posted: 06 October 2008 at 4:26pm
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I was still demand feeding at 1 month, but Natalie tended to set her own 3-hourly pattern. We are still 3 hourly now. I do a feed-change-play-top-up feed-sleep routine, which works well for us. Generally she is up for an hour (or just over), then we have 'wind-down' time before her sleep (starting after I notice her tired signs, like uncontrolled leg/arm movement, clenched fists etc). During the wind-down time, I sit quiety with her, read a book to her (never too young!), then swaddle, and take her into her room, where I rock her (with a blanket over both of our heads, so she can't see anything), start the white noise CD, until she's calm and still, and her eyes are starting to close. Then I put her down into her bassinet gently, so she's still actually awake but really dopey. After a bit more rocking in the bassinet, she goes to sleep for at least 45 mins (then the fun starts for us - have to do it all again to get another sleep cycle out of her! but that's another story lol). If (when!) she wakes up early, I try to re-settle her to sleep for maybe 20-30 mins, but if she's wide awake, I keep her up doing something not too stimulating (maybe just sitting in her rocker or on my knee) until the next feed is due. Then I make the next feed-change-play-top up feed cycle much shorter (maybe 30mins), and put her to sleep then, as she's normally exhausted by then.
Sometimes we get a 2-hour sleep out of her, other times just 45mins. the cntrolled crying thing doesn't work for us (at least at the moment), because she just gets more and more worked up, and overheats, so I try and 'catch' her before she gets too unsettled - going into the room and rocking her before/while she wakes up after 45mins can actually pre-empt the waking for us, and help her sleep longer. A lot depends on the baby - I know she couldn't go further than 3 1/2 hourly for feeds (infact in the evenings, it's 2-hourly), but she's sleeping for up to 10-11 hours at night in one go, so needs more calories during the day to make up for no feeding during the night. The best thing about the routine is that it has helped me to know what she's crying about - i.e. is she due for a feed, or tired etc. I would say do whatever works for you - there is no right or wrong way! (sorry for the novel!) 
Forgot to say - if she is making hungry cries after her shorter sleep, then I will feed her, but I try to space it out at least 2 hourly, as otherwise she just spends the whole day snacking and cat-napping. -------------  
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Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 06 October 2008 at 7:30pm
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I demand fed for most of the first few months. You will start to notice baby settle into her own pattern from about 6 weeks, but be aware that it changes very often as they get bigger. Don't worry about the routine yet, it'll happen. -------------  |