Six week old-too soon for routine?

lazygal

Baby is six weeks this week and I'm breastfeeding with small formal supplements (maybe one 120ml bottle a day). She's kind of getting into a routine but should I be stricter with it? Her bedtime is about 10pm and I nurse her to sleep-is this a bad habit? Should we let her settle herself to sleep even if it means leaving her crying? Is 10pm too late for bed?

How Strange

I think at 6 weeks she still needs you, her mother, to comfort her and make her feel safe. She's still a newborn and is getting used to her new evironment outside the womb. I wouldn't worry about routines etc until she gets nearer to 12 weeks. If you follow her cues you'll see when she's ready to go to bed earlier or take naps during the day.

I don't believe in 'bad habits'; if you're happy to nurse her to sleep then continue doing it. She probably feels very reassured and secure by it. If you're not happy to nurse to sleep then find another way to settle her.

I'm absolutely against letting a baby cry themselves to sleep. If you look at it from her point of view; you nursing her to sleep makes her feel secure and connected to you. Leaving her to cry herself to sleep means she feels alone and insecure.

It's tough going at the start and you're still trying to find your feet as a new mum. Everyone and their mother will have opinions on the right way to do things, bad habits etc and won't hesitate to tell you but you'll save yourself lots of stress if you do things your own way regardless of what other people think.

How Strange

Congrats on your little girl btw!

LegacyUser

Just a quick point - if you want to continue to breastfeed, you'll really need to drop the supplements.

Your body will provide all the milk required without question, but if you are supplementing your supply, it will decrease and you'll have no choice but to stop.

This is the crux of breastfeeding....it's all or nothing. Don't doubt your capacity to feed your child though.....you do not need extra milk.

ischia

I have 2. By 6 weeks, they were going 9pm - 8 am.

What we did was...

- from their last feed at midnight.. bring it back 1 hour.. and make it last a week.
-the next week another hour (if you know what I mean)
-until they came back until 9pm. At 3 months we got them until 8pm.

If they woke we gave them their soother which our first took and the second one was a thmb sucker and he just needed a bit of comfort!

They need their Mum but a routine is important to make them feel safe. It also gives you some much needed sleep!

IsItJustMeOr...

How Strange wrote: »

I think at 6 weeks she still needs you, her mother, to comfort her and make her feel safe. She's still a newborn and is getting used to her new evironment outside the womb. I wouldn't worry about routines etc until she gets nearer to 12 weeks. If you follow her cues you'll see when she's ready to go to bed earlier or take naps during the day.

I don't believe in 'bad habits'; if you're happy to nurse her to sleep then continue doing it. She probably feels very reassured and secure by it. If you're not happy to nurse to sleep then find another way to settle her.

I'm absolutely against letting a baby cry themselves to sleep. If you look at it from her point of view; you nursing her to sleep makes her feel secure and connected to you. Leaving her to cry herself to sleep means she feels alone and insecure.

It's tough going at the start and you're still trying to find your feet as a new mum. Everyone and their mother will have opinions on the right way to do things, bad habits etc and won't hesitate to tell you but you'll save yourself lots of stress if you do things your own way regardless of what other people think.

As a complete and utter 'newbie' I couldn't agree more with the above. My baby is only 3 months and is now coming into his own little routine that seems to be working very well for us. I know his needed nap time during the day, when his evening hiccups are and when he's ready for bedtime. I work with him and it's the best thing I did and I'm happy I did it this way. He's now sleeping brilliantly through the night as well as morning, brief afternoon and evening naps.

Well said How Strange!

At the start, others did try to say do this and that, don't cuddle him too much at bedtime as you may spoil him etc etc. I never could relate to this. As a teeny weeks old baby who needed reassurance, how the heck could cuddling and working around him be that be that bad!

I had heard other mums say this but I could never understand until I became a mother....You just know best yourself!

missis aggie

Loads of love, loads if cuddles, nursing and baby wearing that's all I did, never worried about routine. Listen to the baby and be there for them when they need you my girl is one and she is the most confident and independent. You can't spoilt child with love I believe believe in your instincts:)

Welcome to motherhood and good luck

aviendha

have to agree with all of the above, babies will find their natural rhythm
I tried to impose a routine at 7 weeks and it went bellyup, babies are so small at that stage, by about 12 weeks, DS found his own 3/4 hour cycle, going to bed around 10pm, and sleeping til 5am, then by 20 weeks, he was sleeping from 9-6 and napping during the day always around 2 hours after waking.

my opinion is that babies need lots of reassurance and cuddles for the first 3 months, being in the outside world away from the womb is a scary place to be, with so much hitting their senses, they need mammy time so I don't think you can cuddle them too much at that age

it's different ifa 2 year old toddler is still dictating routine though!!
Congrats, and enjy your little one!!

liliq

I 100% agree with whats already been said.
Your baby is still so new, all she needs is you.
She will develop her own routine naturally- give it another 6-10 weeks and she will have a more regular bedtime, wake time etc.
Nursing to sleep- I still do that with my 10 month old, and whatever anyone else may say, it works for us. It's guaranteed to settle him and help him nod off happily. Bed time is easy that way!

As has been said, supplements can have a negative impact on supply... if you could I would suggest dropping them as well, just for the moment, as your supply is still settling at this early stage.

Congrats by the way