How to implement a feed, activity and sleep routine?

P

premama

Registered User
Hi,

I've been reading a lot on how to give my baby better sleep and all the books I've read seems to suggest that the best routine to put the baby on is feed, activity then sleep (rather than letting the baby sleep after a feed).

I'm finding this very hard to implement, not least because my 3 month old is still on a 2 1/2 hour cycle and so he is not usually sleepy until about feeding time e.g. he would wake up at 7am, and would not be sleepy until about 9:30 which is time for his feed. So when I put him down for a nap, he would usually be hungry and cry until he's fed.

Can anyone shed any light on how to deal with this situation?

Thanks!
 
It depends how strict you want to be. My baby (now 10 months) used to feed every 2 hours and was a very bad sleeper. Even at night I was feeding almost every 2 hours which gets very tiring and there comes a point when you have to say enough! When he was 7 weeks I started making him go longer between feeds, this was a long difficult process but very much worth it - he was soon going 3.5 hours between feeds which made life a lot easier. I don't think you need to be too rigid about the feed/activity/sleep routine but for me the way to a better routine was through establishing a good feeding pattern and then everything else falls into place. Not sure if that is any help to you but it worked for me...
 
For about the first three to four months of a baby's life all feeds end with the baby sleeping. Then as they grow some of the feeds end with the baby playing - usually they start to play with the mother's face as this is the most acceptable toy!

It sounds like your baby is still in the feed then sleep phase of his life. Try waiting a few more weeks until he starts to want to wake up more and play after feeds instead of sleeping.

Then getting the feed, play, sleep routine going shoud be easier.

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
Thank you for your comments! I've actually started to give up on implementing this strict regime as it was not working and giving me a lot of stress. Now, I just let him sleep and not worry about it too much - and I didn't want to keep him up when he looked so tired after a feed. I'll try and see how he adjusts in the next couple of weeks as he (hopefully) goes longer between feeds. Thanks again.
 
Premama, keeping the baby awake with few minutes of chatting to him or showing him some toy that he likes, or reading also counts as an activity before sleeping. At night, my son always drinks milk first, then a 2 minute bed time story and then to bed. Or for his afternoon nap- a change of diaper after his lunch is enough to create separation of connection between eating and sleeping when they are this young. He used to fall asleep while breastfeeding during early weeks but the association never really lasted because of the sequence that was always followed. Don't worry about how long etc- you are doing the right thing by following your instincts.
 
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