routines.

[peps]

my first child got in to a routine fairly quickly as a baby, however my two month old doesnt seem to have any pattern at all.my husband and i dont have evenings to our selves any more as the only way we can her to sleep is by feeding her in our bed till she drops off.Has any one any suggestions how to break the cycle and get her going to bed 7 or 8 insted of 11

[rebajayne]

hiya

My little boy (4) had slept through 7 till 7 since he was about 9 weeks. I knwo a bit of it might be luck but i went along with the Contended Little Baby book by gina ford. She is very strict but it does work. I didnt stick to it religously but good enough for him to sleep 12 hours.

She encourages controlled crying which is so hard and breaks your heart but you have to be strong.

Worth a go.

All the best.

[yummymummy]

The key to breaking any cycle is to make a decision to go with it, and then stick to it until it works. Might just need to feed her, put her in bed then do something like controlled crying, or just minimal intervention to teach her to settle on her own.

Not necessarily going to be easy, but worth it in the long run!

[Sweet cheeks]

Each child can be very different. My eldest two got into night time routines rather quickly and were both settled by six and sleeping through. I, quite reasonably I thought, expected our twins to do the same. Five months later we were still waiting to get a full nights sleep!! It was ********!!!!!!! The only thing I can say is that if you follow the others advice and get her into the same routine as your first child,warm bath, feeding her in her room, doing all the quiet, calm routine thingys, maybe putting a dab of your perfume on her cot covers and then controlled crying (after all we all know that there's nothing really wrong with them!) and in about a week or so, things should start to ease up. Don't worry about the crying waking your other child. My daughters have screamed the house down before and the others slept on! Good luck..... but you have to do it NOW!!!!

[The Tiggster]

I am a new 1st time mum & was struggling ot get baby to settle, feed & sleep properly to the point I was in tears every day & ready to put my newborn on e-bay (JOKE!).

I bought "The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems" by Tracy Hogg after watching her amazing work on Discovery Health. Within a week we have a diferrent baby who settles like a dream & is in a fairly predictable routine which at 4 weeks is not bad going!

Tracy teaches you how to get back to basics, how to read the baby & to teach him to get himself into a routine as without help the baby doesn't know how to do it.

I throughly recommend it & I vow to buy a copy for every one of my friends who may, in future, fall pregnant.

Good luck!

babywhisperer

[Sweet cheeks]

Just a thought.... She's not allergic to her milk is she?

[enigma]

Hi Peps. I just posted answers on your other question about feeding and I didn't notice this question or I would have combined both. As I mentioned on the other post , my baby son is also breastfed and the biggest mistake I made was not establishing a routine early on and bringing him in to bed with hubby and I so that I could feed him. I would cut out feeding your baby in your bed (easier said than done I know - especially when you are exhausted) and sit with her in a chair to feed her and then pop her back into her own cradle/moses basket or whatever so that she doesn't become too accustomed to your bed because trust me , you are setting yourself up for problems later. She is still very young though and she will continue to need feeds throughout the night for some time to come because she is only consuming small amounts of milk at each feed. She will gradually cut back on her feeds though and settle into more of a routine. How long does she sleep for ? My children normally slept for three hours at a time at this stage. At night you can set the pace for a nightime routine by giving her a bath , dimming the lights , feeding her and only speaking to her in soft whispers. This will give her a sense of calm to wind down and will let her know that there is a change ie bedtime. To reiterate what I said on the other post though , please do speak with your health visitor as she is the best qualified person to help you as she will know you and your baby and can advise you accordingly. Here's to a good nights sleep for you and your hubby peps x