routine for 2wk baby

[Anonymous]

I am a first time mom with a two week old girl, who was born on her due date and weights 6lbs, 9ounces. Now she weights 7 1/2 lbs. I am trying the Contented Little Baby philsophy. Am I trying too soon for a routinte? How soon can I try and what should it be? When can I expect her to sleep more than 3 hrs? Right now, she almost does that, but it's for her noon time nap and not at night.

[Anonymous]

With our DD, we just followed her cues - whether it was hunger, sleep, cuddle time, etc. and then sorta combined it with our routine - morning walk, swing time, watch mommy vacuum while she was content in car seat, etc.

Two weeks is pretty young. Your DD is still learning about her surroundings and so far all she knows is you and your husband (and the urge to sleep and eat).

Congrats!...enjoy this precious time too.

[Anonymous]

you baby is way to young my 4 month old still has a very laxed schedule...

I would say no way before 6 weeks and it varies by child after that ...

around 6 weeks your baby will have a basic schedule that they make....

oh we still eat every 3 hours
sometimes at night hell go four

[Anonymous]

What does your pediatrician think?

I see from the Amazon reviews that a lot of people (pediatricians among them) don't like this book.

Here are the one star (lowest) reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0451202430/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_1?%5Fencoding=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar

[Anonymous]

Waaaaaaaaaay to early for a routine. Just roll with it for the first 2-3 months.

Also, we found "Happiest baby on the block" by Karp to be very helpful (including the swaddling).

[Anonymous]

I found my kids weren't ready for any routine until 3 months and got on a really good schedule around 5 months. The first weeks are for lots of nursing and cuddling (and sleeping whenever you can!). Enjoy, congratulations!

[Anonymous]

I was a planner before I had a baby - one of the hardest lessons I have learned is that I need to go with the flow... even when you establish a routine, by the time you really get into the groove of things if is time to change it. When DS started one nap, around a year was when we really had a definite idea of how the day was going to run. At 6 months he started taking 3 naps regularly, then around 9 months he took two and then at around 1 he dropped to one nap. Just roll with it.

[Anonymous]

I'm a first-time mom and my DS is 11 days old today. I am not intentionally putting him on a routine, but he wakes up to feed every three hours like clockwork. We feed, diaper change and maybe do a little face-to-face time, then put him down to sleep for one and a half to two hours. He wakes up three hours after the last feeding started, as if he had an alarm clock in his belly. Is this what others have experienced at first and does this change? He was born a week and a half early and I'm supplementing his breastfeeding with pumped milk through a syringe since he isn't a very strong sucker yet.

[Anonymous]

Almost every sleep expert (except for the one you're following for what i can gather) says let newborns dictate their own needs- (sleep and feeding) you can nudge them later- but at this age- they're the boss! it's tough but it'll be a blip in memory down the road!

[Anonymous]

to PP with an 11 day old, you sound like you are doing great! I'm due with my second soon and hoping for something similar...to answer your question -- it's not always like that, some babies want to nurse constantly at different points during the day, my first child was pretty consistent with his eating, but it was impossible to get him down to sleep after a feeding -- he was very fussy for the first month or so, wanted to be not just held, but held by someone constantly in motion -- we just spent hours walking around and bouncing him, so you're doing fabulously

I'll warn you that it could change -- some babies sleep a lot the first week or two and then aren't so sleepy anymore and are less consistent, but that's just kind of the same idea expressed by another poster -- just when you get used to a pattern, expect it to change at some point

to the OP, I don't know about this book you're reading, but you really can't expect a schedule for a long time -- you can try to create certain patterns, but they're really just laying the groundwork for later, like we always tried to keep things very mellow and quiet during the night, no bright lights, no TV or radio, some cuddles, but no silly play with the baby, whereas playtime during the day we tried to be more lively, keep lights bright during the day and so forth

[Anonymous]

Hi, I'm the PP with the 11-day old. Thanks for the tips and words of encouragement. I won't expect things to stay like this, then, just in case. How about I re-post here in a couple of weeks and let you know how things have changed.

[Anonymous]

Hi- I'm the one who originally posted.. thanks for the encouragement and for the links to amazon. The more I think about it, the book does seem a little extreme.. I guess I am so clueless about what to do with this baby that I am so desperate for some sort of manual or what to do..baby (what is DD by the way?) never sleeps 3 hours in a row, she comes close during the day, but hardly at night.

[Anonymous]

She's two weeks -- she won't sleep through the night yet. I read the Baby Whisperer and I think it is a pretty good book and in there she expressly states a baby pretty much has to weigh 11 lbs before they are physically (enough body fat) able to sleep through the night. This does not mean it will automatically happen.

Take it easy -- remember to sleep when the baby sleeps. Don't worry if you are getting nothing done around the house. As you will learn, this is a small phase and it will quickly pass and then you will be into the next phase. Life will eventually get back to a semblance of normalcy -- whatever that is! You've just gone through a HUGE change in your life, go easy on yourself and don't expect to be perfect. Just do the best you can.

DD = Darling Daughter

[Anonymous]

thank you for the encouragement.. it helps to know facts like weight is a factor and when she weigts more, she'll sleep more. thanks you