Help for a FTM

Whales124 · February 2013

All of these posts about sleep training have me thinking. We are just letting C do her thing. She is 3.5w old now, sleeps 3 hr stretches at night, and is pretty alert during the day. She will catnap, and will sleep for longer if someone is holding her. Being that she is so new and everyone wants her, she gets held a lot. Is this okay? Should I be trying to do more of a routine?

I'm worried I'm gonna screw up her sleeping and I have to go back to work soon. I guess I'm also curious if they just start stretching their own sleeping at night?

We have a bedtime routine that seems to work, but I'm noticing she is starting to wake quicker. Sometimes we might get a 4 hr stretch out of her, but now it's really short of 3hr most of the time. We tried adding an extra oz of formula, no dice.

Isn't there a book out there where I can learn all of this? LOL, I think my pedi is about ready to drop me! But I'll be seeing her again tomorrow, so I'll continue with my incessant questioning....

pb_bride · February 2013

3.5w is really young, and babies that young do whatever they want. You let them do their thing and you try to catch some zzzs when they do. I think 3hr stretches at night is pretty typical for a 3.5 wk old.

I'm just looking at my notebook... M didn't really start sleeping longer stretches (5hrs) until he was almost 2 months. And that's only some of the nights, not every single night.

Friends of ours have a newborn and she's 7 wks now. My friend told me her DD just started going 5 hours (and my friend returned to work at 6wpp).

Ruthie04 · February 2013

Agreed! We had grandparent help for six weeks and they were rarely put down during the day! Little babies need lots of love and cuddles. You really can't do much sleep training until 4 months, but you can start healthy habits before then. I'm a huge believer in the power of sleep signs, swaddles, and white noise. Our boys were able to go down awake around four to six weeks and I think a lot of it was due to those things.

TJ1979 · February 2013

E didn't start getting a schedule until around 12 weeks. From 12 weeks until 4.5 months she did great doing her own thing. Then she got sick and hit 4 month wakeful, so it was bad until 6 months. Then she started doing pretty good again. This young, you just enjoy them. You can't spoil a newborn.

IBackBevo · February 2013

I think you are fine.

We have never done any sleep training and LO was STTN at 3 months...and by that I mean 10-12 hours straight, not the "five" hours that some people say is STTN. I don't consider sleeping 5 hours as STTN. I think he would have been STTN sooner if he had been bigger and able to eat more food, but he was only like 4.75 lbs when we took him home from the hospital.

Dragonfly1226 · February 2013

At one month you are doing exactly the right thing by following her cues and not trying to force her on your schedule.

DS fell into his own schedule at around 5 or 6 months.

DrRx · February 2013

Your little girl is still really young. At this stage, let them tell you what their schedule is. Some people will sleep train their baby at 4 months, but we just decided that this wouldn't work for us. A book that was given to me that, although we didn't really follow, does have some good information. It is called "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child."

We really didn't do a sleep schedule with Adalyn until she was much older and she pretty much put herself on one. Granted, we didn't need it since one of us was always home with her. However, in the last couple of months, she goes down between 8:30 and 9:30 and will sleep until about 8am or so.

lovebug33 · February 2013

First of all, Boo is an easy baby. However, she is six months and she really has no schedule. She does go to sleep between 7 and 8 and has since she was 5 months old. However, she doesn't nap anywhere near a schedule. Some days, it's three one hour naps. Other days, it's one 2 1/2 hour nap. Others it's barely a nap at all. And forget eating on a schedule. We just go with the flow with her!

Saraevh · February 2013

I'm with everyone else. She's super teensy yet ... just let her tell you what she wants and go with the flow. Enjoy the days of her sleeping in your arms and the newborn snuggles. They don't last long

As far as a "schedule" goes, my kids both fell into a schedule on their own so I'm really no help in that area. That schedule has been tweaked by them over the months and after every time we fell into a new "normal" but I've been lucky with pretty easy babies so far so this hasn't been an issue.

I'd say around 12 weeks both of them started sleeping for longer stretches and then eventually phased out middle of the night feedings. Somewhere between 4 and 6 months both of mine were sleeping through the night and life got easy again.

4legsRbest · February 2013

She is way too young for any trainingand you are doing exaclty what you should be doing . The Mups is breastfed and just (at ~7 weeks) started having a 5-6 hour stretch at night. Usually it is his first sleep, then he is up every 2 hours after that. I have aways read anything before 3 months is usually fruitless. His naps are hell - when he does nap...

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