Anyone have advice for a baby's sleep pattern.

[Taffy1959]

Originally Posted by jdndt

Hopefully the clock change will working their favour.

I always took my 3 to bed at 11 - midnight when they were small and they slept until 4 ish so I felt I was only getting up once. Once they were sleeping until 6am I gradually brought bedtime back half hour a week until they were sleeping 9-6/7. It worked for us.

Could they try bath time at midnight and very slowly move things back over months to a time that they are happy with? The baby is going to need a long time to change the pattern she's in and mum and dad aren't going to get her in bed at 8pm for months. Midnight may seem late but if she's not normally sleeping until 3am then 1am won't be to bad (especially with the clock change). Good luck to them and remember to go slowly.

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I’ll tell them about your suggestion of a midnight bath as she’s awake then anyway I’m also hoping the change of time will help a bit

[waiting4disney]

I think 12 weeks is the magic number. Things seems to improve at that mark.

Not that that helps at 7 weeks when you are exhausted!

[WhereIBelong]

Ours were good sleepers - the only thing we did - on my mum's advice - was to be busy in the daytime - we were noisy, we took them places, they got handed round, they were up and about in the daylight, we didn't "do" naps as such, just put them down - whenever they were grumpy-tired - in a moses basket or pram - not the cot - that was for night sleeps only -

as a previous poster said, save dark and quiet and bed for night-time, daytime needs to be "different"

[Noodle500]

Take baby out for a walk in the afternoon it regulates their body clock

[ely3857]

As said already she’s very very young so hopefully this will pass in time but the advice given is already great.

Make daytime very different. I always dressed my girls in daytime outfits then changed them into babygrows for bedtime. Always always always get outside for at least some part of the day and see natural light, I think tech early afternoon is the best recommended time (I’ve no idea why I think this though so perhaps I read it in a baby book while pregnant) as ‘real’ light helps to regulate their day and night. Make more noise during the day, don’t be afraid to hoover and stick the washer on and do all the things that need doing but on a night make a distinction and stop those things.

[WhereIBelong]

Light and dark regulate sleepiness - melatonin - often mentioned on the dibb as a sleep aid bought in the USA, is a naturally occurring hormone. All it does is tell the body that it is dark, you should feel sleepy.

So outdoors in natural light in the day, indoors getting darker in the evening makes good sense.

[Mrs_G]

7 weeks is still very young to establish a solid routine. As pp have said, we kept busy during the day, changed baby into daytime clothes and kept crib upstairs for night sleeping. Mine always took daytime naps at that age in a Moses basket in the living room with the tv on for noise! I can also recommend the contented little baby book and it's routines. I didn't stick ridgedly to times (routines need to be flexible and work for you) but I'd be inclined to wake baby up at 7 or 8 am regardless of when they fell asleep in the middle of the night and start my daytime routine. These early days feel the longest, but they do pass!

[Th1nkT1nk]

Hi. Oh I do feel for you all, the early weeks are so tough with lack of sleep. I’d agree with some of the previous poster’s advice - I would never blackout the room in the day even if dd was napping, I used to try to get out and about in the day, and be generally more noisy in the day... talking to dd constantly etc. Right from very early on, when it came to bedtime we put toys away just to signify that it was a different time and to avoid stimulation etc. Hope it settles quickly- such a special time but utterly exhausting!

[Cherrypie]

We never put ours in baby grows during the day - once we went up for a bath - the lights were low - we spoke quietly and didn’t overly interact with my dds - baby grows on - created a more sleepy environment - I would do everything in my power to keep mine up during the day - I would wake them to feed etc x

[EJSakaAnna]

It feels like it’ll never end when they’re tiny but it will, 7 weeks is very little. My only advice would be to stick to a set bedtime routine from now i.e. bath, bottle and into bed (wherever that is). We never took our little girl back downstairs after her bath, once she came out and was in her room for PJs and bed that was it (might be their bedroom at the moment but same theory). Even know she knows she doesn’t get back downstairs after bath and is great at going to bed/sleeping (she’s nearly 3) x