Hi everyone,
I hope you can help me I'm really confused with the whole sleeping through the night deal. My DD is 8 weeks old, is fed 4oz every 4 hours. Her last feeding at around 12:30am I give her 5oz and she sleeps until 5:30am. My question is should I be starting a routine with her? For example - bath at 7pm, book, feed her and then bed by 8pm. Is she too young for this? When do I change the every 4 hour feedings? Will feeding her at 8pm and skipping the 12am feeding be too long of a stretch for her until morning? Do you try it or wait? Thanks for any feedback. I really appreciate it.

--Cat :) :) :)

Hi everyone,
I hope you can help me I'm really confused with the whole sleeping through the night deal. My DD is 8 weeks old, is fed 4oz every 4 hours. Her last feeding at around 12:30am I give her 5oz and she sleeps until 5:30am. My question is should I be starting a routine with her? For example - bath at 7pm, book, feed her and then bed by 8pm. Is she too young for this? When do I change the every 4 hour feedings? Will feeding her at 8pm and skipping the 12am feeding be too long of a stretch for her until morning? Do you try it or wait? Thanks for any feedback. I really appreciate it.

--Cat :) :) :)

It's not too early to start a routine. Just be willing to be flexible with it. Do everything in the same order each night but don't let the clock rule your life. As far as skipping the 12AM feeding, be prepared for her to wake around 2 or so. You'll see it gradually stretch until she starts sleeping through. Your daughter will let you know when she can eat less often. She'll have fewer hunger cues around "meal time" and you then you can try for an extra half hour. Also, as she starts going longer between bottles you'll need to give her more at a time. I always increased the time in 1/2 hour increments and volume in 1/2oz increments. We're at a 6.5oz bottle every 4 - 5 hours now. He'll be 4 months in less than a week. You're doing great. As long as she doesn't wake hungry, it's not too long a stretch. Good luck! :-)

My son was about 2 months when he set his own bedtime. I noticed that he would fall asleep about 8 and then sleep 'til about 2 or 3 , eat, and then sleep 'til 7. That's when I started a routine. I gave him a bath about 7:30, bottle and then bedtime at 8. He will be 9 months next week and has changed his bedtime to 7. It's good to start a routine but be prepared to change it if need be. Your daughter will let you know when she doesn't need her night-time feeding anymore. I, personally, wouldn't try to stop because if she's still waking than she's actually hungry. Babies that small can't store food for very long which is why they have to eat so often.

I don't think it's too early to try to start a routine, but just remember that it will change over the next few months as the baby develops. My daughter got herself on a great schedule, bath at 7pm, bottle and bed by 8ish, would wake up again around midnight for another feeding and go right back down until around 5am; however, over the last two weeks she has been CRAZY due to teething and is all over the place throughout the night now. ...but definitely give it a shot - it's nice for them to have a routine while they are able to.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone. I am definitely going to try the routine thing, but feed my DD when she wants it. Tonight her last feeding was at midnight and now she'll sleep until 6am. So we'll see. She's a good sleeper so I'm not complaining! Thanks again. I really appreciate the advice.
--Cat