Common questions about baby routines

My baby is two weeks old. I would like to follow your routines but I don’t like expressing, so I have chosen not to ever express. How should I adjust the routines?

I do not recommend any mother who is not expressing to follow my routines in the first 8 weeks. The reason for this, is if you express, then your breasts will have enough milk during the growth spurts which happen at about three and six weeks. By reducing how often and how much you express during this time, your baby will be able to drink the extra breast-milk he needs to get him through his growth spurt. My advice to you is to use my routines only from eight weeks.

Why do you advise not to put a baby in his bed to sleep at some points in your routines?

The reason for this is I believe in giving a baby very clear messages. If you know your baby is tired and due a sleep, then you should put him in his bed. The message your baby will start to learn is, that if you put him in his bed, he has to sleep. You should get in the habit of only getting him up when he has slept. But at other points in the routine, I say your baby may need a nap, as we are not sure if your baby will sleep. I recommend putting him down in a safe comfortable place so if he doesn’t sleep, you may get him up without giving him mixed messages.

We often go to my parents or a friend’s house for dinner, but with your 7pm bed time we are feeling quite restricted.

It is alright to still have a life when following a routine. I would suggest you go to the house where you are going to spend the evening early enough, so you can feed and settle your baby to sleep there. Put your baby down at 7pm as normal and try to leave for home, so you get home just in time to give your baby the Dreamfeed or 10pm feed. Then put your baby to bed in his own bed.

My 15 week old wants to feed every three hours and I’m trying to stick to the routine, how can I stretch out the feeds?

It can be hard at first to change a baby’s habits, but it normally only takes a day, with the first four hours being the hardest. If you get your baby up at 7am and give them the first feed of the day, and they wake from their sleep asking for food, try to distract them for as long as possible keeping them swaddled and going for a walk, or holding them tapping their back to the rhythm of you heart beat. If you need to feed your baby before the scheduled time as you can no longer distract them please feed your baby and each feed this will get easier and closer to the routine scheduled feed time.

What do I do at night if my baby wakes up before the dreamfeed?

If your baby wakes within half an hour of the dreamfeed you should feed him. If there is over half an hour to the dreamfeed when your baby wakes you should resettle your baby.

What is the difference between a sleep and a nap?

When I talk about a sleep and a nap the difference is a sleep is when a baby sleeps for more than one sleep cycle, so it is usually over 40 minutes. But a nap is one sleep cycle or less than a sleep cycle.

Related Baby Routine Articles:

• Why baby routines?
• When to start a baby routine
• Growth spurts while following my baby routines
• Getting out and about on a baby routine
• The Dreamfeed

Tizzie Hall
Director / Baby Whisperer