Quite a lot of mums have been contacting me to ask how I managed to introduce a sleep routine with my 6 babies - well 5, I'll just leave Bradley out........only kidding!
So for those of you who may be interested, I thought I would start by telling you the feeding plan that I gradually introduced as my LO's approached around 8 to 12 weeks.
Essentially, the Sweet Dreamers Feeding Plan (SDFP) is:
2am
6am
10am
2pm
6pm
10pm
The beauty of the SDFP is, when your LO is able to sleep through (around 3-4 months) ,then it is the 2am feed that is dropped, so they then go from 10pm to 6am (or as near as) and you all get a totally fabulous sleep!
Here's a few other tips to make the SDFP work:
Obviously if they do sleep through the 2am feed, when they wake at 6am they are going to be ravenous, so make sure you have a bigger feed made up, or if you're breast feeding, they could want a top up or have a longer feed.
To encourage them to sleep through, try to make the 10pm feed a larger feed than the 6pm one or if they seem hungry in between these two feeds, try offering water, so they get the full benefit of the 10am feed.
In between the 6pm and 10pm feed try to let them have a slightly longer period of time awake. If you don't mind giving your baby a bath later, then slip it in between these feeds (around 8.30 ish) or if you are like me, you could try it earlier (7.30 ish) and then let them have a short nap before the 10 pm feed.
The early evening feed (6pm) is a notorious time for bouts of crankiness, I remember all of mine crying continuously for about 1 hour around this time in the evening... and it can be really draining. So don't worry, you're not alone if your LO is prone to this and believe me, after speaking with 100's of parents, it is really common. Try to remain calm through out this time, as your anxiety will be passed on to your LO and perhaps try a little baby massage, a warm bath or hold your baby in a number of different positions to see which one is the most comfortable for him (laying on their tummy across my knees always seemed to help for mine). Your LO may be suffering from colic, in which case a visit to the doctor may be wise. I myself will cover my own 'Sweet Dreamers Colic Cures' in a later post.
If you are breast feeding, please consider giving your baby a bottle feed top up at the 10pm feed (I know you may not want to do this, but for a lot of babies, it really does seem more satisfying for them). If you prefer not to do this then the NCT are a great source of advice for breast feeding.
If your baby has gone into a deep sleep following the 6pm feed and you really can't seem to wake them up, you may want to consider giving your baby a 'dream feed' at 10pm. This is when you give your baby a feed, wind them etc. whilst they are still drowsy and then put them back to sleep.
One final tip.. the whole aim of this feeding plan is to try to drop the 2am feed, so while your LO is still waking at 2am, try not to disturb them too much. ie) keep the room dimly lit, don't change their nappy unless you really have to, make as little noise as possible (definitely don't put the TV on), so as to create a tranquil and peaceful environment. Also, try not to make your LO wait too long for their feed otherwise they may become too fully awake. This is easy when you're breastfeeding, but if you are bottle feeding (like I did) it's a little bit more tricky; try to perhaps take a flask of hot water up with you together with the milk (kept in one of those insulating zip up tubes) so you don't have to travel down to the kitchen to get the milk out of the fridge and wait for the kettle to boil . Or, you could try investing in a bottle warmer to do the job for you. I followed this plan with all of my children and everyone of them (with the exception of Bradley), slept through the 2am feed by the time they had reached 4 months.
I hope you find the Sweet Dreamers Feeding Plan helpful and I really would like to hear how you get on, if you decide to give it a whirl!
Please do leave me a comment with any questions you may have on this or any subject and I will be more than happy to help if I can.
Check out later posts for more Sweet Dreamers Mini Guides, including introducing a totally 'snoozetastic' bedtime routine.
Sweet dreams
Lynda
No comments:
Post a Comment