Sleep schedule for 4 week old?

Question

Anyone else feel like they are failing as a ftm!🙋‍♀️
Starting to feel like I am doing it all wrong when it comes to naps and bedtime. 
My baby is 4 weeks old and we have no bedtime routine yet and every time I try to have one it all goes wrong! Either he cluster feeds, or is suddenly wide awake after a feed, or eats for an extremely long time throwing off my whole plan! He sometimes gives us a 3hr maybe 4hr stretch when first put to bed but after that he wants to eat about every hour and 40 mins which only give me about 30 mins or so of sleep between feedings 😩 I never let him go more than 2 hours without a feed during the day and try to get him to feed on both sides but sometimes he falls asleep and I can’t get him up. 
Also, he has been sleeping in his bassinet at night but during the day I let him sleep in the living room near me. Should I be making him nap in the bassinet?? Is he too young to worry about this? 
We are swaddling with arms out and have been pretty much since he came home because he rolls onto his side easily. 
Last night we tried the “dream feed” thing but it totally failed. He woke up under every 2 hours afterwards 🤦🏼‍♀️
Any advice or if you can relate please comment!

Answer

No offense here but I just dont understand how people expect a 4 week old baby to have a schedule or even know what you want them to do. The only thing that they know is that you make them feel safe warm and comfortable and that's exactly what they want. There is plenty of time to get the baby on a schedule. Maybe it's just me but I take the babys lead and dont try to push them into societal "norms". Tiny babies are not meant to sleep through the night it's completely healthy and natural for them to wake up to eat their tummy is still so small they get hungry so fast. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself or your baby you are both still adjusting to life together! I hope things work out for you soon. Good luck

Answer

Whoa, take it easy on yourself, mama. A 4 week old is too small for a pattern, they can’t even understand the difference between day and night yet. It’s too early for a schedule, the name of the game is survival at this point. 
Highly recommend the Taking Cara Babies class that gets mentioned a lot here, it’ll give you some ideas of how to eventually do that, and also helps you understand how newborns function. It certainly made it much easier to understand what my baby wants when he fusses. 
Go easy on yourself, and ignore the outside input. They can lecture you when they spend day and night taking care of a newborn.

Answer

If you want to go with the flow yet,then do that.  We didn’t have a routine yet at all at 4 weeks old.  Just started the last couple of weeks and he’s 12 weeks old.  I prefer to do that over stressing about a routine immediately.

Answer

I have a goal every night which is 9-10 pm. Only because that's my bedtime lol if we make it awesome if we don't then so be it lol

Answer

I feel like I could have written this myself. There are a lot of posts on here with four week olds sleeping much longer stretches than my LO. We were getting 2-hour stretches at night but this past week he's only wanted to fall asleep in his bassinet for about 30 minutes before wanting comfort and only wants to nap in my arms during the day. As an FTM it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong.

Answer

Sounds just like my 4 week old and I think it’s just normal - they have no sense of day or night or scheduled they are ruled by their tummies. I think people who say their babies sleep through the night are full of it. We do have a “bedtime routine” bath, new jammies, eat and bed but it varies so much in the timing based on when he’s awake. He usually has a really long stretch of being awake that sometimes starts at 6pm and sometimes starts at 10. I consider it a blessing if he goes to sleep before midnight. But after his 4 hour stretch he’s up every 2.5 hours during the night and during the day I start to worry about the little fart if he gives me 2 hours. It’s exhausting but hang in there!! Eventually we can get them on a schedule and get some of our life back!

Answer

My daughter is a 4 week old. I also worked at an infant care institution. They’re still so young and don’t need a sleep routine. Right now main priority is bonding and making sure they’re eating good and sleeping only when they need to!

Answer

I have a 6 week old. We don’t have a set schedule but we do have a routine. Wake up, bottle, play, nap repeat until bed time. Than she gets bottle while swaddled and then put to bed. I think it’s hard to make a schedule when they are so young and unpredictable. Mines not napping very well right now. Will nap for about 20-30 min in her bassinet and will cry I’ll comfort and put back down. This will repeat until the next feeding. Oh yeah, will have to throw in a “pump session” in between that too. I’m currently letting her sleep on me as I’m tired of getting up and down and I feel like she needs her sleep.

Answer

Think routine, not schedule. You can start getting things consistent! Like instead of having a set time for everything, (because baby’s are just unpredictable) - have a way of going about things regardless of what time. So if baby is getting ready for a nap, do something simple like diaper change, feed, swaddle, and rock to drowsiness. For bed you could do, bath, singing, feed, swaddle, rock to drowsiness. Something like that so there’s consistency without being time dependent. If that makes sense.

Answer

With my eldest we didn’t have anything close to a routine until 6mo. I used to get so much anxiety because she never slept well. Well even as a 3yo she still doesn’t sleep every night all through the night. I used to blame myself and think I was doing something wrong. You’re doing a great job! Just go with what your baby needs, they didn’t ask to be born and just need comfort and love right now. Soak up those cuddles, the housework will wait 💕

Sleep schedule for 4 week old?

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