7 weeks is too young for sleep training, right?

Question

Am I missing something, or is everyone already supposed to have a “bedtime routine” or sleep training schedule for their newborn? I thought sleep training was recommended from months 3-4 and up? What can I try for my 7 week old without harming her? She is an overall chill baby but she just. doesn’t. freaking. sleep 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m at my wit’s end. I can calm her fussiness just fine, but when it comes to sleep she barely gets any. We EBF and she feeds every 1.5 hours, on the dot day and night (except for ONE “long” stretch around midnight when she goes 2.5 hours between a feeding). She falls asleep while eating so it’s always a struggle keeping her awake. But then as soon as we burp, change and lay her down (drowsy or passed out sleeping) in her crib, she wakes up sometimes instantly and other times after maybe 15 minutes. 
Did your 7 week old have a “bedtime routine” or start some form of sleep training? I’m seeing conflicting answers. Some people in other online groups say they “started sleep training at 2 weeks old and now the baby sleeps really long stretches by 8 weeks”. But isn’t that too young? I read Taking Cara Babies’ Instagram posts and several other informative websites that recommend the best methods to get your baby to sleep better and it’s all just overwhelming/confusing. Some encourage cosleeping for as long as you want, some say NO you need to put the baby and crib in another room, some people have a bassinet by their bed and then transition baby to their crib a few months later. We only have one bedroom so baby’s crib is in the living room but either me or my husband is always there with her, feeding or playing or putting her down to sleep. While one of us is in the living room with her, the other is sleeping in the bedroom. At night I sleep in the living room on the sofa so I can hear baby wake and feed or soothe her. Is this weird too? And am I the only one not doing any form of sleep training at this age? I’m running on like 3-4 hours of sleep every day, broken up into short naps, and I just went back to work this week full time 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’M SO TIRED. But I don’t know if sleep training a 7 week old is the right answer.

Answer

7 weeks is too young. 2 weeks???? 2 weeks? No no no no. Baby needs to be fed when they’re hungry. I think we had a solid routine by 8 or 9 weeks, I can’t really remember. It wasn’t sleep training, it was just a routine. It started w a bath, lotion, swaddle, lights off (except for a small lamp), sound machine, and nursed. He woke up 2-4 times a night to feed until he was about 4 months or so then it was just 2, then 1 and he started sleeping completely through the night at 10 months. We still keep the same routine (minus the swaddle and I’m not nursing anymore), but it’s not rigid. If we start later, or skip a bath, he still does fine. I know it’s so hard. The nights he was up every 1-2 hours are enough to break you, but they pass and it gets easier.

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My baby is 1 and just recently started sleeping I kid you not she would only get 3-4 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period I talked to her pediatrician who told me it was normal I even got a second opinion and was told that some babies just don’t require a lot of sleep and not to worry unless it starts to affect her development and growth

Answer

There’s a big difference between ‘sleep training’ and having a ‘bedtime routine’. You can implement a bedtime routine from day 1, it’s just means doing the same thing every night before bed ie. Bath, bottle, cuddles, songs, bed. A bedtime routine can definitely help babies get used to the idea that it’s sleep time, as it becomes predictable for them. 
Gentle sleep training can start at a few months old, and doesn’t have to involve crying it out. We started at about 4 months with both our kids. We just started helping them less to get to sleep. So we’d put them down awake and pat, shhh, sing etc. then once they were used to that, we’d pay for less time, and so on

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Look up Taking Cara Babies. She has a sleep program for newborns that really helped my friend

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Yes we started a bedtime routine at around 6 weeks. It was extremely gentle and baby-led. We just did the same thing every night and it ended with my son being put in his bassinet / crib (in our room) and going to sleep. Happy to answer specific questions you might have. My son (now almost 1 year) has been nursed since birth. 
It's not sleep training. It's paying attention to baby's sleep patterns and helping them structure it. By 6-8 weeks a pattern should be emerging if you've been tracking sleep. Sleep training is refusing a baby's needs / wants (like to be held, rocked, nursed, etc.) in order to get them to "self-soothe" and sleep.

Answer

It's so hard isn't it as there is so much conflicting information everywhere. I have gone with the mantra that every baby is different and I try not to compare too much or go on what is considered 'normal'.
I haven't created a sleep routine for my little girl who is nearly 7 weeks. I've just gone with what she has sort of created for herself. For some reason she likes to sleep long stretches at night and not much during the day and she never gets as much sleep as all the advice says she must do.
I am similar to you in that I sleep in a room next to her at night and my husband sleeps in the main bedroom. He doesn't sleep well and talks/walks in his sleep so it made sense! 😊
One thing that really seems to help her sleep well is a sleep sack. She seems to realise it's time for a proper sleep when we put her in it. We don't swaddle due to a family history of hip dysplasia. We dim the lights and leave her for a bit on her own in the crib until she is more settled before joining her. We also tilt the crib as it seems to help after feeding.
But like I say, everyone is different, so try out a few different things you've read and see what works for your baby. Good luck 😊

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Our son wakes up like clockwork if he isn't swaddled.  It could be her startle reflex.  We use the halo sleepsack swaddle which is ok until they can roll over then you don't swaddle anymore for safety reasons.  He's exclusively breastfed as well.  During the day he eats every 2 hours but he's gone 9 hours sometimes at night without eating.  He's 3 months but he was doing 5 or 6 hour stretches at 2 months. 
I'm sure you are burping her but yeah my son pretty much has to burp good with every feeding or he'll wake up with gas.  Sometimes we give gas drops if we didn't get a good burp. 
I hope you can get some rest and relief!!!

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I feel like I saw this post at the right time. I’m feeling exactly the same! My son is 10 weeks and I’d say we have a nighttime routine but he’s not sleeping through the night by any means. He’s our first child. Some nights I feel like it’ll never happen for us lol.
When we first came home from the hospital, I had the grand illusion that he would just sleep in his crib right away. Not so much. It was too big and scary of a place compared to the cozy, tight quarters he’d just vacated. Fast forward 24 hours and nowhere for him to safely sleep, we scrambled to get a bassinet which he has slept in ever since. Only recently have I started putting him in his crib for daytime naps to try to get him used to the idea. 
Naps are another subject entirely. Some days he does ok (30-40 minute stretches), other days he fights me so much that by the time I do get him down it’s time for him to eat again lol. I’ve learned to give myself some grace on this (not always easy because mama is tired too!). If baby needs to sleep in a swing or something every now and then so you can have a little break or get something done, by all means let her. And a sound machine is great if you don’t have one!
A friend lent me this book which has some really helpful info. My LO and I are still learning each other and I’m trying to pay more attention to his cues. Your babe might be telling you she’s sleepy and you’ve missed the window for putting her down, making it that much harder. The author also talks about “setting the stage” for sleep. Which might be tricky since it sounds like her sleeping area is in your main living area. But maybe giving her cues like dimming the lights, sound machine on, swaddling, etc. might help her to associate “ok it’s sleep time” vs time to play, eat, etc.
Best of luck! Mommin’ ain’t easy!

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https://www.parents.com/baby/sleep/issues/teach-your-baby-to-sleep-in-just-7-days/

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I have an 8 week old son, and I can say I felt the same exact way you are feeling. This is what I have done, and it has helped tremendously. 
1. You cannot sleep train a 7 week old baby, but you can start good habits 
2. I breastfeed AND pump. I give my son a bottle before bed so I can monitor how much he eats. He falls asleep when I nurse him, and will almost ALWAYS wake up hungry in the middle of the night. Giving him a bottle gets more in him, and he sleeps through most nights now. 
3. We put him in his crib for naps so he gets used to sleeping here, even though we still have him in his bassinet at night with us 
4. The only routine we have at night is jammies, bottle, rocking. And I use the term routine VERY loosely. 
One of the biggest things I have learned/read is that there are two kinds of babies: babies who will conform to a schedule you put them on, and babies who you will need to conform to their schedule. My son is the latter, no matter what I do, he always takes his nap at 4pm. I can’t get him to go down earlier, so I have curtailed our “schedule” around that. It takes the pressure off.  Try not to stress too much!! It is still very early!!!!

7 weeks is too young for sleep training, right?

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