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At what age did you start allowing baby play time before a sleep? (As opposed to putting a sleepy newborn back to bed).
And how long do you allow play time to be (approx)? I know to wait for tired cues and have noticed a few but am still learning with a 7 wk old who now likes to stay awake a bit before the next sleep. And where do u put baby for 'play'? A bouncer, the mat, your arms?
Thanks
I think 7 weeks is fine to start. My babies were never that sleepy after a feed (well not often anyway) so always had some awake time after a feed.
Babies this age can usually only handle about an hour awake time, including their feed.
Bouncer, play mat or in your arms is fine, whatever you want to do and whatever keeps bub content!
I think I started a bit of play at around 6 weeks and I would do a bit of everything! She loved being in her bouncer to stare at her toys, she loved her activity mat on the floor and sometimes I owuld just hold her and sing and chat! Its nice to just do something different each day! I wish I still had that baby that would happily lie there for 10 mins in one spot so I could have a shower!
Have fun and enjoy it!
Thanks! I forgot a question! Do you only do this routine during the day and leave it at night so as to not waken baby too much?
GAWD YES!! No play time at night. It should be the opposite, no stimulation - (dim lights, little to no talking, interaction etc). This is how most babies begin to learn night from day. You want the baby to feed and go straight back to sleep at night, as little awake time as possible.
krystal always fed to sleep (and still does :rollseyes:) so we never had this routine really, but i think 7 weeks should be fine!
i always took the 'play' to mean any awake time - Krystal had a lot of time on her mat with no nappy! she loved it! but a bouncer, even cuddles anything to keep her happy!
I started both my boys on the feed/play/sleep routine at 2 weeks (well, tried too, but they were still pretty sleepy then lol!). 7 weeks is a great time to start, like Willow said it helps them learn night from day so hopefully they will sleep long stretches overnight for you. I do a "dream feed" at 9:30pm where I feed my DS in a dimly lit room, no talking, etc., then I put him straight back to bed after his feed and he has learned to keep sleeping.
For wake time, yep on a mat on the floor, in the bouncer, a walk in the pram, tummy time, cuddles, etc...are all good! Floor time is great for helping to release wind! At 7 weeks your bub may only manage 45 - 60 minutes of wake time. My DS could only handle 45 minutes at that stage so it felt like I hardly saw him! If I tried to stretch his wake time out he would get overtired and would be hard to settle to sleep, then wouldn't sleep properly. It is all a big learning curve!
DS never went back to sleep after a bottle, he always was awake for about an hour.
I used to put him on his baby gym or in his swing chair or just play together and then wait for the yawns. As soon as I saw the first one i would wrap him etc and put him in his bassinette. Night times I would put him straight back in there with no play. Not that he would fall straight to sleep but at least he knew it was night time.