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Bub is 7 days old and I am feeding and putting her straight down (after a burp usually) A friend of mine just said I should play with bub after feeds and then put her down so she will sleep better/longer. But I worry that if I don't put her down straight away she won't go down as she is a little unsettled. And i need all the rest I can so sooner to sleep the better.
What are your thoughts?
At seven days old? Yes. Whatever works for both of you. In a few months' time if you decide that you don't want to feed to sleep (I have done with both and haven't had an issue but if it's not for you) then you can maybe encourage a bit of feed-play-sleep cycle. But in my opinion, you and bub know best and a nice warm full tummy and a body full of happy hormones is relaaaaaxxxxxing!
If its working for you don't change it, the mchn recommends eat play sleep but babies have their own routines so don't stress about changing it.
yup do what you need to now. recover, learn and grow as mum then later when your out of the baby/birth haze decide for your self what is or is not working.
The best advice is: listen to what other people tell you, nod politely and then do what you feel is the best thing to do. Oh, and refrain from telling them that you didn't go with what they said. ;)
FWIW, I think our routine was eat-sleep-eat-play-eat-sleep-play-eat-play-sleep.... well, he just did whatever he felt like doing. If he finished feeding and was all alert, sure we'd have a play. But if he was nodding off I took it to mean he wanted a sleep - who was I to complain?!
Go with your gut instinct. You are your baby's mum and you know what works for you both.
Wow playing with a 7 day old? Heaps of time for that! Just enjoy your baby snuggles and if she falls asleep while feeding, then so be it! My DD3 (the only one I successfully breastfed) took all her day naps on me and fed to sleep up until about 7 months. Then I used to feed her to sleep on the bed and escape after she had fallen asleep.
She weaned when I fell pregnant with this one, so just before 23 months. Make the most of it I say - you'll miss it when they grow up!
Whatever works for you is THE best thing to do. Don't worry about the feed/play/sleep thing yet - plenty of time to worry about that later.
Feeding to sleep is awesome. It is nature's way of helping your little one go to sleep. Just go with it for as long as you can.
I'm still feeding DS to sleep at 10 months old with no plans to stop doing so.
Some say its a bad habit, but its the quickest, calmest, cuddly way to get him off to sleep.
So as long as she has done a burp, I don't see how playtime would make her sleep longer. Strange comment that one.
Feeding to sleep is the best trick in the world! My eldest did till she weaned (3yrs 3mo) and never had a problem transitioning to falling asleep without so I don't really believe the bad habit hype. My youngest is 18mo and currently asleep at the breast as I type, I like it because it forces me to sit/lay down and rest. And catch up on the world lol.
Do what works and enjoy, don't spend time worrying about books or rules or habits and mistakes. It all works itself out, listen to yourself and your baby and you'll find your own groove together.
Yep as others said, do what works for you. At 7 days old both my boys just fed and slept.
No, she is only 7 days old. She's likely too tired for 'play'. Feeding to sleep is the most natural and easiest way to get a baby to sleep ever!! Just keep doing what you're doing, you know best xx
At 7 days old I was so sleep deprived, there's no way I was waking up DD for a play after a feed before trying to get her back to sleep again! If she's tired and falls asleep, let her :)
Whatever works for you, hun.
The rule of thumb is feed, play, sleep, but it depends on your baby's rhythms!
With DS1, nothing but nothing would keep him awake after a feed. I would actually spend a significant portion of the feed unwrapping him, ticking his toes, blowing on his face, stopping for a nappy change etc, just to keep him awake long enough to *have* a proper feed.
So the feed, play, sleep thing did not work for him - not for ages.
As long as they're having time doing all three over the course of a day, don't stress.
And in those first few weeks, "play" just means interaction. It could be you talking to her while you're changing her, or cuddles, or anything like that. It will be a while before they're actually interested in toys and books.
Right now, she's most interested in you.
And your boobs.
And that's ok. :)
I still feed Amelia to sleep - no way would I at with her after a feed :o That sounds awful, how do you get them back down afterwards? :lol: I'm genuinely confused here, is that a normal practise?
Congrats on your baby :)
No need to mess with things if they're working well.
Dd has always fed to sleep too.
At te early age she would eat-play-eat-sleep.
Sucking always makes her drowsy and relaxed so I figure why ruin a good thing.
I love feeding to sleep. It's the easiest most stress free for us :)
Go with what works for you hun
Neither of my babies have done the feed, play, sleep thing :)
Your baby is transitioning to being part of the world. I would minimize play and concentrate on getting breastfeeding well established and resting. Play comes later and for my kids never, ever just before sleep. Boobs are the best way to put a child to sleep. No crying, no fuss. Not many babies can self settle, and I'm not sure why we try and achieve it when they are so tiny. As others have said, there is plenty of time to worry about all that.
A 7 day old babys version of 'play' is just being awake, they are too young to actually play. Feed to sleep definately, get rest when you can xx
just follow bubs lead Tasha :hug:
if she wants to feed to sleep then go for it. I have with all 3 of my girls and the sky did not fall down and they are no rods in my back :) go for what is easiest for you and baby and that is usually feeding to sleep.
We feed to sleep every night. Not so much during the day anymore although the first few weeks we did :)
I love it and call it magic booby time!
Argh don't listen! You need your rest and your bub is a week old. I certainly wouldn't be waking her to play with her just to put her back to sleep. My bub is 7 months and he feeds to sleep at bedtime and he has no worries putting himself to sleep during the day.
I generally do the feed, play, sleep thing, but at 7 days old pretty much all they do is feed and sleep! I'm not sure when they are supposed to play! For what it's worth, when they're older I don't think the playin makes them sleepier, I just find that by getting the feed in first I ensure something goes in before she falls back to sleep again!
Ignore your friend. Feed to sleep has worked here for three babies. You do what is best for you, bub, and your family. Believe in yourself and have faith that you can do it. Take the pressure off and enjoy your special time with your bub.
Holy Gamoly - who makes up these 'baby rules'!!
Sorry, I always get annoyed when I hear of poor new Mums being given silly advice
Tasha - you are doing exactly what your baby needs. Interesting to know that when breastfeeding, your body releases the hormone oxytocin, which produces calmness and even sleepiness which also helps YOU relax and sleep, as well as being a 'natural relaxation' technique for encouraging your baby to sleep. Full belly, cuddles with mum = secure baby who is drowsy, relaxed and ready for sleep
Go with it. And as for any other advice you may get ..... Smile and nod!!
We did feed play sleep or feed play feed sleep. But play in the early days was chatting with DD for a few minutes if she was awake but that wasn't every feed cause there wasn't time before she needed to sleep again. Feeding to sleep is magic, nurturing and calm for everyone. I still like to sleep next to DD for naps after feeding to sleep.
I'm feeding to sleep right now :-))
I always say if the first 12 weeks do what ever you need to do to get through the day (and night), whatever works for you. There is plenty of time to work on other methods after that. They can change a fair bit around 12-13 weeks and I personally think 'habits' don't form until much later so I don't think you are going to 'teach' or form any 'habits' - good bad or otherwise - at this young age so just do what you can to survive and leave the advice for another day, especially as you are feeding so often which I can tell you is very time consuming and actually really really tiring.
My DD1 was quite wakeful and did have a kind of 'play' or awake talking snuggling time after a feed but not all babies are like that and if they are feeding often like my DD2 did they really just want to go back to sleep because their sleep gets sooooo interrupted from waking up hungry all.the.time. So if some awake time happens that's fine and dandy but at this stage I wouldn't be forcing it just for the sake of it.
We didn't start the wake/feed/play/sleep routine until 3.5 months - like others have said, the first 12 weeks are just about what the baby wants & needs (in my mind). The transition to something very routine based went really well for us as well - so the idea of bad habits starting at 7 days old seems silly to me. Also, my DS2, who use to feed to sleep at bedtime (the only pre-sleep feed that we did once we started the "routine") no longer does so (he's now six plus months) - he stopped on his own (he feeds and gets put down awake) and I MISS IT! I loved when he would fall asleep while feeding - it was the sweetest and now it's gone so I wouldn't try to change these special baby moments as they disappear too quickly and when you know it's your last baby (as it is for us), you look back and think "wow, that was quick".