It has been ten weeks with my ‘lucky last’ as I affectionately call Rosie. Honestly it has been ten weeks of pretty much pure joy. If you haven’t already read Rosie’s First Two Weeks and My Postpartum Journey head there first. Also check out Rosie’s Routine at Three to Five Weeks and Life with Baby. This will give you lots of tips and tricks even if your baby is much older.
Rosie’s routine –
I have used Contented Baby by Gina Ford as a routine guide for all three children. A routine is not for everyone, but for me is enables me to plan my day, whether that be looking after the older two or slipping in some work. It also means that Rosie is rarely upset as she isn’t getting overtired or over hungry when I follow the routine. I know that this routine sometimes received negative reviews for being too strict, but I think that you can take it as gently as you like. It certainly has some fantastic tips regarding wake times, increasing milk supply and settling babies. Even if you don’t follow a routine there is a lot to be learned in there. I know it like the back of my hand now and manipulate it to suit my day and life. At the end of the day it is a guide, for instance the book says at her age to not give more then 3.5 hours of sleep in the day, but Rosie has at least 4.5 hours.
Here is a little look at what Rosie’s routine looks like at six to ten weeks old…
7am – I wake her for the day. I wake myself at 6am and make breakfast, lunch and dinner for the all the family. I also make my bed and do any chores I can. Ari and Chloe wake up between 6am and 7am so I make a breakfast that can be ready and waiting on the table for them. This way if I am feeding they can get straight into eating. I feed Rosie at the table so that I can be with Ari and Chloe, this is also when I will eat my breakfast if I haven’t already (one handed meals are what I aim for for me LOL!) After breakfast Ari and Chloe has to dress themselves before they can watch TV or play. I often need to help Chloe. Then I tidy their rooms if they haven’t already, and get dressed myself. Though I really want to work on getting dresses before they wake up as I often leave myself til last and end up looking like a scare crow for the day!
8.15am – We get in the car to go out for the day or to Kindy drop off. I am finding that Rosie is starting to be more awake for this drive now and it isn’t restful at all which is a good thing.
9am to 10am – She has her proper morning nap, most of the time in the pram at F45. I find if she nods off in the car on the way there that she transitions well and I am also able to get her home by 10am to wake her.
10am – I wake her.
10.30am – I feed her, then I express both breasts completely.
11.30am to 2pm – She has her biggest nap of the day. I put her down for lunch nap in her cot in her room, everyday if I can.
2pm – I wake and feed her.
4pm – She has her afternoon nap, normally in the car on the way to Kindy. Again with the older two being noisy this isn’t totally restful and she normally needs her dummy in. This is the first nap that will be completely cut out, probably around about four or five months old.
5.00pm – No matter how long her afternoon nap was I always wake her at this time so that she goes to sleep by 7pm. She sits in a high rocker at the dinner table and watches us eat our dinner. Rosie isn’t due to be fed until closer to her bedtime.
5.45pm – I start her bath.
6.00pm – I make sure she is dressed for bed and I am feeding her. She has her bottle of expressed breast milk first and I find she drinks about 130 to 150mls. I do this out in the lounge with Ari and Chloe so that we can be together, though when I only had Ari it was always done in his room (better for relaxing the baby.)
6.30pm – I take her into her room and change her nappy. Then I fully swaddle her before feeding her milk from my breast. Once she has had enough and is relaxed I tuck her in for the night. Normally she has no issues drifting off but if she does I first put some music on, and then I would go in and resettle her if needed with a pat or cuddle. My last option would be to give her the dummy. She is norally asleep by 6.40pm and I go straight into putting the older two to bed.
9pm – Before I go to bed I express both breasts fully.
In the night – Rosie sleeps from 7pm to 7am and wakes once for a feed between 2.30am and 3am. If she wakes earlier then that I know that she doesn’t need feeding and just resettle her, (though this doesn’t ever happen in the first half of the night.) Sometimes she will become unsettled at about 5.30 or 6am, she isn’t hungry so this is when I give her the dummy and she goes straight back to sleep.
I will continue to share Rosie’s routine and the changes I make to it in my next blog post.
Day sleeps –
My most commonly asked question would have to be ‘How do you get Rosie to sleep in her room during the day?’ OR ‘How do you get Rosie to have long stretches of sleep?’ I have been brain storm some of the things that I feel have helped all three of my children to have great day sleeps.
1. Having a routine that allows for longer but less frequent feeds. The timings of Rosie’s feeds are what they are to fit in with her daily sleep requirements.
2. Having a routine that encourages longer sleeps over cat napping. Looking back I have definitely controlled the sleep times rather then having them cat nap whenever they like. They all adjusted into routines within two days of starting.
3. Making sure that I spend a few weeks at home to establish a routine before moving it to outside of the house (obviously some thing can’t be avoided like school drop off and pick up times.)
4. Making sure that Rosie has at least one nap a day in her cot.
5. Putting her to sleep in a room by herself that is quiet.
6. Making sure that the room is really dark. We have amazing blinds that I will show you on my Instagram stories.
7. Allowing her the space to learn to self settle as much as possible. This is something that lots of people eventually have to do if their baby is used to sleeping on them.
8. Doing research into establishing good sleep habits. Naps are so important as they give babies a break from all the stimuli around them, and allows them to recharge and not get overtired at night.
9. I make sure that she is in her Love to Dream swaddle, then is tightly wrapped and tucked in with a blanket. Rosie gets unsettled if she can move her arms about.
10. If we are out for her nap I take her Love to Dream and swaddles with me. I make sure the pram is really dark and set up a similar sleep environment to at home.
11. Making sure she doesn’t get overtired before putting her down.
Feeding in the night – When she wakes up at 3am I completely unwrap Rosie before feeding her. I continue doing so until she stops, then I change her nappy, which wakes her up a little more. After her nappy is changed I completely re swaddle Rosie and offer her more milk until she relaxes again. When she is ready I pop her back to bed. All up I would say the night feed takes no more then 45 minutes. I take my time with her and I think that has helped ensure she only needs to be fed once in the night. With all of this said I did the same routine with Ari and Chloe who both woke three time in the night, so I gave to give most of the credit to Rosie! I am considering re introducing a feed where I wake her at 9 or 10pm before I go to bed as I believe she would then sleep through to 6 or 7am. I will let you know if I do!
How I re-settle Rosie day and night –
I find that nine times out of ten she will settle if I simply but the music on through her Oricom Monitor. If this doesn’t work I go in and pat her without picking her up. Lastly I either pop her dummy in or pick her up for a cuddle. I chose how I settle her based on how I think she feels, but have a bit of a process to make sure that she is settling herself as much as possible.
How often she feeds –
Between 7am and 7pm (waking and going to sleep) Rosie feeds four times. In the night she feeds once. All three of my babies have followed the same daytime feeding pattern, but Rosie feeds the least in the night.
Tips for gas –
I have been fortunate that I have never had a big issue with gas. Rosie did have a little at the start and I used BioGaia Probiotic Drops which came highly recommend to me for that and her gut health. They definitely worked for us. A few other ideas that I have research include infant tummy massage, watching what you eat, keeping a food journal, stopping to burp during and after feeds, and lastly getting a lactation consultant to check your feeding positioning if you are concerned.
Dummy –
As you will know if you have read my previous blog post I introduced a dummy to Rosie at about a week old. I remember the moment where I was trying to get everyone ready to leave for Kindy and she was unsettled. I literally couldn’t settle her and get us out the door at the same time. She was tired so I put the dummy in her mouth and that was it! It is been a godsend for me if she is a little tired and cranky, but I have my hands full with the older two. I try not to give it to her to go to sleep unless we are out or she is overtired. Though I won’t say it never happens because it does, but I haven’t found it to be an issue at all. She rarely wakes and needs her dummy put in. In fact I find that it is only the times that she has gone to bed overtired that a slightly disruptive sleep occurs. I find that if she goes to bed on time and happy she always has her best day sleep.
First holiday –
We took Rosie on her first holiday to the Gold Coast when she was eight weeks old. It was a simple two night stay in Robina, but it was lovely. We didn’t do anything grand and just enjoyed time away from work and the house together. We had intended on taking her to Mebourne, Mount Hotham, New Zealand and Bali all by three months old, so this time has been very different to what we had envisioned. I am actually really happy to have had a slower few months with her. It is a contrast to when the older two were born; Ari was whisked off to New Zealand and Chloe Singapore and Vietnam all before four months of age. When I am on holiday I like to relax our routine a little but keep the principles of it in mind with a similar bed and wake up time, and sticking to three naps a day. I would much rather this then have my baby distressed because she is overtired. It also helps us to map out fun activities for the day.
Staying in other people’s care –
Before I wrote this blog post I asked on Instagram if there were any questions I needed to answer. My darling Mother wrote ‘When will you be leaving Rosie with Grandma,’ so this one is for you Mum! In all seriousness I actually left Ari with my in laws for a few hours when he was ten days old. I knew he took a bottle of expressed milk really well and I had one of my great friends weddings, so I just popped into the ceremony. I have always felt confident leaving my children with Grandparents, if needed, and I think that is because I introduced a daily bottle so early on. So Mum, you can look after Rosie for a few hours whenever you like, I will book my pedicure in now!
Starting swimming lessons –
At three months of age we will be able to start swimming lessons with Rosie. I have absolutely loved teaching Ari and Chloe to swim, so am very excited to get back into the pool with Rosie. Our local council offers free swimming lessons from three to six months through some of the swim schools on the Sunshine Coast.
My fitness goals –
As you have probably seen I have gotten right into my fitness over the past five weeks. I am on a mission to drop the baby weight, tone up and shine. I want to be the healthiest version of myself that I can be, as I believe it is then that I am happiest and my family receives the best from me. I started off with an ebook program by a lady called Rachael Fitt Physiotherapy. It is a 12 week program that starts off really gently and builds up over time. I have received countless messages from Mamas wanting to get back into exercise and I believe this is a perfect starting point (once cleared by your GP.) I have a code for a little discount – THISSWEETLIFE.
Furthermore I have signed up to F45 which has been so much fun! It offers fitness, healthy eating and social elements all in one. I have a great time going there with my friends. I have started their latest challenge and have a goal in mind to lose 5kg, so send encouraging vibes my way!
How I am feeling –
I have found the addition of a third baby has been the easiest so far. I think it has a lot to do with the age gaps, my calm attitude and the confidence of being a third time Mother. You have to remember that I have been doing this for five years now and it is my third time around. I was so desperate to have a third baby that even if I wanted to complain I don’t think that I could. I have so much gratitude for the fact that she is in my life and I appreciate everything, even waking up in the night.
The products I’m using the most –
Over the past few weeks the products I have found that I have used the most include:
Glow Dreaming – night light
Love To Dream – swaddle
Medela breast – pump
Oricom – monitor
Baby Bee Duo – pram
Ergo from The Stork Nest – feeding pillow
Beaba Up & Down Bouncer Pink Liberty from The Stork Nest – bouncer
Pure Baby – clothing
Skip Hop Curve Satchel from The Stork Nest – bag
I have discount codes for most of the above mentioned stores, to get my full list subscribe to the blog.
If you have any questions or want me to cover anything in particular in the next blog update please send me a message on Instagram. Just remember that this is what works for me, it might not work for you. Lets keep it light and not judge each other. If you have any tips that you think would work well for Rosie I would love to hear from you. I think that this is a fantastic platform where we can hopefully all pick up tips that might help each other.
Thank you for reading,
As always please remember that I am not a midwife, lactation consult, nutritionist, doctor or any other medical expert. I am just a Mother expressing her journey and opinions.