Getting Baby on a Schedule? « Back to Group Discussions

[pennywhistle]

Is your baby sleeping and/or eating on a particular schedule?  Right now Atticus wakes up every 2-3 hours during the night.  We're cosleeping, and exclusively breastfeeding.  I'm trying to figure out when he should start sleeping in longer chunks.  Do I impose that on him?  Will he adjust on his own?  He's 5 and a half weeks old right now.

[monkeyscience]

Ha. Schedule. NO. No, he is not. I would love for him to be, but I don't have the heart (or really, the desire) to try to impose one on him. I imagine it would involve a great deal of screaming and frustration. OTOH, Baby Bird *does* sometimes sleep anywhere from 4-7 hours at night. Though last night he was up every two and a half. I'm dreading tonight because I'm already sleep-deprived and dh isn't here, either. Anyway, he started sleeping more around 3 or 4 weeks. But it totally varies from baby to baby, from what I've heard. I do hope to get him on a little bit of a schedule someday, but 6 weeks is just too young, IMHO. Especially since I don't have any specific reason (like going back to work) to impose one on him.

[Sol_y_Paz]

I let my baby set the sleep schedule.   I keep all blinds and windows open during the day for lots of natural sunlight and make sure the household is never abnormally tip toe around quiet.  I say that since I know some people who are super quiet when baby is napping.   The first sleep of the night usually starts around 9pm.  My baby is older than yours and has slept through the night (as defined by 5 hours), but he usually does not.  But that is totally normal not to sleep through the night yet. 

I liked these links about sleep

http://www.kellymom.com/store/handouts/newborn/sleep.pdf

http://kellymom.com/parenting/nighttime/4mo-sleep/

http://kellymom.com/parenting/nighttime/sleepstudies/  - 84% of babies do not sleep through the night by 6 months

http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/fussy-baby/31-ways-get-your-baby-sleep-and-stay-asleep

As far as eating, I feed him when he wants to eat.  

Edited by Sol_y_Paz - 10/5/12 at 11:37am

[Tizzy]

I was much more concerned about schedules with my first baby, but things just fell into place on their own, and even more so with the following 3.

Gilbert usually sleeps from 11pm until 5am, I feed and change then and get out to the barn by 6 (I'm a little slow going in the mornings!) Then he sleeps and eats on a 2.5-3hr schedule until after lunch when he takes advantage of the quiet napping household and sleeps from 2-5 or 6pm. Then he has another sleep between 7-10pm.

My routine is to feed as soon as he wakes up, then burp and change him, play with him or have him involved in what everyone else is doing, and then at the first sign of tireds I wrap him up in a blanket with his soother and he's asleep within 5min.
So the next time he wakes up, he knows what to expect. We keep a fairly regular schedule in our daily life anyway and I think that's what really helps.

[Veritas Vitae]

Quinn basically sets her own schedule here too, but there is some consistency to it.  Her big sleep is currently in the morning, after her big poop, she sleeps from approximately 8:30am - 1 or 2pm.  Then afternoon and evening is a cycle of sleep and awake, but a pretty high contact time, and usually another poop.  By 8:30-9pm she is ready for her "night time" sleeping routine.  She sleeps until around 1am and wakes up for a diaper change and quick feeding.  If I don't change her diaper then she won't go back to sleep.  She then sleeps until 4:30 and stays awake longer, eating on both sides with a diaper change in the middle.  I usually fall back asleep before she does at this time.  She wakes up again at 7ish for some feeding and big poop.

When she was just a couple of weeks old she slept one night for five hours and the next night for six hours.  I bragged about it and then she never did it again.  I should probably start going to sleep at 9pm with her, but she is so high touch in the evenings, that I need the time to get stuff done around the house, so I usually stay up until 11 or midnight. I wish I could slide that long morning sleep period to overnight, but at the same time, I'm able to get a decent amount of work done around the house in the morning.

[iixivboots]

Lyle started sleeping for about 5 or 6 hours between midnight and 6 (ISH, give or take an hour here or there) around six weeks.

That said, he went to bed "early" last night at 10, and then woke up at 2, and again at 6. So there are no rules, man! :)

I swear he sensed my anxiety. I happened upon a discussion of the "4 month sleep regression" and I got FREAKED out. Four months is when our pediatrician promised us colic would get better, so for him to stop sleeping longer stretches at that time seems SO unfair. But it seems like the sleep regression doesn't happen to everyone.

Anyone heard of this or experienced it?

[LeAnn A Doula]

Lu sets her schedule, too. She typically sleeps from 10p-2a, then gets up every 2-3hrs after that. She eats and plays a bit then goes down for a nap around 10a for 3 hrs and again around 3p for 2hrs. Sometimes she has an evening nap around 7p but not always. Weekends can be tough because we don't follow our usual routine at home. She seems to have periods of cluster feeding and just wants to be held. When we go off schedule, it takes her about 24hrs to reset to her normal. So we try to stick to it. The routine is definitely a must.

[sallyrae17]

I don't impose schedules here. My son woke up to nurse every 1 1/2 to 2 hours for 2 1/2 years. ;) So - he never really "slept through the night" until we nightweaned at 2 1/2. He would randomly sleep in 4 hour chunks, but those were the exception. Baby M, on the other hand, has always slept in 3 hour chunks since she was born. Every baby is different and there really isn't a "normal" in my experience. It just depends on the parent and what s/he/ they decide is right for their situation and family.

[LilyTiger]

We don't have a schedule, though I'm hoping Piper sort of imposes one on herself soon.  The problem we run into is that I don't have a predictable schedule for work and such... some days I have meetings, other days I don't... so it's hard to create a routine during the day.  We've tried to be consistent at night though.  We swaddle and change her diaper at 9:30 and then I nurse her until we go to bed around 11.  She sleeps until around 4 or 5 (on good days... sometimes it's less) when she nurses and then it's usually 2 or three hours after that she feeds again.  I also need to get a more consistent morning routine, but I've basically been sleeping in when I want to, which might not be good for her napping consistently later.  We'll just play it by ear for now I guess.

[monkeyscience]

Wow, sounds like most people's babies are on way more than a "schedule" than mine - even if it is the schedule of their own choosing. I never know what each day will bring with this little guy! For awhile, I could consistently expect him to wake up between 2-4 AM to eat, but even that's been thrown out the window lately.

[CCoello]

No schedule at all here either! Since we are moving and staying at one grandparents' house and then another, and then a hotel before we finally land in some new apartment I decided it would be better for Armie to not expect a schedule I couldn't consistently adhere to.

Honestly, though, I'm not sure I'll do a schedule once we are settled! I'm not really a schedule person, and neither is DH. My MIL told me she never had her kids on any kind of schedule until they started school, and they turned out just fine!

If it starts to seem like his personality needs a schedule, or we have major sleep problems or are unhappy for some reason, I'll try one. Till then, we'll just eat when we're hungry, play when we're happy, and sleep when we're tired!

[LilyTiger]

Anyone having any luck with consistency of schedules?  Piper now takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap (and sometimes an early evening nap) and has been going to sleep around 7:30 pm.  She'll eat again when I come to bed at 10:00pm and then usually again at 2am and again anywhere from 6am to 8:30am.

My question is about what kinds of routines you all do for bedtime and naptime.  My new routine for bedtime is change into night diaper and swaddle, read story, sing lullaby, and nurse.  We don't do baths often enough for it to become part of the routine.

For naps I just swaddle her and nurse her down, but maybe I should add in a story and/or lullaby (I usually sing to her at some point, so I guess that's covered). 

What do you all do?

[Sol_y_Paz]

Originally Posted by Sol_y_Paz 

I let my baby set the sleep schedule.   I keep all blinds and windows open during the day for lots of natural sunlight and make sure the household is never abnormally tip toe around quiet.  I say that since I know some people who are super quiet when baby is napping.   The first sleep of the night usually starts around 9pm.  My baby is older than yours and has slept through the night (as defined by 5 hours), but he usually does not.  But that is totally normal not to sleep through the night yet. 

As far as eating, I feed him when he wants to eat.  

2 months later, we do the same thing.  He has been sleeping through the night (7-8 hours) for about a month now I think.

[Sol_y_Paz]

Lily, we do swaddle here still, only the arms and not too tight.  Then nurse.  He seems to get tired around 9-10pm.   For naps we nurse too, but no swaddle.  Many morning naps are spent in the Ergo.  He will not go to sleep in the swing or any other device, never has, and took months to even like those things.  I am just thankful he will nurse to sleep.  It makes it easy on everyone in the household.  

[mtngirl81]

Kenzie wakes up about 730 or so, I let her hang out in bed til I'm ready to get her up lol. She will happily keep herself entertained til then. Get her up for the day, goes for a nap around 10-1030 when she starts fussing, sleeps for 2-3 hours, then goes down for another nap around 3 or 4 for a couple hours... then bed by 7pm for the night.  I feed her whenever she wants to be fed, too.  I thank my lucky stars that she is an awesome night sleeper (and day time sleeper!). She does have her occasional days where she'll only nap for 45 mins or so at a time but that's a-okay too!

[LilyTiger]

Ok, so a few more questions.  I let Piper set her own schedule in terms of naps and such, meaning that I put her down when I see her yawning or being cranky.  We now do the "tip-toeing" around and keep a noise machine going because she will wake up after five minutes if there's any noise.  She startles really really easily.  I remember reading in Dr. Sears about not doing dark or quiet during the day and we followed that advice when she was little, but now she really really needs naps in order to function.  I'm not sure I should even still be swaddling during the day, but she will not sleep more than 15 minutes at a time if she's not swaddled.  So I feel like I'm breaking a bunch of "rules" to get her to nap, but if I don't she's miserable.  Thoughts?

[mtngirl81]

Maybe try a sleep sack? Not sure what you use at the present moment.  I use the sleep sack for her every time she sleeps regardless of what hour. It's not restricting but keeps her legs from kicking off anything and keeps her arms free as she needs her arms free. 

[LilyTiger]

She seems to need her arms totally immobilized or else she startles or whacks herself or does something else to prevent her from sleeping.  I might try weaning her off the swaddle during the day and putting her in the sleep sack, but when I tried it at night it was a mess.  She woke up like every two hours, where usually she sleeps 5-6 hours with no problem.  I guess I'll keep trying things. 

[pennywhistle]

Lily: have you tried the Superman Swaddle?

Fold a swaddling blanket in a triangle (if you're using one of those A&A muslin blankets, just fold it in half diagonally)

Lay Piper on it so that the long corners (the acute angles?  I need to go back to geometry class) are pointing out like wings behind her, with her head hanging over the long side (hypotaneus?)

Wrap the long points over her arm, and then under her body, so that her arms are kept alongside her torso.

In the end, it looks like a Superman cape.  It swaddles her arms, but leaves the rest of her body free.  We used this a lot when Atticus was first born so that we could get skin-to-skin while nursing (swaddled him like this while only wearing a diaper).  Also, it makes the babies look really cute.

[Sol_y_Paz]

Originally Posted by LilyTiger 
  So I feel like I'm breaking a bunch of "rules" to get her to nap, but if I don't she's miserable.  Thoughts?

I think you are doing a great job and what works best for all of you.  My rules are do what works best for baby at the time.  If mine was miserable without quiet naps, quiet naps he would get.