Back to work and babies still not sleeping...

JPW2006

Not that I expected them to just change overnight (although that would have been NICE).  Just looking for some helpful tips...

My boys are almost 4 months old.  Their sleeping varies throughout the day with anywhere from 3 hours sleep to 8 hours sleep.  They eat approx every 3 hours, but they have reflux and sometimes only take a few ounces at a time (although I offer 5.5-6 oz per feeding).  Generally they still eat every 3-4 hours at night too.  I give them 6 oz at night and started putting a little rice cereal in bedtime bottle (although haven't noticed a difference with more sleeping).  They usually get bedtime bottles around 9pm and are up for another bottle by 1am.  Once up at 1am, they get back on 3 hr schedule, so up again at 4am and 7am.  Thoughts?

Temp6313048411121614

I know some babies STTN early, I don't think most do until at least 6m.  Hate to break it to you, DS didn't STTN until we did a version of CIO at 14.5m.  If you're not opposed to CIO, you could try something like that when you know that they're waking for habit and not hunger (don't do CIO if you think they really need to eat in the middle of the night).  GL, hope they start letting you rest more.

boshi799

I bet it has to do with the reflux. Are you keeping track of how much they are eating in a day? Check with your pedi on how much they should eat during the day. I am all too familiar with reflux and know they can't eat as much as they would like, and that is probably why they are waking up hungry at night. Unfortunately if that is the problem it won't go away until they are able to eat all they want during the day. Are they on Zantac? Often my boy can only take 2 oz at a time  : (

RobynK

Sorry -- mine didn't STTN until 6 months.  I think about 4.5 or 5 months they dropped one night feeding and it slowly tapered off until 6 months.

MoMandA

Our babies are the same age. Mine just dropped the 4 am last week. GL

regenab

When my girls hit 3 months adjusted (not sure how early your boys were born) is when we went to an earlier bedtime for the girls. Before that time their bedtime was more when we were done for the day and needed to lay down to sleep ourselves. At this 3 month adjusted mark we started putting them down to bed at 7PM, starting their bedtime routine at around 6:15 so we would finished up with everything and they were in their cribs asleep at 7PM. They would then sleep their largest chunk of sleep for the night, so I quickly went to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep.

They would usually get up for the first feeding at around 11:30PM or midnight. A second feeding occurred at around 2:30/3AM and then a 3rd feeding at around 5 or 5:30AM. I would put them back down to sleep after this feeding and they would usually get up at around 7 or 7:30AM. Once they got up again, I considered this their first feeding of the day. I would feed/change and dress for the day at this point, then take them downstairs and start our day by opening up the blinds and curtains and turning on the TV or radio so they would know it was daytime.

Next I made sure I had them down for their first nap before the 2 hour mark from when they got up for the day, so usually at around 9AM or 9:15. I would keep up this routine throughout the day, making sure they were not awake for more than 2 hours at a time. At this point they were taking about 3 naps a day. Their third nap was usually a short 30-45 min. nap that I tried to make sure they were up by no later than 5:30 so they would be able to go to bed at 7PM. This of course sometimes was adjusted depending on how their day and napping went.

Once I started getting them into a good sleeping and napping routine I used the Baby Sleep Solution by Suzy Giordiano to sleep train them to STTN 12 hours without waking. Her plan basically has you take steps to encourage your babies to eat more during the day and they slowly take less and less at night and start to drop feedings at night and increase the amount of time between feedings until they stop getting up to eat at night and they go 12 hours at night. Her plan takes about 4-5 weeks to complete, so it is not an overnight fix. She also has suggestions on helping your baby to learn to soothe themselves to sleep without CIO. I don't like CIO for any baby younger than 6 months and I didn't do CIO for my girls until they were 13 months old and we took the pacis away.

The only thing I do not like about her plan is the final stage is naps and she feels once you have completed that, your baby can go with only 2 naps a day (a 1 hour morning nap and a 2 hour afternoon nap). I let my babies tell me how much napping time they required during the day by using the 2 hour rule instead. My girls took 3 naps a day until they were 7 months old adjusted and still got 12 hours STTN, but my girls might have just required more sleep than the average baby. At 16 months they get 12 1/2 to 13 hours of sleep at night and take a 2 to 2 1/2 hour nap every afternoon. My point is use your own judgement on anything you try that you get from a book. After all you are the Mom and you know your babies better than anyone else.

I hope you are able to get some more sleep soon. Hang in there, they will get there.

JPW2006

boshi-I think you are right.  They are on both Zantac and Prevacid for their reflux.  It's pretty bad.  Stinks.  There are times they take very little at feedings (ex-struggled to get them to take 3.5-4 oz for their first morning bottle this am after it had been 4-5 hrs from their last night feeding).  I've got the 4 month check-up next week and am going to ask pedi about starting Stage 1s.  As I've said, I added rice cereal to bedtime bottle and it hasn't helped.  I'd like to start daytime rice, oatmeal cereal feedings and Stage 1 foods very soon to increase their intake during the day b/c as you said the STTN problem won't go away until they can consume more during the day. 

I have a sales job where I drive for many hrs during the day and falling alseep at the wheel from too many night feedings sucks.  DH helps some, but it's just 4 months of built up fatigue I guess.  I'd like to live to see my kids for goodness sake!

carissasmom

I know you hate to hear it but some babies won't sleep through the night before 6 to 9 months.  They honestly need to eat.  I think if you read about CIO you'll find most people don't recommend doing that before 6 months either.  I know its a pain, but its really what your babies need.