Working Moms - night schedule question

finallyreilly

I have been back to work a couple weeks and DH and I still don't seem to have our schedule worked out yet and both of us are exhausted.  It might be that we will just have to get use to feeling this way for awhile, but I was hoping for some ideas of how you handle the nights.

My friend with twins said that they alternated nights during the work week on who would get up.  I know others take a baby for a night and that is who you deal with and sometimes they sttn and sometimes not.

What works for you?

TIA!

finallyreilly

I should have said working away from the house moms because I know the SAHM's are working also:)

LMK8605

We would just each feed a baby - if one woke up to eat we woke the other one up to eat and put them back down right after they were done.  That way we were both only up 15-20 minutes at a time.  You do kind of get used to being tired.

KoCoLoCo

Ours were pretty predictable as far as when they would wake up (at 3mo I think it was either once or twice, I can't remember for sure).  DH and I would take turns getting up to feed them, that way each was getting at least a 6 hour stretch of sleep a night.

BizEB

We did nights on and nights off with our son and will do that with our twins.  I work 3 days/week so DH gets up on the nights before my workdays and I get up every other night.  Both of us have trouble falling back asleep after we are up so it's easier to just have a few crappy nights/week than to have crappy sleep every night.

omalley

When I went back to work when the boys were 10 weeks, we did the method where we were each in charge of a baby.  One baby was a better sleeper and my husband usually had him but we would switch after a few nights so I could catch up a little.  I cannot say that plan was ideal b/c I was always so tired (still am) but we survived it. ;-) 

 I also started doing everything I could the night before: shower, lay out clothes, set up coffee maker so that way in my sleep deprived stupor it was easy and fast to get ready for work in the morning.

finallyreilly

omalley:

When I went back to work when the boys were 10 weeks, we did the method where we were each in charge of a baby.  One baby was a better sleeper and my husband usually had him but we would switch after a few nights so I could catch up a little.  I cannot say that plan was ideal b/c I was always so tired (still am) but we survived it. ;-) 

 I also started doing everything I could the night before: shower, lay out clothes, set up coffee maker so that way in my sleep deprived stupor it was easy and fast to get ready for work in the morning.

We have the same thing at the moment.  E is a great sleeper and sttn a couple times a week.  J is a terrible sleeper.

SoldiersGreenBean

I'm not there yet, but a coworker (dad of twin boys) suggesting taking shifts.  We'll see what works for us when we get there.

qw23fv09ij87tf23

The girls slept in a co-sleeper next to my side of the bed. I was still breast feeding so I would just rotate them in and out of the bed as they woke up. I was still exhausted the next day. When they moved to their room at 6 months. DH and I just took shifts on getting them out of their bed and into ours so I could breast feed them. They started sleeping through the night at about 8 months.

macchiatto

We did the same thing we would've done if I worked outside the home: split the night shift evenly. Our boys woke up a lot at night until shortly before they STTN so it definitely worked better for us than "each take a baby" or the other options. One of us would go to bed by 7 or 8 p.m. so we could each get 5-6 hrs of uninterrupted sleep.

healthynut

My DH and I also did shifts.  The babies would have a feeding around 8pm, then again between 12 and 2 and then again between 4 and 6.  We would go to bed around 9.  I would take the first feeding and my DH would take the second feeding.  I would usually get at least 4 hours of straight sleep each night and about 7 total.  I am better at getting up after only a few hours, so that's why I took the first feeding.  My DH would get about 7 straights.  We were both tired, but this worked best for us.  We tried the other ways (each taking one, both getting up each time, etc.) but they didn't work for us.  Good Luck! 

janjag

early on, we were too delirious to have a "system".  babies didn't eat at the same time, so if i was up, finishing with one baby, and the other woke, i would feed that baby as well, then pump.... then hope to get 45min sleep before the first woke again.  my dh would do the same (minus the pumping... lol).  many times i would wake up because i sensed my dh hadn't been in bed for a long time, and he would be asleep on the couch with a baby sleeping on him. 

when they got a little older, maybe 4-5mos we started each taking a baby.  he got vivienne (who didn't like to nurse), i got audrey (who i nursed at night), then i would pump after she went back to sleep.  giving up pumping at night, and just bfing got me some much needed sleep.