Evening nap? Help please

Haven1

My 10 week (5week adj) boys are on a pretty solid 3 hour eat-play-sleep schedule during the day. The problem is between the 6 oclock feeding and 9 before bed.

If I let them nap a couple hours after they eat like the other cycles, that messes up bed time at 9, they aren't super hungry, and they wake up really early the next morning.

If I try to get them to nap right after they eat, that doesn't work since they just woke up from the last cycle's nap.

If I try to keep them up the full 3 hours, they are exhausted, crying, and falling asleep when we're trying to eat at 9.

What should I be doing?

They are getting close to sttn, and I know I'm messing it up by not doing 6-9 right.

TIA!

jennie13

I think the babies natural clock says to put them to bed early, and let them wake up early.    With my DD, her bedtime gradually got earlier and earlier until she was about 5 months and struggling to stay up til 6:00 some nights.   She's always been an early riser (6ish) but a great nighttime sleeper so I put up with it.    My twins (6weeks) are starting to go to bed earlier, too.  They don't nap in a pattern yet, and if they seem tired, I will start the bedtime routine, even if it's only 6/6:30. 

CaliJenny

I can remember this stage.  I know this probably won't help but they will sttn when they are ready.  I used to try to tweak their schedules, cluster feed, just about anything to get them there faster but it just ended up backfiring every time.  Then one day it happened, not because of anything I did, but because they were ready.  You'll look back and wonder why you put so much effort and worry in about all of this.  Good luck, I promise it will happen on it's own, until then listen to their cues.  It sounds like they are on a pretty good schedule already for 10 weeks. 

 

BeccaLandes

I would put them to bed earlier than 9.  I know my boys can't stay up past 7:30 without falling to pieces.  Put them down for the night when they are tired.

regenab

I would start bedtime routine 90 min. after they got up from the last nap. Having them in bed for the night at the 2 hour mark instead of 3 hours. 3 hours is a really long time for them to go and they are probably overtired. You may have to tweak their feeding a bit in an earlier feeding, but I think 9 is a little too late for them, I would go for more like 7:30 - 8PM as the bedtime at this age. It will probably get earlier and earlier as they are getting older. My girls started going to bed between 6 and 6:30PM at around 12 weeks (8 weeks adjusted) and this is when they started getting their largest block of sleep. They were sleeping from 6pm - 1am and then got up for first feeding of the night. It was great, they would go to bed and then DH and I could sit down and have dinner together and just talk. Have some quiet time watching tv and then I would hit the sack at about 8pm, so I would get up for the first feeding at about 1AM. DH went to bed at about 10PM and did the 3 or 4am feeding.