Can anyone help with 5 month olds' schedule?

amcam24

well, lack there of.

 

I'm trying to nudge mine into a schedule a bit, but I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing.

My twins go to sleep around 7pm and wake up at 8am. I do a dream feed around 11, and my boy wakes up every morning at 4:30 to nurse. (Question, my girl would sleep through this, but I wake her up. Should I stop?)

During the day, it's chaos. They can't stay awake longer than 90 minutes, and only take 30 minute naps. I try to get them to stay up longer, but they just get overtired and then sleep even less! So they end up with 4 or 5 mini naps. Oh and they still nurse every 2 hours during the day.

The 7 pm bedtime they set on their own, it's when they started sleeping longer stretches, so I'm just going with that.

Any help or advice, or if your twins are doing the same thing we can commiserate.

 

I used to be on this board from time to time while I was pg, but life is so crazy now, I barely have time to pee!  I'm going to poke around and catch up on everyone.

Purple_Butterflies

I also need help with a schedule as well. My babies go to bed at 6PM. My DD STTN (6PM to 6AM) most of the time but from time to time will get up at 4 or 5 for a bottle on the other hand DS wakes up every morning between 4:30 and 5 not only to eat but to also likes to play, he will go back to sleep for about an hour sometimes. When DD wakes at 6 to eat DS also wants another bottle. Also, DS doesn't take naps during the day at ALL!! This has been going on for the past week or so. DS is 17lb so I'm sure he's capable of STTN and we're still replacing the paci several times throughout the night.

ougrad1

So much of this post sounds like you're doing the right things.  I would recommend you reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby.  It tells you that your babies should never be staying up over 2 hours MAX at any given time.  The 90 minutes sounds right at this point.

I found out quickly that I had to get my babies on the same schedule pretty quickly after I brought them home.  After reading the above mentioned book, he'll tell you how.  Whether it be eating or putting down for a nap, you should always do it for both babies within a 30 to 45 minute time frame.

In the last week I've noticed the babies starting a predictable schedule...finally.

Honestly, if you have them on the same schedule all you have to do is learn to watch for the signs of them being sleepy and put them down while they are drowsy but, still awake.

It takes some time to learn to read your babies but, the book really will help make sense out of it all.  GL!

 

 

 

AliciaMomof4

Sounds a lot like my babies' schedule. The boys set their own schedule but I always have done the same thing for BOTH babies no matter what and that helps. They sleep from about 8pm-8am currently and Noah used to only wake around 4-5am for a few mo. so I would always wake Ethan too to nurse and then they would go back to bed until 8am. They nurse (and both want to) every 3 hrs. or so during the day and I just started solids at dinner. I nurse and then feed the solids or vice versa around 5pm. The usually nurse, burp, change diapers, play for about an hr. or so, then nap for about an hr. or so and then repeat.

It was about the same with my older kids at this age. When they can stay up longer and nurse fewer times in a few months they will take longer naps (like one in the a.m. and one in the afternoon).

jennie13

Mine are 4+ months now, and right there with you.

Bedtime routine starts at 6, they are usually asleep by 6:30/7 

One baby wakes up at 4/5 to eat, then goes back down til the other one wakes up around 6:30 or so, and I feed them both then to start the day together.    I stopped waking the other around 3.5 months, and she will consistently go the whole night.

They nurse every 2.5 hours during the day.  If I try to stretch it out to 3 hours, I find they don't get enough in the day and want another feeding a couple hours after they go to bed. 

They are both crappy nappers, and most days are 4 1/2 hour naps, and it's a struggle to get them to sleep, no matter what I try.   On days they take a longer (45min-1hr) nap early afternoon, they won't take the later 4th nap, and are miserable by 5pm.  

I, too, can't wait for a little more of a real schedule and fewer/longer naps.

amcam24

jennie13:

Mine are 4+ months now, and right there with you.

Bedtime routine starts at 6, they are usually asleep by 6:30/7 

One baby wakes up at 4/5 to eat, then goes back down til the other one wakes up around 6:30 or so, and I feed them both then to start the day together.    I stopped waking the other around 3.5 months, and she will consistently go the whole night.

They nurse every 2.5 hours during the day.  If I try to stretch it out to 3 hours, I find they don't get enough in the day and want another feeding a couple hours after they go to bed. 

They are both crappy nappers, and most days are 4 1/2 hour naps, and it's a struggle to get them to sleep, no matter what I try.   On days they take a longer (45min-1hr) nap early afternoon, they won't take the later 4th nap, and are miserable by 5pm.  

I, too, can't wait for a little more of a real schedule and fewer/longer naps.

 

Well, this helped me feel a lot better!  This is a lot like our crazy day goes.  My older DS was such a nightmare in the sleep department, that I'm terrified of having bad sleepers again, I think I need to take a chill pill. LOL. 

 

 

smeyer

Omg, I'm so glad I checked this post. My LOs are doing the same thing- 90min awake time with a crappy nap (if I'm lucky) but they sleep great at night. I'm hoping this is just a phase. Nonetheless it's nice to know I'm not alone.

TwinMama83

We just recently have gotten a pretty GREAT schedule.  I was keeping the babies up for about 2 hours after their morning wake up and they were taking TERRIBLE naps.  Then I just started realizing that they are sleepy after 45-60 min after they wake up.  They usually wake up between 6-6:30am and are back down for the morning nap by 7:30am.  They usually sleep an hour and a half, but sometimes they will sleep for 3 hours!!! (And this is after STTN, 6pm-6am!)  Then they get up, eat, play for about another hour then back down for a mid-day nap which usually lasts another hour and a half.  Sometimes they will even take a 4pm snooze in a bouncy chair or boppy in the living room for 15-20 min before they eat at 5:30pm and back in bed at 6pm.  (FYI: A couple weeks ago we got them started on the Ferber method and that seems to have made a HUGE difference.They sleep SO much better now.  Also I pump half their bottles and FF the other half and they eat every 4 hours, so that might make a difference.)