Routine, Sleep & Preemies

bhilyer

Right now only one of my boys is at home. We are trying to establish a routine and sleep pattern for him. His eating schedule is not an issue as he eats every 3 hours or so except at night when he will go 4-4.5 hours. Part of me thinks it's too soon to schedule wake time, naps, etc. But another part of me is questioning it. What is your routine/schedule for you LO? Any book or program that help you establish this routine? Did you start it right away when you brought LO home? Thanks in advance

Natalie_may

Firstly, congrats on getting one home!  I hope the other follows quickly.

It's too soon to schedule, their internal clock isn't worked out yet.  The best thing you can do right now is to try and establish routine, bedtime routine could be, bath, nurse/bottle, cuddle, crib but the routine could start at 7 one day and 9 the next, depending on their sleepy cues. My boys are 2 mo adjusted and while they are SSTN there is still no scheduled nap times, when they get to 4mo adjusted we will start to   The best book about this I have read is Happiest Baby on the Block, it's very baby-led and pro comforting which is great for me since I'm not comfortable with CIO methods (poor twins already have to cry more than singletons, you only have 2 arms).  

I know this wasn't much help but they will start to be more predictable once they get a bit bigger! 

schenkertobe

Congrats on having one of your LOs at home! I think its too soon to have a schedule. My LO is 4weeks adjusted and I just go by his cues. Some days he sleeps much more than others. 

kar5162

I followed a "routine" of change, feed, play, sleep which then transitioned to change, feed, play, feed, change sleep as he started sleeping longer and eating more frequently during the day while sleeping longer at night.  At the first sleep instance after 7pmish, we added bath or washcloth wipe down, change, jammies and book before feeding and that was "bedtime". 

I followed his cues entirely though in terms of how long to play, how long to sleep and how much/often to eat.  Easier with one then two.  He really followed a very similar schedule most days with wanting to eat and sleep around the same times each day, but it changed fairly often as he got older.  I don't think I could have forced any type of schedule at that age (still can't really).  If he's not tired, he won't sleep.  If he's hungry, he wants to eat, etc.