Give me your best tips for sleeping!

Re: Give me your best tips for sleeping!

• regenab member

  December 2009

  I started to sleep train my girls to STTN 12 hours without feeding once they hit 8 weeks adjusted, which meant they were 12 weeks real age. Before that they were too young and didn't weigh enough to try it. The plan I used required them to be at least 8 weeks old adjusted, weigh at least 9 lbs. and they had to be taking in at least 24 oz. in a 24 hour period. So if you are not at that point, I would say you will need to wait a little longer before you can start working on them dropping a feeding during the night.

  So far I think you are doing great, they have a good bedtime hour and getting up only twice a night is really good for their adjusted age. You may run into some more wakeup times at night in the next couple of weeks because they may have a growth spurt on you and need a little extra during the night, but I think for now you are doing a great job.

  I used The Baby Sleep Solution by Suzy Giordano to sleep train my girls. Part of her book goes over ways to help teach your babies to soothe themselves to sleep so you can put them to bed drowsy but awake. so you don't have to rock them to sleep. I really liked her techiques and they worked great with my girls. She is a Mom of twin boys herself and developed her methods/plan raising her own newborn twins. So I highly recommend the book. The only thing I am not big on is the last step in her plan is naps. She says once you have completed all the stages your little ones will be only taking 2 naps a day (an AM and PM) nap. My girls needed 3 naps a day until they were almost 8 months old, even though they were sleeping 12 hours a night straight, they just needed more napping time during the day. So I followed my babies on this one and not the book. I let them tell me when they were ready to drop to only 2 naps a day.

  The age you are at right now is about the time I made the decision to start napping them in their cribs and I too have an upstairs. Yes it was a pain, but it did help get the baby weight off. I wanted them to be able to sleep in a set place during the day and not just anywhere as they had been doing for the first 8 weeks. It was hard at first because they were used to just falling asleep downstairs where ever they were at, and now I started putting them down for naps when they were still awake but drowsy. So I had to use the same techniques I used at night during the day.

  My tips for napping:

  1) Make sure they do not become overtired, they should be down for naps before the 2 hour mark is up, some babies can only go 90 min. between naps you have to watch each baby to see their signs of drowsiness.

  2) Try to mimic their nighttime routine as much as possible. I put black felt in the upper half of their bedroom windows so it would be darker in the room, not all bright and sunny. I also swaddled them for naps, I just used a waffle weave stretch blanket from Gerber instead of their swaddlemes, so it would be just like when I put them to bed at night. I also turned on their white noise machine, just like at night.

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• RoseWhite

  December 2009

  THANK YOU!!!!

   Your tips are great! I actually just ordered that book a few days ago...so now I'm really looking forward to reading it!.

  I do know the book insists on a 4-hour schedule...isn't that counter productive?.  My boys are eating every 3 hours and I don't think they could make it to 4!  Wouldn't that reduce the amount of food they take during the day thus making them want more at night?.

   Thank you for the napping tips! Up until now I really haven't been keeping track of how long they go between naps...because their naps are just all over the place!.  I think I'll start tracking it just to see if I can spot any trends...

  I guess my boys are 10 weeks, so 6 weeks adjusted...so I'll be getting the book just in time

  Thanks again! 

   

  

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• DEP

  December 2009

  My dad had twin sisters when he was 16;  he always told me to NEVER rock a baby to sleep!  I would just stop cold turkey.  Offer a pacifier instead.

  Mine are 3 months old now and sleeping from their 10:30 feed thru to 6-7am now.  They dropped the 3:30 at around the 6-8 week mark.  We feed every 3 hrs during the day.  My suggestion is to give a pacifier when they start fussing and push the feedin goff a half an hour longer every 3 days (ie push til 4 am for 3 days, 4:30am the next 3 days, etc etc).  Also, don't feed them earlier than the latest they've slept (ie if they wake at 5am never feed them again at 4:30 am----special circumstances exluded) . 

  I always swaddle for now;  I NEVER use the vibrating options or a swing.  I go up and down the stairs all day long ( I look at it as a great weight loss!) but I also have a double bassinett downstairs.  

  GOOD LUCK!

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• regenab member

  December 2009

  Actually the 4 hour between meals makes them eat more at a feeding, so they start taking in more during the day and need less and less at night, so they start dropping feedings during the night. I started by pushing them like 10 min. at a time because mine were on a 3 hour feeding schedule as well up until I started training them. So their first morning feeding would be at 7AM and I would feed them their second bottle at 10:10 or 10:15, then so on and so on throught out the day. Each day they went further and further until we got it stretched to the 4 hours between feedings except the final feeding of the day was usually at like 3 1/2 hours so they would be in bed with lights out by 7PM.

   

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