your baby's sleep "routine" if BF

jb2rn · January 2012

I am not one that is much for a routine at this age, but I was reading the sleep routine thread below and was shocked how many baby's are sleeping 4 hour stretches, or more! I know formula fed babies can do this, but I was also surprised to see BF babies do it!

So now I wonder if I am doing something "wrong". DS wakes and eats every 2 hours, sometimes more frequently if he didn't get a good feeding in (fell asleep and I could not wake him to eat more) or, this past week or so, sometimes approaching 3 hours.

Thoughts?

Faith1318 · January 2012

My son is just over 2 months and (most nights) sleeps a 7-hour stretch from about 7pm to 2am. Then sleeps again until 5 or 6 for the next feeding.

My daughter didn't until she was MUCH older.

Both EBF, both co-sleepers... all else being equal, they are/were just different babies. You are not doing anything wrong! I hope he sleeps longer for you soon.

ashleylach · January 2012

I was dealing with the every 2-3 hour routine and it took a toll on me so finally I started swaddling my daughter and it worked. After swaddling her for bed she started sleeping 5 hours stretches. Now she only wakes once throughout the night to BF and goes back down until I wake her for daycare. Do you swaddle? Also, where does your LO sleep? My daughter sleeps in her RnP next to my bed.

jb2rn · January 2012

yes, we swaddle him in the woombie. he hates it, but if we dont, he flails and wakes himself up. he sleeps next to me in the pack n play.

AllieCat16 · January 2012

His last feed of the night is usually 830...by the time we get him down it's like 10. He sleeps till about 1, or 2...it's very random. I feed him, then again around 7 am. He sleeps in his crib the first portion of the night then I sleep with him on the chaise lounge.... I'd take him into bed but we only have a queen and can't fit bc our dachshund sprawls out

angelina477 · January 2012

At night DS goes down at 12-1am and sleeps till 6-7am with no waking. Then he will go back down until 9am or so. We EBF. I make sure just to nurse on one breast per feeding to ensure the fatter milk so he is fuller longer.

Andi2384 · January 2012

We EBF and LO eats around 7 - 8 p.m., we give him a bath, read a few stories, say prayers, then put him down where he will sleep until 2 - 4 a.m. I feed him and as soon as he hits his "milk coma," he goes back down until I dream feed him around 6 - 6:20 (right before I have to take him to daycare).

Every baby is different and I'm wondering if your little guy is hitting a growth spurt where he needs more milk more frequently. Also, I noticed for my guy that when he was getting too much fore-milk (I had an over-supply), he did not sleep for long periods of time. Now that my supply has evened out, he is able to "drain" me and is probably getting more fatty milk, keeping him fuller longer.

LesRN · January 2012

we made giving a bottle part of LOs bedtime routine. around 730 we start a bath and she is usually asleep by 900. occasionally she will fight sleep and i end up topping her off and nursing her to sleep. but usually shes pretty drowsy half way through the bottle....i found it is much easier to get her down with the bottle. shes been sleeping anywhere from 4.5-6 hr stretches at first and then goes back down for 3-4 hrs.

smilelari · January 2012

rcj416:
My son is just over 2 months and (most nights) sleeps a 7-hour stretch from about 7pm to 2am. Then sleeps again until 5 or 6 for the next feeding.
My daughter didn't until she was MUCH older.
Both EBF, both co-sleepers... all else being equal, they are/were just different babies. You are not doing anything wrong! I hope he sleeps longer for you soon.

this. DS was well over 6 months when he STTN for the first time and then it was an anomaly. He didn't STTN regularly until we sleep trained at 14 months

DD? Well she's STTN a few times already. Last night she went from 9:30-5:30 (although I'm a tad concerned it's because she's sick) . Our routine? Well, last night we ate dinner around 6 then DH took DS to bed and we spent most of the evening trying to calm DD down in dark and silence. She was overtired and overstimulated from daycare

SuzJune04 · January 2012

I normally try to cluster feed in the late afternoon/evenings. We'll do a feeding after DD's nap 4pm, then 6pm, and then 8pm ideally. If DD takes an early evening nap then it gets shifted a bit. After my 8 or 9pm feeding, I'll pump and DH will give the 11 or 11:30pm feeding. Most nights DD will get up once around 4am then sleep until 7am. In the morning, DD will be up for 2hrs and then need her morning nap.

Last night DD went from 11pm feeding until 6am...yay!

Vieve831 · January 2012

We almost always get a 4 hour stretch, even when he was a newborn. The time varies, but on average now he sleeps from 10pm-3am, wakes up around 5am, and is up for the day around 8am. Sometimes (and I assume its during growth spurts) he wakes up at least every two hours, often more.

I did notice that on nights DH gives him a bottle of pumped milk he has had really awesome sleep stretches (like 11pm-5am). But because he will be getting lots of bottles at daycare I don't want him getting a bottle at night.

ETA: I don't think you're doing anything "wrong" at all! Everything I've read says 2 hours is normal and that you are lucky to get more.

JMC11511 · January 2012

We usually get DS in bed by 9:30 or so. 3 days ago he slept 5.5 hours. The next day 6. The day after that he slept 9-10:30, ate, then slept 11-7:30. It was glorious. Today he slept 9:15-5:15, ate, and is back in bed. If he's not up by 8:00, I will get him up to start our routine. During the day he's on a 3 hour feeding schedule, with nap times during each increment. I really believe that his naps during the day and the consistency during the day has been helping him sleep. I finally figured out how long he could tolerate being awake before he was overtired and couldn't get naps in on Friday last week. That's when we started getting longer stretches out of him at night. He feeds from both sides every feeding and usually drains both sides every time. He is swaddled and sleeps in his crib in his room. Right before the last feeding of the night we do a diaper change, lotion, jammies, feeding. While he eats, Daddy reads to him, then we check diaper, swaddle, say prayers, sing "Walk the Line", and into bed. He's asleep within 10 minutes of leaving the room.

HollyBerry25 · January 2012

Our last feeding of the night is 9-9:30. I change him, swaddle him, and BF him, and he is usually drowsy by then. He is asleep by 10 and sleeps until at least 3:30, sometimes 4:30-5 am. Then he nurses again about 7 and off to the babysitters for the morning.

Rosebud2587 · January 2012

DD still wakes up about every 2 hrs at night so you're LO is not the only one who doesn't seem to be a super sleeper.

Last night DD was up every hr from 2-7. It was a LONG night.

epopp85 · January 2012

Does he have reflux or anything like that? What percentile is he in for weight and height?

DS had reflux and was in the 18% at this age (if I remember correctly) and he still ate about every 3-4 hours at night. He was about half and half formula and BM at this age.

DD doesn't have reflux and is in the 11% and she ates for the last time at around 8 or 8:30 and sleeps until 5 or 5:30. DD is EBF.

The percentitle may not make a difference, but once DS got over the 20th, he started sleeping longer. He was also around 6 months old, so that may also have had something to do with it. My nephew didn't STTN until he was 18 months old so I think it just depends on the baby.

ETA: Our bedtime routine is to change diaper, nurse, read and sing to her and DS (then DS goes to bed), then let her play on her mat for about 30 mins or until she's unhappy. Swaddle with the miracle blanket, then rock for a few minutes with her paci and she's out. Sometimes, we can ever put her down sleepy but awake and she'll fall asleep on her own. I fully credit the Wabbanub with that accomplishment though.

Magriet · January 2012

My LO goes down at 10:30 on the dot (he has an amazing internal clock) and then sleeps for 6 hours, I 'dream feed' him and then he sleeps another 3 or 3.5 hours. He is EBF and cluster feeds before bed. During the day he goes 2-3 hours between feeds, but then eats at 7,8,9 and 10 pm. That tops him up enough that he can sleep a nice long stretch. I'm hoping that he goes down even longer in the near future.

vanessa11411 · January 2012

I've been getting 3 hour stretches but this past week it's been 1 four hour stretch then it decreases by an hour with each time he gets up to eat.

He used to go to bed at 10 but I was too exhausted by then, so I was able to bump it up to 8ish. I try to feed him before he goes to bed. I kick DH out of the room, because he has a tendency to make noise. So he goes downstairs to watch TV. I turn off the lights and turn on our little heater and noise machine. Then I try to rock him to sleep, sometimes it takes longer than other nights. I now swaddle him, before I didn't and the swaddle seems to be working for us again.

Even though it's just an extra hour of sleep....it totally helps. I don't wake up cranky and exhausted.

I'm just waiting for LO to change his mind and go back to 3 hour stretches.

dpeugh85 · January 2012

Magriet:

My LO goes down at 10:30 on the dot (he has an amazing internal clock) and then sleeps for 6 hours, I 'dream feed' him and then he sleeps another 3 or 3.5 hours. He is EBF and cluster feeds before bed. During the day he goes 2-3 hours between feeds, but then eats at 7,8,9 and 10 pm. That tops him up enough that he can sleep a nice long stretch. I'm hoping that he goes down even longer in the near future.

This exactly. DS starts cluster feeding around 6/7 and is eating every 45 minutes to an hour. He is asleep between 8-10, we normally get 6-7 hours straight. He wakes, we change and BF then he is down again until 7 or 8. I'm counting my lucky stars here. However, he was up at 4:30 this morning and wanted to play until 6:30 - ugh. That is NOT my playtime.

dpeugh85 · January 2012

Magriet:

My LO goes down at 10:30 on the dot (he has an amazing internal clock) and then sleeps for 6 hours, I 'dream feed' him and then he sleeps another 3 or 3.5 hours. He is EBF and cluster feeds before bed. During the day he goes 2-3 hours between feeds, but then eats at 7,8,9 and 10 pm. That tops him up enough that he can sleep a nice long stretch. I'm hoping that he goes down even longer in the near future.

This exactly. DS starts cluster feeding around 6/7 and is eating every 45 minutes to an hour. He is asleep between 8-10, we normally get 6-7 hours straight. He wakes, we change and BF then he is down again until 7 or 8. I'm counting my lucky stars here. However, he was up at 4:30 this morning and wanted to play until 6:30 - ugh. That is NOT my playtime.

MrsCaddyshack · January 2012

We EBF and generally do a bath at 8 p.m. and play with her, give her one last feeding, and get her to sleep around 9:30. She's been consistently sleeping from 9:30 - 3 a.m., but has twice STTN (9:30-5:30 and last night... 9-7!!!)

She still has times when she'll get up every 2-3 hours, but those are rare now.

lexi44 · January 2012

My son is 2 months and EBF. He sleep anywhere from 6-8 hour stretches.

I usually start his bed time routine between 8-9 depending on how he is acting. We started our routine when he was a few weeks old so we all could start getting use to it and it works well so far. He normally nurses till he falls asleep and then I place him in his bed. Sometimes he will go down drowsy and is pretty good at getting himself to sleep.

Goes to bed between 8-9, sleeps till 4-6 then gets up to nurse, goes back to sleep and is up for the day between 7-9.

Last night he went to bed at 9 slept till 6, ate went back to bed till 8:30

I make sure during the day we get lots of sunlight in the house, when he is awake has plenty of stimulation and at then after our dinner time we make sure to keep things dim and minimal stimulation. This way he learns the difference between day/night. Plus with a routine he learns what bedtime is.

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