3 month old scedules?

Ok my mother in law watches my babies and I am pretty sure she could care less if they take naps. It makes our afternoons a little miserable. I feel like my babies are being deprived of sleep that they despratley need to function and be happy babies because of her. My husband was so mad at her last night that he said he was going to talk to her about it. We have tried to tell her as soon as they start to act sleepy get them to sleep. There seems to be a very small window where they will fall asleep for naps after they start getting sleepy. It is like she is not going to listen because she didn't come up with it first. Anyway if I could get some suggestions on the way anybody else deals with this and anybody elses 3 month old schedules for napping that would be wonderful. I also could use some advice on how to go from 4oz feedings to 6oz feedings. I know that they will drink 6oz at least twice a day. Then sometimes they will only drink 4oz. I would like to get them switched to the 6oz feeding because I don't won't to pre make bottles to go somewhere and then they decide that is not enough. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Oh yeah, we are 3 months and I think they are starting to need some sort of nap scedule.

Thank you
Missy

 

I went back to work when my girls were 12 weeks and this was their schedule:

Wake anywhere from 3:00 to 5:00--Eat 4 oz bottle
right Back to sleep
Wake at 8:30ish--Eat 4 oz bottle
Play
Nap from 9:30 to 11:00
11:15 Eat 4 oz Bottle
Play
Nap from 12:30 to 2:00
2:00 Eat 4 oz Bottle
Play
Nap from 3:30 to 4:30
Eat 5:00 4 oz Bottle
Play
Cat nap from 6:00-6:30
Play
Eat 7:45--4 oz Bottle
Bath
Jammies
Story
Bed

All times are approximate.

As you can see, we were on the EASY plan...Eat, Activity, Sleep, You time.

We still are on a varied version of this as well.

 

Although nap/play times vary, this is the basic schedule right now:

wake 5:30
6 oz bottle 6:00
cat nap 6:30-7:30
play
nap 9-10
5 oz. bottle 10am
play/nap (still varies here day by day) 10:30 am - 2 pm
5 oz. bottle 2pm
play/nap (varies here too) 2:30 pm -5 pm
5 oz. bottle 5 pm
play/nap (varies here too but it's more play than nap) 5:30 pm -8 pm
bath 8 pm
6 oz. bottle 9 pm.
sleep 9:30pm - 5:30 am

My understanding is that it's best to start them with a morning nap - get them used to that first, then move on to an afternoon nap. That is where we're at right now.

 

Hi Missy,
I think our twins are basically the same age. Unfortunately we have zero schedule during the day yet. I go back to work full time next week and we have a nanny starting. I am breastfeeding so that may have something to do with it. They have a regular schedule of going to bed at 8 pm but other than that I haven't had any luck establishing a nap/feeding schedule during the day. I've had a 3 year old home and that's part of the problem since I am split three ways all day. I'm hoping that now that DD is back at pre-school and the nanny will be dedicated to the babies, we'll be able to get them more regular. I'm a believer in the Weissbluth Happy Sleep Habits Healthy Child book with regard to sleep/naps, but honestly I've had no luck getting them into a morning nap (which he says develops first) yet. I think they are just a bit young and hope that over the next month it will work better. If you haven't read that book, I would highly recommend it.

As far as the MIL problems go, have you tried having her read that book? It is filled with scientific research and anecdotal evidence of how important daytime napping is. Maybe if she read it from an "expert" she would heed the advice moreso than hearing it from you. Or maybe you could have her come with you to a pediatrician appointment and ask the Dr to help convince her of what is needed. I definitely find that my own mother will listen to outsiders more than me sometimes.

Well, good luck and try not to stress out about it too much. According to Weissbluth the part of the brain that organizes daytime sleep which results in regular daytime napping doesn't mature until between 12 and 16 weeks (and you need to adjust that for your original due date). You've got lots of time to get that rhythym going. I'm sure some babies do it earlier, but I wouldn't overly worry if yours aren't doing it now.

 

Here's our current schedule/routine that we've been on for about 3/4 weeks now. Mine are 3 months today.

430/5am - Wake for 4oz(dd) and 6oz(ds) bottle*
7/730am - Wake for day and play in crib for 30 minutes
730/8am - 6oz(dd) and 8oz(ds) bottle
8/830am to830/9am - Play on bed with Mom
830/9am to 11/1130am - Nap in separate cribs in separate rooms**
11/1130am - 6oz(dd) and 8oz(ds) bottle
1130/12 to 1230/1pm - Playtime
1230/1pm to 3/330pm - Naptime (same as above)
3/330pm - 6oz(dd) and 8oz(ds) bottle
330/4-430pm - Playtime with Dad (home from work)
430pm to 515pm - Catnap
515pm to 6pm - Playtime (walk, fresh air etc)
6pm - Bathtime
630pm - Bottle, swaddle and in bed by 7pm

*We are working on consolidating this bottle with the 730/8am bottle. We are decreasing by an oz each week.

** The babies are laid down swaddled in separate cribs in separate rooms while awake - both have done great self soothing to sleep, but they have issues self soothing if they wake up in the middle of a naptime. If they wake up too early I will let them fuss for a bit, and if they don't go back to sleep I'll put them in their swings where they sleep for the rest of the naptime.

Since we start daycare in three weeks we are working on sleeping for naps w/o the swaddle blanket, so I'm leaving one arm out for their last two naps of the day. Next week we'll try two arms out!! Hope this helps!! Good luck with your MIL. I didn't realize early on how much sleep these two actually needed, and once we started working on longer naptimes, they've been soooo much happy and easier to deal with during their wake times!!
Suzi

 

wow, i am so impressed with your nap schedules!! we have been trying to follow dr. w healthy sleep habits, happy child method but it is sooo hard. ours do not go down for nap time without crying. it would be so nice if they could self sooth but i know it will get easier. i am amazed at reading schedules where the babies sleep like clockwork! like pp ours our doing well at night time but the day time sleep organization is tough. i also just went back to work so it is hard to control what they do during the day and how much or little rest they get. i am hoping over the next month or two they fall into a more predictable nap routine (around 9 and 1)

do your babies cry when you put them down...how long do you let them cry for? do you make them stay in their cribs until the "nap time" is up? its so hard hearing them scream and protest naps but i know how bad they need them. what's the trick. would love to know.

 

It doesn't hurt to TRY to have some type of loose schedule now, but really, I think it's too early to expect too much structure from your babies, esp if they were not full term, as most twins are not.

To be honest, I've just gotten mine on a reliable nap schedule in the past two to three weeks, and that's after months of trying, and realizing they just weren't ready or able to do it. I too am into the Healthy Sleep Habits Healthy Child. I was waiting until 6 months to CIO with my DS, and honestly it was what he needed too (in my opinion). After two weeks of putting the babies down to naps at 9 and 1 every day, consistently, and enforcing CIO with my DS, they now go down with none to a minute or two of crying, an sleep from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours! They always go to bed at around 6:45 for the past 2-3 months, and might get a cat nap in around 4:30 too.

I recommend what the PP said about giving your MIL the Weissbluth Book... and seeing that she actually reads it....

Good luck!

 

When my girls were 3 months we didn't really have a schedule yet. But they would go back to sleep after about 1.5 to 2 hours max.

Now for the MIL issue, I can totally relate. When DS was just itty bitty my MIL watched him for me so I could go back to work full time. She did not listen to anything I said (that was one reason I quit work). You need to just put your foot down. You are the mother and she needs to be doing things your way, not her way. I know it's easier said then done. I used to put a bunch of little notes in the diaper bad with all his stuff "reminding" her of all the things I wanted done my way. She made a smart comment the first day or two but then I think she sort of got it. Things weren't perfect but they improved.

Good luck.

 

:birthday: btw!!

I hope you had a great day!

 

I'd just like to add that my twins were full term, and I think I've lucked out in that they are very easy babies. I read all the time on this site of women who are working their BUTTS off, and I think there but for the grace of God go I. Don't get me wrong, it's hard work, and we have our moments and our days, but overall they are very very easy and adaptable babies.

I only tried this to move them to a more organized AM/PM nap after the babies began to sleep longer on their own in both the AM/PM, and I took it as a sign from them that it was time to work on longer naps vs the 45 min-1hr naps they had been taking 4-5 times a day - 95% of the time it works.

Suzi

 

Here is our schedule, at almost 12 weeks:


6am -- Wake and eat, go right back to sleep

9am -- Wake and eat, playtime, fresh outfits, wash faces, etc. Max 1.5 hours awake time

10:30am -- Nap

Noon -- Wake and eat, max 1.5 hours awake time

1:30pm -- Nap

3pm -- Wake and eat, max 1.5 hours awake time

4:30pm -- Nap

6pm -- Wake and eat, then hang out and stay awake for awhile

Short catnap of maybe 30 to 60 minutes, maybe in swings or bouncies

8:15pm -- Tummy time, baths

9pm -- Last feeding, then bed


They just started sleeping through the night a few days ago....during the day, if they get cranky, I will put them down after only an hour of being awake....they NEED naps. I've found that this schedule pretty much eliminates all crying -- they are rested and happy, and if they start to fuss, it means they need to sleep.

We do have some evening fussiness, but they do fine if they're held -- and I've found they sleep through the night if we keep them up in the evenings!

 

At that age my twins were sleeping every 1.5 hrs and sleeping through the night. Now they only get 1, two-hour nap, but still sleep through the night.

 

thanks for all the suggestions and schedules they are going to be very helpful. I also ordered dr w healthy sleep habits happy baby book. Maybe that will help things too.
Thank you
missy