another sleep question

Mine are 7 weeks old tomorrow. They generally will sleep about 3 hours max at night. We have been putting them down late - around 11:00, so that we're really only getting up once in the middle of the night. That way they wake up around 2:00, back down around 3:00, and up again at 6:00 - which is when DH would be getting up for work anyway, so it really makes it just feel like one middle of the night feeding. It just feels easier for us to not go to bed early and be having to get up twice in the night to feed.

But my question is - should we be putting them "to bed" earlier? They do sleep some in the evening - after the 8:00 feeding they'll generally sleep an hour or so - but we don't put them in their bed for this, we keep them out in the living room with us. Would they sleep longer if we put them in bed earlier. Frankly I doubt it, but interested to hear what your experiences are.

thanks.

 

I keep trying to put them down at 7 as a matter of "practice" but, I spend from 7-midnight pretty much in the room with them because they cluster feed, fuss, have colic periods and don't go to sleep for real until about midnight. Boy would I love tips on how to get them to sleep from 7-10 and then 11-3 and so on. I wish they could start their night time sleep sooner in the evening. I look forward to reading others responses. Sorry I'm no help.

 

I think at that age it doesn't make that much difference. If you are getting from 11-6 with just one feeding, it sounds like you're doing pretty well! You seem to have a system that works for you. When they get a little older (like 3 months), you can start putting them down for the first part of the night in their beds, so they learn to associate that with nighttime. You might know that it's time to do this when they aren't sleeping as well in the living room anymore. (As they get older, they are more easily distracted by noise & light.) HTH!

 

Yeah, I agree about waiting until they are 3 months. I am pretty much doing what you are doing...going to bed at 11. But I also get up maybe one or two more times because I usually feed them around 9 or 10 then at 12-1 and then 3-4. I figure once they are older, around 3 months we can start more of a routine, bath and quiet time and then bed by 9.

 

At that age we did the same thing. We tried to get the last feeding in around 10 or 11 so we would only have to get up once at 2 or so. I guess it was at about 3 months that I noticed they needed to go to bed earlier, so now it's about 7:30. Plus they take 3 naps a day, so that's another 4-5 hours.

 

It really is too hard to establish a schedule for them at such a young age. I would say do what works best for you and get them into a routine around 3 or 4 months. We put ours down around 10 or 11 until they were 4 months. We now put them down at 7 and they will sometimes wake up for a feeding, but not always. Once they get a little older, they'll know that 7pm is bedtime and they'll be so tired that you won't have a choice but to put them down for the night.

Good luck. Sleeping habits will get a ton better in the upcoming months!

 

At that age, you are doing great! My girls slept through at 11 1/2 weeks. They are now 6 months (5 adjusted). I put them to bed between 5-5:45 at night. They sleep until 6-6:30. They have a consolidated morning nap (8-10), but have two short PM naps (12-1 and 3-4).

 

I think your schedule sounds great for 7 weeks! I pretty much let my twins choose their schedule in the beginning. First bedtime was between 12-1, then it was 11, then about 10 and now it's between 8-8:30. Because your twins are taking such a late nap (8-9), I would try to keep them awake a bit longer and try putting them down to bed at 10 instead for a couple of nights. It just seems like a really late nap for them and they might just sleep a little longer. When my twins were newborns, I would feed them, swaddle and put one on each side of me on the couch - I sat in the middle. I would keep giving them their pacifiers and they would eventually fall asleep. This worked out great for US because the twins learned how to fall asleep by themselves without rocking/being held. Once they were asleep for 20 mins or so, we would put them into their cribs. Now at bedtime, I just have to lay them in their cribs after their bottles and they fall asleep within 5-10 minutes.

You really are doing great though!

 

Lisa, I would give them a "nap" at 7 starting in the next few weeks, maybe after a bath or a nighttime routine that you and Jim start. Then you can continue to get them at 11 and so on and so on. Eventually it will end up being just one time at night, say 1 am.

They are still pretty young though, so it will take time. Sleeping through and a regular routine didn't start til about 4 months for us.

WOW, they are getting big! Love their pics! :wub:

 

Mine have always went to bed for the night around 7 PM (although now it is 7:30 or 8 some nights) and they always only got up the one time around 8 weeks on... I say do what makes it easiest for you. Mine slept in the PnP till they were 3 months old... After that they were in one crib for two weeks then in their own from there on... Bedtime starts around 6:30 - and then they are normally asleep by abnout 7:30. Of course now they sleep till 6 AM or a little later... Once mine went to bed i got a few things done and i too went to bed...

 

My boys sleeping patterns were quite the same at that age. We also did the same thing by staying up with them till around 11 to get 1 last feeding in before we all crashed. My boys are 4 months tomorrow. What we have been doing for about a month and a half now is we keep them up from 6:30ish till their 8:00 bath and last bottle and then we put them in their swings in the living room until we go up to bed. They have been sleeping from 8:30ish till about 5am. So the key to our boys sleeping that long now is keeping them awake until the 8:00 feeding. I'm not sure if it would work being that you babies are younger but that's my 2 cents. Good Luck!