Babywise

I followed babywise (eat, play, sleep) with my dd. It worked great. She was sttn by 9 weeks. My twins just keep following a play, eat, sleep routine.

I wasn't sure when I should try to try and switch them to eat, play, sleep. They are still so sleepy after they eat. My twins are 7 weeks but they were 7 weeks premature.

Thanks!

 

It's been awhile since I read the book, but I'm pretty sure he says you have to allow for the prematurity. In other words if your babies are 7 weeks old but were 7 weeks premature you would now be starting at day 1.

The first couple of weeks the most I could do is after the girls ate if they got fussy I didn't run to get the bottle to feed them again. My mom and I would put them in their car seats and put the seats in the stroller to rock them both at the same time or we would each take one and try to soothe in other ways other than offering the bottle if they'd just taken a significant amount. When they were a little bit older I started doing 90 minutes awake/90 minutes of nap. First thing when they got up from their nap I gave them their bottle, and then it depended on how long it took them to eat as to how much awake time they had before going down for a nap. The way I differentiated b/w awake time and nap time was by swaddling. As soon as they woke up from naps they were taken out of the swaddle to eat and then to play. They were re-swaddled and placed either in the crib, bassinet, or swing for the nap. The swaddling really worked, I always used the same blankets (miracle blankets) so by the time the girls were 6 months old they knew that when they were placed in those blankets it was time to sleep.

GL! Mine were sleeping longer periods of time by 12 weeks old, but they really didn't consistently STTN (12 hours) until 6 months old.

 

QUOTE(MomofNickandSuzy @ Jan 18 2009, 12:53 PM) [snapback]1151973[/snapback]
I followed babywise (eat, play, sleep) with my dd. It worked great. She was sttn by 9 weeks. My twins just keep following a play, eat, sleep routine.

I wasn't sure when I should try to try and switch them to eat, play, sleep. They are still so sleepy after they eat. My twins are 7 weeks but they were 7 weeks premature.

Thanks!


Well of course they're sleepy, they're newborns! And really, what is the harm in letting them fall asleep when they're sleepy? It's not going to make any difference in when they STTN, since that's just a matter of how long it takes their brains to mature. There's no connection between schedules and STTN, so it's not like you're setting yourself up for failure.

You've got newborn twins - so you've got enough stress already without beating yourself up about whether they're awake or asleep after eating! As long as you're following their cues, you'll be fine.

 

Yep, you need to go by their adjusted age for sleep milestones. Since they are really "just born" they will sleep alot for the next couple of weeks. At that age, mine fell asleep on the bottle all the time and slept anywhere they wanted. GL!

 

We're following Babywise and our girls were born at 36 weeks. I think right now is what is called the "stabalization" phase, where you help the babies to differentiate between night and day, and just make sure that they get a full feeding each time, with good naps in between. We feed them upon waking up, and sometimes have to work at keeping them awake for feedings. But others, they are wide awake and really enjoy 15-20 min of waketime; interaction with me or DH.

I think as they get older, their waketimes will stabalize as they can tolerate being awake more. Even 5 min at this stage is good. PS: some people who haven't read Babywise can leave some really negative comments about it... so don't be discouraged if you get those. Many of my friends have used this book as a guide and their kids have thrived on it and are so well-rounded (well behaved, interesting, active, etc). Best of luck to you!

 

we did babywise as well but werent extremely strict with it. At that age if they wanted to eat and then go back to sleep we let them. Sometimes they could only be awake for 20 minutes or less.
Even now they are 4 months and can only be awake for about an hour.
Anyway, we never had any trouble with day/night confusion and they've always slept great at night.

 

I agree with pp that you would adjust their age for being seven weeks premature. In time they will be able to develop a pattern :hug: .

 

I had the book and loved it, but I don't think you should worry about the scheduling until they get a little older. Since they were so premature, they need as many calories as they can get for a little while longer, IMO. However, it's good to read up on to prepare yourself for when they can handle longer stretches between feedings.