daily schedule

I'm a first time mom and am wondering when to start trying to set a daily schedule with actual naptimes and playtimes. My twins were born at 33 weeks, in the hospital for 4 weeks, and are now almost 7 weeks old. We still follow the hospital schedule of eating every 3 hours. I have been letting them stay awake or asleep on their own schedule (other than trying to keep them sleepy at night). When is it appropriate to try to start specific naptimes and playtimes between feedings and how do I start doing it? THANKS :ibiggrin:

 

I would wait one more week to start a definate routine. This is due to the adjusted age. Keep up with the feeding of every three hours.

Congrats on getting this far!

Jenn

 

When my girls were newborns the only thing I did was try to get them on a 3 hour schedule. The way I did it was to feed them for 30 minutes (I think it was 4 ounces) and then if they fussed right after they ate I took them outside or rocked them instead of trying to feed them right away. I wouldn't worry about starting any bad habits right now, they are too young. If putting them on a schedule helps you then it's not going to hurt your babies, but if you don't like a schedule then don't worry about starting it now, you can always start later.

 

According to Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, babies' daytime nap/awake schedule doesn't become consistent till three months, I think, and before that I heard they really can't get that consistant. You could force the issue by trying to keep baby awake as long as possible after a feeding, but you're going to risk baby becoming over-tired, which causes a vicious cycle because at that point babies' bodies release hormones that cause a caffiene-like effect, making it harder for them to go down for a quality nap/sleep, which could make them fussier for the rest of the day. I say, go with whatever baby wants till three months, and that's coming from a former babywise schedule nazi.

 

QUOTE(aimeethomp @ Feb 5 2009, 03:22 PM) [snapback]1177644[/snapback]
When my girls were newborns the only thing I did was try to get them on a 3 hour schedule.


Same here. Our napping schedule didn't come around until closer to 5 months. Around that time I would put them in their cribs at set times, to get them used to the new routine. Sounds like you are doing great!

 

We only started having specific nap times etc at 8 months, when we switched to 2 naps. And even then, it still varies by 30 minutes. Before that, it was more a routine of nap every 1.5 then 2 hours etc.

 

QUOTE(aimeethomp @ Feb 5 2009, 10:22 PM) [snapback]1177644[/snapback]
When my girls were newborns the only thing I did was try to get them on a 3 hour schedule. The way I did it was to feed them for 30 minutes (I think it was 4 ounces) and then if they fussed right after they ate I took them outside or rocked them instead of trying to feed them right away. I wouldn't worry about starting any bad habits right now, they are too young. If putting them on a schedule helps you then it's not going to hurt your babies, but if you don't like a schedule then don't worry about starting it now, you can always start later.


I totally agree. Saying that though, I got mine on the E.A.S.Y routine (as recommended by the Baby Whisperer) within the first month of bringing them home and they switched to eating every 4 hours themselves at 3 weeks old. I liked the routine and the sort of predictability of it, and they did too. I´d follow your instincts and your babies too. As the PP says, they´re too young to get bad habits. They say 3 months is generally a ´good age´ to start a routine. GL and congrats on your twins!

 

I haven't read the other posts, so sorry if I repeat. I started a night time routine at 2.5 months. That was setting a "bedtime". It was 11pm because this was their longest stretch. They would go from 11pm to 3am. Then they dropped the 11pm bottle completely by themselves around 3.5 months. Then bedtime was at 8pm and they usually woke up around 1am to eat. Around 4 - 4.5 months they started lasting from 8am - 3am. They were stuck on this until a week ago. The past week both had slept from 8pm until 7am on two different nights, so my husband and I decided it was time to let them "fuss a bit". They now sleep 8pm until 6am-8am. It is great. They are slowly falling into a nap schedule as well. They are eating more solids, are happier, not needing to be swaddled, rolling over, sleeping on their bellies in their cribs, not napping in swings,..the list is endless. Month 5 was full of milestones for us. Naps are usually at 9 or 10am then 1 or 2pm depending on how early they wake. Then they may take another short capnap before the bedtime bottle around 5pm. It all seemed to happen at once.