My dh goes back to work tomorrow... I was wondering how you all worked out the night time schedules...What worked or didn't work in terms of who did what, etc...DH and I were thinking I would go to bed at 8 o clock and sleep til midnight or 1am...He would take care of everything by himself during that time period. Then I would take over after that so he got some sleep before work. He can't go to bed early so this is what we thought might work... Anyone have ideas to share? What worked? What didn't? Do you think we should both be responsible all night long? I want both of us to get some kind of sleep... Thanks for any ideas/suggestions!
The schedule you propose is exactly what we did. He kept the girls while I slept from 8-12am (out in the living room since we had a pnp out there), and took care of the 8 pm (sometimes I helped with that), and the 11pm bottles alone. Then he brought them into our room after their 11pm bottles usually around 12am. So I got 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and then I took care of the 2am and 5am feedings alone so he got some sleep for work. edited to fix crazy smiley guys when i typed the 8 right next to the pm.
Dh went back before me... I got up with them everynight on my own alot... They slept in a PnP in our room and i fed them both at the same time in bed with me. Once i went back to work he would help but really i was in routine and did it alot on my own... It worked fine for us but i am sorta a control freak. LOL...
I went to bed at 7pm and he woke me up at midnight to pump. Then I took any feedings after 1am. He went to bed after their midnight feed. DH usually gets up around 7:45am for work. This worked GREAT for us. DH is a night owl and I am a morning person.
We had something similar: I had the boys from 9 p.m. - 4:00 a.m. We split the 4 a.m. feeding and then I went to bed until DH had to leave for work at 8:30 a.m.
We started out doing shifts, I was "off" from 9p-1a and DH was "off" from 1a-6a when he got up and went to work. This week though we are trying something different as we were having a hard time feeding both babies and getting them to go back down. Now he takes our "easy" baby Drew at night and I take Olivia. He gets up with Drew, feeds him lays him right back down and goes back to bed, with Olivia I feed her and hope that she goes down in the next 30-60 minutes. I end up getting a bit more sleep this way, DH a bit less but so far it's working out. I didn't like the shift thing b/c I am a natural night owl and just ended up laying awake in bed (even though exhausted) from 9-11 and then only getting 2 hours of sleep a night.
Sounds like you have the best idea. I wish me and the girls Dad would have done it that way as he HATED being up in the middle of the night or actually 4 am - so I ended up getting up during his shift too as he'd huff and puff and lose his patience. Hind sight has me wishing he would have taken the 7pm - 12am shift and let me sleep. I think this would have worked SO much better. Sounds like you have a good plan.
Shifts are one good option. My DH and I found that alternating feedings worked well for us - he'd take the first feeding, I'd do the next, and so on. It may take some trial and error, but I'm sure you'll come up with a system that works great for you! Here's a big pat on the back for your DH for sharing the night work with you too, btw.
Thanks everyone! I hope this type of system works out for us...Sleep deprived parents will not be good! LOL! As for dh-I honestly can not say enough about him! He has been truly amazing in every way. He just takes my breath away. He stayed with me and the boys all 5 days while we were in the hospital. He left for maybe a total of 2 hours the entire time. He's jumped into Daddyhood with no complaints whatsoever. I knew he would be a great father-but seeing it every single day is an amazing thing to watch. Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky...
I think that's a nice plan that you have going- I wish we would have done shifts. DH was home for 2 weeks with me and the girls, after he went back to work I woud do the first 2 night feedings and he would do the last which was usually around 4-5am. I went back to work after 7 weeks and still am responsible for a majority of the night duties, but now that the girls are sleeping longer and only need one night feeding, DH has offered to do 2 nights a week. I still have to get up to pump- so it's not really that much of a break, but I do appreciate the effort!
We both got up. I was pumping every 3 hours, so if I got up to pump AND feed the boys, I'd have only gotten about 3 hours sleep a night. So DH was a real trooper and got up w/ me and fed them bottles while I pumped. Lucky for him the boys learned to sleep through the night (well till around 5-6 or so) fairly early on, so I was the only one getting up in the middle of the night- all three of them slept soundly!
Meg, I did it like you did. I went to bed early and he went to bed late. I did the late night and he did the early night feed. It worked out well! How are those gorgeous boys doing????
Our family had pretty much the same schedule of shifts - I was on call from bedtime to 1a, DW from 1a-6a or so, then me again until it was time for me to leave for work. it's not allways that easy though (as i sut here rocking ds). some nights require dual participation. good luck! :good:
Since ours had reflux we had to keep them upright for at least 30 mins after they ate so we both got up and did each feeding together. They were so small to feed in bouncies or boppies that is went much smoother to hold them. We did not get much sleep at all. But looking back the shift thing would have been nice, but probably very overwhelming. Also, we too ended up just "taking a baby at night" and being responsible for that baby's feedings, diapers, and holding upright. Somehow I always got the high maintenance one. :angry:
