Okay, this is crazy, after days of only getting one-two hour stretches of sleep at a time, my babies are maybe catching on. I went to bed at 9, DH stayed up to do the 11 p.m. feeding. It's now 3 a.m. and neither baby is awake. I am up debating whether or not to wake them, isn't that a crazy one! 4 hours!! And I slept for a 5 hour stretch, I feel like a new woman. Okay, off to get a few more minutes of shut eye before they wake up, I know it's probably a fluke and I'll be up every 2 hours the rest of the night!
Mary, I hope you were able to go back to sleep! I wake my boys up every three-three and a half hours. Our doc. told us not to let them go longer than 3 hours, but it's so hard to wake them! My boys were preemies and in the nicu, so I think that's why I have to make sure they eat that often. Since your babies are so much bigger than mine, I would wait 4 hours. Just my opinion. Megan
I hope you got lots of sleep, and their sleeping continues on. I remember waking up and wondering, too... but hopefully that didn't last too long for you!
That's how my life with the boys started out, the pedi said we needed to wake them to feed every 3 hours until they were about a month or so old, then he allowed them to sleep past 3 hours, but maxed out at 5.... Now, they're almost 4 months and I feed them when they're hungry...which is no set time... One night they will decide to eat every 3 hours like they're newborns...then the next night I'm staying up expecting them to eat at such and such time and they sleep through it..and there I am, wide awake, waiting for that next feed so that I can put my weary self to bed for a few decent hours of sleep...and they go right on sleeping 5, 6 hours in a row and I MISSED it b/c I was waiting to feed them based on the previous night's schedule... I guess my sons have a sick sense of humor already, huh? HA! Already messing w/ mommy's head....
my ped is the odd man out here. he says if i make sure they get enough during the day (which they are getting now), i can let them sleep at night until they wake up hungry. and i'm not supposed to assume they are hungry just b/c they wake up. his method is this: they wake up, i wait 3 minutes to go to them. if they are still crying, i go in check/change their diaper. if still crying: offer a pacifier. if still crying: pick up and rock for 2 - 3 minutes. if still crying: feed. i know it's not the traditional approach with 11 day old babies. the key, though, is that they must be above their birth weight and gaining steadily. good luck!
I never woke my babies to eat at night after the first couple of weeks (well, when one woke, I woke the other). I remember the first time they went 7 hours. I almost died! I woke up about every 30 minutes the whole time to check if they were still alive!!
thanks for the replies, they woke up on their own about 3:20, then went right back down until almost 6, i feel so rested after getting those 5 hours, how crazy is that!!
I remember these moments all too well. I used to think it was a fluke too and I lost way too much sleep. Take it from the worst insomniac in the world, get some rest. It gets better it really does and the sleep patterns will eventually even out.
