Nap/night schedule starting at 7.5 weeks too early?!?!

I've been reading Dr. Weissbluth's book HSHHC and feel that I'm getting some good pointers. I've been trying to put down our bbaies for a nap when I notice sleep signs, but they cry once I put them down. I go in and pat them, put their pacifier (ds) back in and try to console them without taking them out of their cribs. They continue to cry off and on but don't really nap. I'm just going in there every time they cry to comfort them. After I comfort them they're quiet for like 5-10 min then cry again. I go back in and the same routine occurs. Am I starting too early? They will be two months old in one week. According to this book it's not too early. I don't really know. All I know is that our dd gets over tired and doesn't sleep well during the day and becomes really fussy. I feel terrible for her cause I know she wants to sleep. I'm hoping this helps the both of them and puts them on some kind of schedule. But is it too soon? Has anyone trained them this young and if so, was it effective? THANKS!!!!

 

I've been reading Dr. Weissbluth's book HSHHC and feel that I'm getting some good pointers. I've been trying to put down our bbaies for a nap when I notice sleep signs, but they cry once I put them down. I go in and pat them, put their pacifier (ds) back in and try to console them without taking them out of their cribs. They continue to cry off and on but don't really nap. I'm just going in there every time they cry to comfort them. After I comfort them they're quiet for like 5-10 min then cry again. I go back in and the same routine occurs. Am I starting too early? They will be two months old in one week. According to this book it's not too early. I don't really know. All I know is that our dd gets over tired and doesn't sleep well during the day and becomes really fussy. I feel terrible for her cause I know she wants to sleep. I'm hoping this helps the both of them and puts them on some kind of schedule. But is it too soon? Has anyone trained them this young and if so, was it effective? THANKS!!!!

 

I didn't train that young! I think Weissbluth says 4 mos. past DUE DATE is really when you can start making a concerted effort.

At this early age, just get them to sleep NO matter HOW! Hold them, rock them, swing them whatever. Just get them to sleep! That's the basic idea anyway!

Good luck!! I love HSHHC! I used it religiously after 4 mos.!!

 

There's a distinction between watching for sleep signs and starting a routine, vs. expecting them to self-soothe. I think 4 months is the absolute earliest for self-soothing, and 6 months is better. You are doing great to watch for sleep signs now, but I would still be rocking them to sleep and trying to get them deeply asleep before putting them down. What you should be working on right now is timing. I once heard this stage aptly described as "training the parents, not the babies."

When they hit 4-6 months and are already (ideally) used to sleeping at certain times of day, then you can start teaching them to self-soothe, and it will be easier because their body clocks will be used to that routine.

 

At that age the only thing I did schedule-wise was the time I put them down for the night. And baths. Other than that, they slept when needed, in swings, bouncies. Wherever. Whenever. Same went for feeding, it was on demand. Worked out fine for us. We now have a decent schedule which they adhere to without much of a hitch.

 

At 2 months my ped. recommended trying to get the twins used to a schedule and routines for naps and bedtime. Therefore, we started doing the eat, activity, sleep routine. I also watched for sleepy cues; however, I rocked them to sleep and then put them in their cribs. Now at 5 months, I am trying to put them to bed awake. I stay with them until they fall asleep; however, I make sure they fall asleep in their crib. I am finding that their naps and nightime sleep tend to be a little longer with them falling asleep in their cribs. Good luck!

 

I did Weissbluth with my first, since he's our ped (we're seeing him on Thursday with the twins) and even though she was / is a great sleeper and slept through the night really early, her day time sleep didn't get very consistent until closer to 4 months (he says 12-16 weeks in his book). Before that she used to do 45 minute naps after each 1 1/2 hour or so and sometimes she had sleepy days and she would nap a lot more.

I hope to get some more specific information on twin sleep since I know he has done a multiples study recently and he told me he would have some preliminary findings ... hopefully that will help me.

 

I've been trying a routine with my boys since the beginning. It's going okay, although they aren't still "sleeping thru the night" consistently. One night they'll wake up around 4am (after a 10ish bedtime). The next night, it's every hour on the hour. They no longer eat at night since they are getting all their calories during the day. Note: We didn't stop the night feeds until they were only eating an ounce or two when they woke at night. (They normally eat 5 oz. at each meal.)

I agree with everyone else though. Right now we're just following their lead and really it's all about trying stuff to see what works for you and your family. The only thing I will say about having some sort of schedule/routine is that you'll begin to anticipate when they'll be hungry. Since I feed them every 3-4 hours, I found that made it much easier to know if they were hungry or just fussy. Before the "schedule" of eating every 3-4 hours, I was overfeeding them because I thought the crying was a hunger signal.

I also follow the rule about not letting them stay up longer than 2 hours. If they can't settle down, I will swaddle them and lay them down. Usually being up longer means they are overtired and can't go to sleep on their own.

Hope that makes sense. Shannon