Question for SAHM's

I haven't been on here too much since my boys were born, just so busy!! Anyways who gets up with your babies in the night? I do it all through the week cause my husband has to work, which wasn't too bad since i could sleep in.. Then on the weekend both of us get up.. Well its almost back to school, which means I'll be getting up early too and Im not looking forward to that, how do you ladies handle the night time feedings?? who does it?

 

I think I'm in the minority, but when I stayed home with the twins (for about a year), DH got up just as much as I did. He viewed the job of staying home with the kids just as important as his job. I was a very lucky woman.

 

in the beginning, DH got up for every night feeding with me, even though he was working. he would give the girls bottles of EBM, while i pumped, then we'd all go back to bed. once we got nursing figured out though, i got up by myself & nursed them. if i needed help on a given night/feeding though, i just asked & he would get up.

 

Right now while I'm not working, we both feed the babies around 11-12ish and go to bed. I feed them for the next feeding (sometime around 3-4am) and DH does the early morning feeding (around 6-7am). DH also lets me sleep until 8-9am before the babies need their next bottle. This works for us since he works second shift. I'm also better in the middle of the night and he's better in the morning. If I need help for my turn, DH will wake up to help me.

If he were on first shift, then I think we would have split the time where he would sleep from like 8-2 and I did all the feedings then and then we'd switch and I'd sleep from 2-8 and he'd do all the feedings.

 

My DH slept soundly through the nights for all my kids and the twins were no different. He doesn't hear them and struggles to stay awake if I wake him. BUT...he was hands on every waking moment. If he was home then I would be sent off to rest and he would handle it all. He works full time and needs his wits about him so I know he has to sleep. I just accepted it after the first child and it works in our home. Good luck. Try to talk it through and make a plan that works for both of you so you don't get resentful.

 

My husband left me to night feedings when he went back to work, and I would have to then go through the whole day without help. By the time he got home from work, I'd be frantic for a break... that is not the way to go! I was burnt out and exhausted in no time and ended up getting very sick. I think that going in shifts is a great way to go. Or you could share duties.. you do the feeding, he can do the diapering. I am sure you'll find a rhythm that works for you.. just make sure that you are both getting some rest at some point in the day.

 

My DH always helped me with night feedings, even when he had to work. Now they are not eating at night, but we are up with teething - I do almost all of the getting up unless they both start crying at the same time, then he will get up and help me soothe them back to sleep.

 

In the early beginning, dh and I did it together. Then we moved to sleeping in shifts. So he took care of them from 8p-2a, and I 2a-8a and then he got up and got ready for work. Once they started sttn, we swapped nights of who got up. I get up(even now) with the kids MWF and he does T/Th/Sat and we rotate who can sleep in on Sunday.

With Annabella, we took turns on a nightly basis. If I woke up with her Tuesday, he woke with her on Wednesday.

 

When the babies where born until they started STTN at 3 months I did ALL of the feedings, night AND day. Hubby worked ALL the time to keep a roof on our head and food in our bellies. What helped was that once or twice a week a friend or family member would come over and take a 2am or 6am feed to let me sleep a little longer than 3 hour increments.

It was hard and I was pretty much a zombie until they started STTN.

 

DH and I take turns. One night I get up first with whoever cries, then he gets up next, then I get up, etc. The next night he gets up first and so on.

We do it this way because DD usually sleeps from 8 pm until about 5 or 6 am, but DS is still waking up 2 or 3 times a night. It works well for us.