Routine/Awake/Naps during the day

Hi ladies,

My girls will be 11 weeks on Monday. We don't really have a normal routine during the day, but at night, they take a 6 oz. bottle around 9:30, are put down about 10pm and sleep through until 6 or 7am. They both eat a bottle and then go back down in their gliders until 9 or 10am and then up for the day.

I wanted to ask all of you ladies out there with two to three month olds, what are you doing as far as awake times and naps during the day. How long do you keep them up after a meal, do you put them down for a nap after some play time and lastly, where do they nap (crib, pnp or bouncy seat)? I know they are still so young, but I feel like I'm never going to get a routine established. Their feeds are all over the place and they are napping in their bouncers and sleeping in rocking gliders during the night. Would love to hear what you all are doing.

Thanks a bunch!

 

My b/g twins will be 11 weeks on Thursday. I don't have any answers, but just wanted to beg the experienced moms out there for guidance on this topic. Our days are a mess too, and I can't seem to gain any ground on creating a schedule.

I'm bf'ing exclusively and today for the first time started to think about giving up. I feel like even if I was pumping, with bottles I could at least have some sort of control.

Looking forward to your help!!

 

I don't know if this will be much help. But until they hit 14 weeks we had them on a three hour eat/play/sleep cycle - loosly followed, we still tried to go by their cues. And it was hard early on to get any sort of consistent nap schedule. We're still working on it. Our original 3 hour schedule went like this:

8:00 first bottle 5-6 oz (sometimes they woke sooner and would fuss in their cribs for awhile, but unless they were screaming I didn't feed them. I liked having a set start time for each day).

Then I'd get them washed up and dressed for the day, so play time would start around 8:45. They'd play pretty good on the floor gyms (or whatever they're called) and would start to crank at around 9:30. I started to see a pattern that they did this after every 1.5-2 hours they were awake, so we decided to make that nap time. It made it easier to see when to put them down. Around 12- 13 weeks we started putting them in their cribs around this time, swaddled which helped them stay sleeping longer.

11:00 next bottle 5-6 oz. Ideally they'd sleep from 9:30 to 11, but we usually got an hour tops out of them

We'd follow this same schedule the rest of the day - eat/play/sleep. Bottle times were 8, 11, 2, 5, 8 then bed.

Last week we switched them to a 4 hour feeding schedule (8, 12, 4, 8), so we're still working on how to fit the naps in. The past couple days they did pretty good and followed the 1.5 - 2 hour wake schedule:
8 am bottle
9:30 - 11:30 nap in crib
12 bottle
1:30 - 3:30 nap in crib
4 bottle
6-7 on and off cat naps in bouncy chair/swing or high chair
7 baths
7:30 - 8:15 walk (which they're usually half asleep for)
8:30 bottle
9:00 bed

They do get fussy on and off from 6:00 on. I'm trying to decide if we should do another crib nap for maybe an hour around 6 so we can keep the same bed time (which I prefer) or maybe moving the bedtime up (I see now why so many people do this). Because a nap at 6 seems so late...

 

my girls will turn 11 weeks on Tuesday and here's our "routine"
they're on a 3 hour eat/wake/sleep schedule right now. I have them seperated for their sleeping. Aubrie sleeps (for naps and bedtime) in the crib in their room and Lexi is in the pnp in our room (for both naps and bedtime). I like having them up in their rooms during their naps becuase then I can solely focus on my other boys while they're sleeping and not worrying about waking them up if they're on the couch snoozing, etc...
they are only eating 2-3 oz at each feeding (they are roughly 11 and 12 pounds right now). During their awake time (which is right around 45 min to an hour after each feeding) we'll do bath time (usually in the morning) or have tummy time, play in their swings, snuggle or my older boys are always wanting to hold or "play" with them. Bedtime is right around 7pm and they sleep until about 2am when they have a bottle and then sleep until about 8am - which is when they get up for the day. I'll be soooooo thrilled when they can go from 7pm-7-8am but feel content with the routine we're currently on.
My girls had been taking naps on the couch or their bouncy chairs until about 6-7 weeks. that's when I started putting them in their cribs/pnp because I was paranoid they'd get accustomed to not sleeping in their cribs which is where I knew I wanted them - LOL.
Thanks for asking this - I'm always curious to see what others routines are like!

 

At that age we tried to follow eat-sleep-play. I know some people do eat-play-sleep, but my girls always passed out after a bottle! Usually they'd eat a bottle, fall asleep for about 45 minutes to an hour, get up and 'play' for an hour to a 1 1/2 hours and then have another bottle. Lather, rinse, repeat around the clock!

 

my girls are 12 weeks and we are working on naps in the pnp. I had been letting them sleep where ever - mostly swings and the sitter also let them sleep in the swings.

My question is how to transition to the pnp or the crib? they are screaming when we try to put them down. They are too young to CIO.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

My Boys are 17 weeks and I had the same problems with the naps too but by 14 weeks the started to naturally follow a pattern, mine go down for a nap every 1 1/2 to 2 hrs, play time is usually an hour or less. To get them to their cribs I first let them play after they eat , they always get cranky when they have had enough so then I put them in their swing and give them a toy to hold. Their swings are in the living room so they will look at the tv and get drowsy after about 15min, then I put them up in their crib. Before 14 weeks I just let them sleep where ever they slept but again, it just came naturally. Sometimes one of my guys will whine for 10 min or so in his crib but I will turn the mobile on again for him but that is it, I dont pick them up, I have learned that my boys whine when they are tired and sometimes will keep it up until they fall asleep. The odd time they will cry and its usually a burp that I missed. I always inspect when crying, try to burp and put back down, it that doesnt work they are usually still hungery so I will give them another 2 oz, that usually does the trick. Good Luck to you! :hug99:

 

My b/g twins are on the eat/sleep/play routine. They eat about 6 oz every 4 hours (or nurse for 30min.), go down for a nap, then get up and play for a while. Then we repeat. Their last bottle is around 9 pm and they wake up around 5-6am. This is the schedule they are on, and I try to stick to it as close as possible...even with nursing. They may vary anywhere from 30 min. prior to time or after. They are both big babies, over 10 lbs. The twins usually sleep in their crib during the day, but sometimes it's in my bed, swing, or bouncy seats. They always sleep in the crib at night. They use to be in their own crib, but now they are in the same crib. DS sleeps better with his sister. Doesn't bother her and they both basically sttn.

Schedule:
eat:5-6 am then go back to sleep
sleep: till 8:30 am
play: till around 9
eat: then they get cleaned up for the day (even though they are sleepy headed)
nap: 10:30 till 12 pm
play: till 1 or 1:30
eat: at 1 or so
nap: 2:30 till 4
play: tummy time and visit with mom and kids
eat: 5 pm
awake other than cat naps (15 min at a time)
get jammies on for bedtime
dad comes home at 7:30 and they visit with him
last bottle and quiet time at 9pm
then bed time
(they may wake up around 4, but it is usually them needing to be changed then they go back to sleep. I use to get a bottle for them, but by the time I came back in they were asleep. So now I change them and if they don't go back to sleep within 15-20 minutes, I will feed them. Usually they go right back to sleep.)

 

My babies will be 11 weeks on Tuesday. We have pretty much the same night time routine as you do. After mine get up at 8-9 am, I put them in their swings to nap. I used to use the pack-n-play but they don't seem to stay asleep that long in it. I feed them when they wake up, change them, and let them play until they get fussy, which is really only like 1/2 hour- 1 hour tops. Once they start to get fussy, I swaddle them and put them in their swings or bouncy seats (only DD because DS doesn't like his very much). After that, they typically sleep until the next feeding but if they wake up, I play with them until around the 3 hour mark and repeat the routine. Typically they take a long morning nap, a long afternoon nap and a shorter evening nap before bed. But this all varies slightly depending on the day, sometimes DD will be awake between feedings, sometimes DS will be. Just depends on their day.

 

QUOTE(twinmom51 @ Jul 27 2008, 02:22 PM) [snapback]898907[/snapback]
my girls are 12 weeks and we are working on naps in the pnp. I had been letting them sleep where ever - mostly swings and the sitter also let them sleep in the swings.

My question is how to transition to the pnp or the crib? they are screaming when we try to put them down. They are too young to CIO.

Any suggestions?

Thanks


Sometimes we let them swing until they fall asleep and then just move them. This works well at night if they won't go down but during the day they just don't sleep as long in the pnp or crib.