Schedule for 3 month olds

Hello ladies, let me start off by saying that I am about to pull my hair out. I love my girls more than anything in this world, but right now, I am envious of people who have their babies one at a time. Individually, I could cope with caring for either of my girls, but together, it's a total nightmare. I think one of my biggest issues is that I have allowed them to make their own schedule. They get up to feed every 3 or 4 hours and then go back to sleep. However, they are sometimes up for random amounts of time during the night when they are just awake. Bettye Katheryne (BK) is my bigger twin at 11lb and eating 4 to 5 oz every feed. Aurora is our IUGR baby girl at 7.5lb eating 2 to 3 oz every feed. When talking with their pediatrician, she reccommended to try and shift BK's schedule and leave Aurora alone so that we don't stress her and cause her to not gain weight. Both girls have been very colicy and we tried Nutramigen which worked for about a day. The stuff tastes so terrible (I can only imagine the taste, but it smells like fish oil and rotten cheese) that Aurora went on strike and stopped eating all together. We even spent the night in the ER last night trying to figure out why she wouldn't eat (yes, we tried her old formula at home, but she was so worked up she wouldn't take that either). Both girls have been very peaceful this morning and got up to feed together at 8:00. They both went back to sleep and BK got up at 10:30 to eat again and Aurora is still sleeping. How long should they be awake during they day so that they get a solid night's sleep at this age?

Here's another thing (sorry, long rant, I know)...I have a nanny who helps during the day and I only have her for 2 more weeks, so getting on a schedule is high priority for me right now. Please let me know what worked for you and any suggestions you have on how to shift them, keep them awake, make play time, etc. We have two bouncey chairs and a swing, but they don't really love those. We also have a play gym/floor mat but I have to be careful about when I lie them flat because they both have reflux. I'm longing for the day when I can put them in their bouncey seats in the kitchen and cook dinner. When does this happen?

OK, I hope all of that up there makes sense...I'm running on fumes. Any advice is hugely appreciated and will be taken seriously. Oh, and on a side note...have any of you successfully used gripe water with your kiddos for colic? If so, which one and how long did it take to work? I'm grasping for anything to help them.

 

I have not used gripe water so I have no advice there.
However, I was pretty successful at getting my girls on a schedule. I did a 3 hour schedule, and it was 90 minutes awake/90 minutes asleep, all day long. It started with waking up, being removed from the miracle blanket and having a bottle. Then depending on how long it took to eat the rest of the time (until 90 minutes) was spent on an activity mat or bouncy chair or in a swing. If they dozed during the 90 minutes awake that was fine, but at the end of the 90 minutes I swaddled them back up and placed them in their cribs for a 90 minute nap. I did that all day long and my girls started going longer and longer stretches at night at 12 weeks old. GL!

 

There is alot I could suggest that worked for me, but I would be typing all day. So Im going to suggest the book I read and got a lot of info out of on this perticular subject. I started at 3 months and it worked wonders with my LO's. The book is Healthy Sleep habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth. It worth the read. My Lo's did not start STTN until 4 months but I was able to get them on a predictable "routine" at 3 months. I say routine because the times change (still do) everyday, but they do the same things everyday and pretty much at the same times give or take 30 minutes.

GL!!!

 

At 3 months it was all about routine. Eat-sleep-play is what worked for us. Maybe try to institute an every 3 hour feeding schedule (more often if they want it) during the day.

As for gripe water, I've never tried it, but I did put mylicon in their bottles and perfected the colic hold for my one super gassy baby. Oh and since you can't lay them flat because of the reflux, I used to put them in a boppy pillow on their activity mat to play for a big after eating.

:hug:

 

Ditto the advice to read Healthy Sleep Habits, and to do the 90 mins awake/90 mins asleep routine. I've been doing that with my boys for almost two weeks now and it works fairly well--much better than letting them create their own schedule, which I'd been doing before. And I also agree to put them in Boppys on their activity mat (one of ours has reflux, too), or you could do one or two cloth diapers folded in half under their head--just watch them if you're using something soft to prop them up.

 

I did use gripe water for my DS and that helped him a lot with gas, he was not too colicky though. I am not sure what your eating schedule is but I know at 2 months, our schedule was basically they ate every three hours and I would wake them up to eat at the same time to establish that schedule. I can tell you that I was not a religious follower of HSHHC but I found it informative in terms of scheduling and recognizing sleepy signs.
At three months mine were not playing a lot, I did put them in swings and let them look at some rattles and stuff, but they still mainly slept throughout the day. I can tell you that we did not get on a good solid working schedule especially with naps until ours hit 6 months. Does your nanny have any suggestions about getting them on a schedule? I think that would be something for the two of you to really focus on while you still have her.
Hang in there Momma, it will come around :hug:

 

Ditto what the PP's have said although I was never lucky enough to make any kind of a schedule work. I know it's hard and you are at that roughest point where the light is at the end of the tunnel but you're not there yet.

For colic, we did baby probiotics from Whole Foods. I'd dip my wet finger in the bottle and let them suck it off. It's supposed to help. Not sure if it did. I had a screamer 24/7. We also gave her calcium/magnesium supplements. She did grow out of it and is now my easier twin. Go figure.

Baby Einstein videos in the bouncy seat were a life saver.

Our nighttime schedule is still all over the place. The girls sleep in separate rooms. DH takes one monitor, I have the other and we deal with our own twin separately.

 

QUOTE(Leighann @ Mar 9 2009, 01:43 PM) [snapback]1220541[/snapback]
As for gripe water, I've never tried it, but I did put mylicon in their bottles and perfected the colic hold for my one super gassy baby.

Thanks Leighann, what is the colic hold? I've never heard of this.

 

I lived in 3 hour slots for the first 4 months of my guys lives, but I think in your case you may expect this to go longer because your LOs are preemies. Their adjusted age is like 3 weeks, so I wouldn't try to keep them up, but you can start the night time routine, where you don't turn on lights or talk to them, so they start to differentiate between night and day.

 

I am not sure what colic hold Leighann is talking about (might be the same one) but I know that you basically lie the baby's head in your hand and droop their legs and arms over your forearm, it puts gentle pressure on their tummies and seems to calm them.

We used Nutramigen for a day, then they quit eating. We switched to Alimentum (Similac's version) and they both started eating again. It smells like rotten Cheez-Its which is revolting but Derek drank it the whole time until we switched him to whole milk. And maybe that is why to this day his favorite snack is Cheez-Its. ardon:

Gripe water did not work for us for reflux.

I am one who thinks that it is really hard to implement a schedule on 3 months olds that are really only a few weeks old according to their adjusted age. At that age its all about eating and sleeping with very little in between. But with that being said I think you could do the 3 hour feeding schedule and give that a try. Mine came home from the NICU on that and by the second night, it was pure disaster. They wanted to eat like every 1.5 - 2 hours. So then we just started feeding them on demand.

Hang in there. You really are in survival mode. I used to scream into a pillow just about every night because I was sooo over having 2 babies. :hug:

 

QUOTE(DATJMom @ Mar 9 2009, 09:54 PM) [snapback]1221180[/snapback]
I am not sure what colic hold Leighann is talking about (might be the same one) but I know that you basically lie the baby's head in your hand and droop their legs and arms over your forearm, it puts gentle pressure on their tummies and seems to calm them.


Thats the one. Learned it from my SIL who had a super gassy baby.