schedules

when did you put your babies on a schedule, adn how did you do it? right now, my girls are waking every 2 1/2 to 3 hours to eat, and they wake up about 1/2 hour of each other. (at night they're waking every 3-4 hours)... in the evenings they go thru a time where all they want to do is fuss and eat. how do i get a schedule going?

 

i honestly dont really have a schedule.. but there is one thing i do stick by... 8 pm bed time... i try not to let them sleep from 6-8 but sometimes it doesnt happen.. baths happen from 7-8 then bottle then bed..

I dont think mine will have a set schedule Untill they start sleeping through the night.. They are different people.. They eat sleep and react differantly.. Its hard to get them on the same schedule..

 

Mine really started getting into set napping times around 5-5.5 months. I needed them on a schedule because my oldest DD was starting K that year. By 6 months they were on a set napping/bedtime schedule that would fit with my oldest DD's school schedule and it worked nicely.

 

I dont' have mine on a schedule yet either but I am doing things on 'my schedule' to get them used to it. After their first morning feeding, I put them in the crib for their nap then the rest of the day, they can be in the swing, bouncy chair or the couch. Then around 7 or so I give them baths and give them the final feed and this week they went up to 120cc's of formula/ebm so they are starting to sleep 4 hours and I will start to put them in the crib for bedtime after their bath/feeding this weekend and see how that works. I figure if I get in a schedule they will catch on when they are ready. everyone here says that it takes a couple of months to actually get them in a schedule so I am patiently waiting........

 

We were on a feeding schedule from the beginning, but the napping/sleep schedule did not happen until about 5 months or so. Here is a link to TSer's schedules, beginning at 4 months. Maybe it will give you an idea of what to work towards. [Wiki]Sleep_Schedules[/Wiki]

 

We had a feeding schedule early on from the NICU but we did not get a napping schedule until about 4.5 to 5 months when the first am nap started to appear around 9 am.

 

Sounds like you're doing an absolutely wonderful job as it is! Your babies are acting pretty normal for their age, even going relatively long intervals between feedings. The evening fussing and cluster feeding is also perfectly normal, and should get much better after about 3 months corrected age (from the due date, not the birth date). The cluster feeding may still persist (my DD wants to eat all afternoon, DS does an eat-a-thon right before bed), but will be accompanied by smiles and play instead of all that crying.

Do I remember right that you're BFing and/or giving EBM? If so, I would recommend that you continue feeding on demand instead of trying to start a feeding schedule. The babies' stomachs are tiny, and it only takes 90-120 minutes to digest breastmilk. Everybody will be a lot happier if they just get to eat when they're hungry.

As far as sleep schedules - the part of the brain that creates organized daytime sleep (=regular napping and waking) does not mature until 12-16 weeks corrected age. That's when real naps start to emerge. When you hit that age, you may find that just watching the "window of wakefulness" works better than trying to put them down at set clock times. They'll probably be happy spending 1-2 hrs awake at a time, and then will need to nap.

Anyway, you're doing great! Everything will get easier and more fun as the babies get older.