Shedule question.

We are currently trying to get our girls back on somewhat of a schedule, they're 12 weeks old. We have been starting "bath, bottle, bed" at 7pm every night to get into a habit of it so that we can institute a schedule somehow. However, one of my girls likes to NOT sleep at all. She usually spends about 12 hours a day awake, not kidding. So at 7pm, I woke her up and did a bath, bottle, and then tried bed and she just doesn't want to sleep. Her sister fell right asleep. So what do I do when Im trying to keep them on the same schedule and one barely sleeps? For example, if she falls asleep at 6pm and she's supposed to do her routine at 7pm, do I wake her so they stay on the same schedule and risk her not going back to bed for a while?

TIA!

 

How long does it take her to fall asleep? When she does fall asleep, does she sleep through the night? I am wondering if the non-sleeping one is going to sleep at 6, to maybe start her routine earlier and see what happens.
Forgot to add, mine did not get on to the schedule until they were 6 months, they were terrible nappers through the day and slept well at night. I know schedule is the toughest thing to set and it might also take your non-sleeper a little longer to adjust to it. But we found that being persistent with the schedule and also doing a modified bedtime routine during the day helped with nap time.

 

is she up for 12 consecutive hours?

I think I'd try to keep her up from 5p to 7p so that at 7p she'd be tired and ready to start a bedtime routine...

I really liked the book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child book... they have different sections for children according to ages, not sure exactly what it says, but it talks at one point about waking from naps to protect the next nap/night sleep...

and maybe if she is actually falling asleep at 6pm maybe that's her bedtime... I've read other posters on here where their babies started bedtime that early... good luck.

I also don't think that we started a good routine this early... in fact, I think that we were still doing a weird evening time, and then getting them to sleep by 10 pm but they slept until 7am... I don't think I'd read the book I referenced until later.

 

Ahh, the 3 B's, bath bottle and bed! I know those well! Thats what I tell my dh around bed time on the nights we give baths.

I like Nancy's (itsnancycozzi) comment on maybe your non-sleeper is starting her bedtime at 6pm not 7pm like you would. I have one twin who goes down between 7 and 7:30 and the other by 8pm. They are just different that way.

Maybe you could put your non-sleeper in the pnp in another room at the same time you put your other dd down for nap. That way you are keeping them on the same schedule and she gets some quiet time and some down time yet she won't disturb your other dd during nap time.

 

If she is going to bed consistently at 6pm, I would just do her routine at 6pm and the other at 7pm. I think I might have actually liked that if mine didnt want me all at the same time to go to bed.

 

And if you're not into having them have different bedtimes, try putting them both down at 6. Mine go to bed around 6:30, but it was closer to 6 for a long time. You might just catch your "non"sleeper at just the right time for a nice long stretch of sleep. Also - it's great that you're starting a routine now. We started one around the same time, and we still have the same routine (although it's evolved a bit). It is so great for us. Routine, routine, routine! The babies just love it. Or they will, eventually!

 

My Lo's at that age were going to bed at 6-6:30, so i agree with pp.....thats probably their bedtime. I too followed Healthy Sleep Hbaits, Happy child when they were 3 mo. and it really helped!! Their naps really didnt start kicking in until 5 mo, but I was able to get them on a routine and their bedtime was very early. According to HSHHC early bedtimes are what he suggests. Now because they were going to bed early you will probably have to feed them one maybe two more times before morning, thats when I did the dreamfeed (before I went to bed) and it worked great. At thats age they went down within an hour of waking in the morning, and 1.5-2 hours after that for another nap and then a third nap 1.5-2 hours after waking from that one and then it was bedtime 1.5-2 hours after waking from third nap.

GL!!

 

We still do the BBB [bath bottle bed] routine here. At that age I remember keeping them awake for 1.5-2 hrs before bedtime so they'd sleep. This worked well for us. Sometimes this meant they'd be crying up until bedtime cause they wanted to sleep, but it'd be way too early to put them to bed.. I'd let them take a short [mini] nap about 2 hrs before bedtime [about 15 mis]. This meant rocking them on our laps [head resting near our knees] while we sat on the couch, then we'd keep them up until bedtime.

Sounds like torchure, but it worked for us and they turned out just fine

Also we didn't really get on a schedule until around 3 months. We just let them sleep when and where they wanted, but made sure they were awake a couple hrs before going to bed.

 

QUOTE(Suzy! @ May 26 2009, 01:16 PM) [snapback]1328487[/snapback]
We still do the BBB [bath bottle bed] routine here. At that age I remember keeping them awake for 1.5-2 hrs before bedtime so they'd sleep. This worked well for us. Sometimes this meant they'd be crying up until bedtime cause they wanted to sleep, but it'd be way too early to put them to bed.. I'd let them take a short [mini] nap about 2 hrs before bedtime [about 15 mis]. This meant rocking them on our laps [head resting near our knees] while we sat on the couch, then we'd keep them up until bedtime.

Sounds like torchure, but it worked for us and they turned out just fine

Also we didn't really get on a schedule until around 3 months. We just let them sleep when and where they wanted, but made sure they were awake a couple hrs before going to bed.


What did you do to keep them up? I mean, I think it's a given, but I'm just trying to get some ideas.

 

We started our routine at about 6 weeks and I do remember that we had to keep them awake, but they very quickly learned when bedtime was and adjusted. We used a nap schedule too so we when they were younger we would let them take an afternoon nap from about 4:45 - 5:15 or so and wake them up and then start bath, bottle, bed at 7:00. To keep them awake you just have to understand that they will be crying (and that's ok), and just play with them, put them in bouncers, the baby bjorn, stroll around the neighborhood, etc. Mine thrive on their schedule and are like clockwork now - when they get tired, when they know they get to play, when they get to eat, etc. and it was definitely worth the evening fussiness to get to this point!