Sleeping questions

So we're kinda working on getting the boys to know the difference between day and night (to start sleeping their longer stretches at night rather than during the day) with mixed success. Also aiming for the cycle of Eat/Activity/Sleep during the day and then just Eat/Sleep at night. We're trying the tips like keeping lights dim and voices soft during night feedings, trying to make nighttime feedings as "boring" as possible, waking the boys up to eat if they sleep past the 3-hr mark (3 hrs since last feeding started) during the day, etc. But I'm wondering: What do you do if they are wide awake and alert after a nighttime feeding? Do you just do rocking or a bunch of other soothing things hoping they'll eventually fall asleep? Put them in their cribs awake? (My boys were both just wide awake from 2:30, when they started eating, till 4:30 ... and I'm hoping they don't wake up again right at 5 to eat again. They're on all formula now and go anywhere from 2.5 to 4 hours between feedings, usually 2.5-3.)
And did any of you follow the advice of putting your babies to bed drowsy but awake so they'll learn how to fall asleep on their own without "props" or being dependent on you? If so, how did that work for you? And were you able to do it when they were my boys' age (1 month) or later?

 

The short answer is yes, I put them back in the crib. If they cried, then of course I'd soothe, swaddle, whatever but we would feed them and put them right back down. That helps them learn the routine...if it's dark they go back to bed after eating rather than playing first. Occasionally if I was particularly exhausted, whoever didn't want to go back to sleep would end up in the bed with us but never more than a few hours and not every night. That was NOT a pattern I wanted to get into! I can't tell you how many nights in those first months I almost fell asleep leaning on the crib rail patting/rubbing a belly or holding a paci! Just continue to do the things that you want to be their normal and they'll learn your patterns/routines. Until about 8 weeks, they would consistently wake every three hours to eat at night but it's like a switch went off then and they all of a sudden started sleeping longer stretches. hth!

 

That early on, I did whatever it took to get them back to sleep at night. For Jake, that was lying next to me, and for Emma, it was going in the swing.

 

I read the book Babywise (excellent resource) and my girls were 3 months premature, but sleeping through the night like normal babies are supposed to be able to do at 8 weeks (adjusted age). So we had many sleepless nights. Just keep in mind that they are only one month old and they are still trying to get hang of what you are training them to do. I would try and put them down even if they are still awake.

They are 2.5 months old now (adjusted age). As much as we can, we put our girls down drowsy, but awake. I have gotten a hang now of what their sleepy cues are and I swaddle them, give them a pacifier, rock them for a couple of minutes and then put them down in their crib. They are on a 3.5 hour schedule and they are awake for 1.5 hours (including eating) and sleep for 2 hours. They sleep for about 11.5 hours with only one feed at 9:30 pm. My pediatrician recommended taking them on a walk and exposing them to daylight in the late afternoon to help them differentiate day from night.

I know it's very tiring, but just keep training them to do what you want them to do and stick to your routine and it will click eventually. There is hope that your twins will sleep through the night around 2-3 months. I'm proof.

 

QUOTE(SC_Amy @ Feb 7 2009, 11:48 AM) [snapback]1180428[/snapback]
So we're kinda working on getting the boys to know the difference between day and night (to start sleeping their longer stretches at night rather than during the day) with mixed success. Also aiming for the cycle of Eat/Activity/Sleep during the day and then just Eat/Sleep at night. We're trying the tips like keeping lights dim and voices soft during night feedings, trying to make nighttime feedings as "boring" as possible, waking the boys up to eat if they sleep past the 3-hr mark (3 hrs since last feeding started) during the day, etc. But I'm wondering: What do you do if they are wide awake and alert after a nighttime feeding? Do you just do rocking or a bunch of other soothing things hoping they'll eventually fall asleep? Put them in their cribs awake? (My boys were both just wide awake from 2:30, when they started eating, till 4:30 ... and I'm hoping they don't wake up again right at 5 to eat again. They're on all formula now and go anywhere from 2.5 to 4 hours between feedings, usually 2.5-3.)
And did any of you follow the advice of putting your babies to bed drowsy but awake so they'll learn how to fall asleep on their own without "props" or being dependent on you? If so, how did that work for you? And were you able to do it when they were my boys' age (1 month) or later?


I also used the E.A.S.Y routine and had the same questions as you! Keep at it as they will eventually get it. I did exactly the same: woke them during the day to eat after 3-4 hours (mine moved themselves onto a 4-hr routine at 4 weeks), kept nighttime feedings as "boring" as pos. One thing I did do was to change their nappies before the feed in the middle of the night. DS was always really hard to settle at nights and doing that helped greatly. He used to fall asleep on the bottle during the night feeds which I know isnt recommended but I never had any repercussions. I also did the dream feed at 11.30pm - we used to wake them for that, take them to the lounge where there was dim lighting, no TV and quiet. We´d change their nappies, feed them and off to bed. They used to settle no probs. We stopped the dream feed at around 4 months and they have been STTN 12 hours ever since. We do a bath every night before their last bottles and that tells them it´s nighttime.

To answer your question, yes I put them back in their cots awake. I also used dummies (pacifiers) for both and that helped them self-soothe. They both still use them but Im not worried. They´re not highly dependent on them and dont wake when they fall out. They do need them to get to sleep though. Keep going, you´re doing fine!

 

As I mentioned in a similar post, what helped me was when my MIL told me not to wake them to eat every 3 hours during the day because I was teaching them to eat every three hours. So I stopped doing that and just made sure I did what ever I could during the day to keep them awake, even if it was only for a few min in the begining to teach them the difference between night and day. But at night time I always put them back to bed. If they would cry we would pick them up for a few minutes rock or pat them on the back until they stopped and then put them back in bed. Sometimes we would let them fall asleep on our chest in the recliner if they were particularly fussy. But we just kept picking them up soothing them and putting them back to bed at night and eventually they got it. They are 8 weeks now and they pretty much know that if they wake up at night time to eat its back to bed. Also swaddling and white noise along with a passifer has helped sooth them and is almost like a tranquilzer to them. Just gently rock them infront of the airpurifer for a few min with a passifer and the combination of being swaddled, white noise and a passifer settles them right down. Now they just naturally want to eat every three hours during the day because they are going longer at night, hope this helps.

 

The same thing happened to me last night. One of my daughters was wide awake after her 2:30 feeding. I rocked her a little and then sat her in her vibrating seat with her pacificer. It took some time, but she fell asleep. I'm going to try to keep them awake a little more this afternoon, so we'll see how it goes.