sleeping thru the night question

Hello! First time poster here but lurker on and off for a few months. I have been meaning to become active here but----
I have twin girls who are 2 months and a few days old. Both of them have done 5-6 hour sleeping stretches once in a while. Isabella went from 10-5 am last night!!! Very exciting But i want to know when can we expect that to get consistant??
A little background. They were born at 36 1/2 weeks they were 5 pounds and 15 oz and 6 lbs 2 oz at birth- they now weigh 10 lbs 5 oz and 10 lbs 14 oz(Isabella the one who slept 7 hours last night) We try to keep them on a schedule of every 3 hours during the day and at night pretty much on demand. I am bottle feeding. They do not have organized naps yet- but i do try to do the babywise theory of feed, play, and sleep- although how in the heck you keep a baby up that wants to sleep i have not figured out yet! Most of the time they are up from 7:30 to 1:00 with only cat naps of 15-30 minutes both fight it at this time of day, than usually they do a 1-2 hour nap after the second feeding of the day. In the afternoon and early evening there is no noticible pattern yet but i do try to stimulate them up until 4- 5 pm if they seem to be sleeping too much. Any imput would be appreciated!!!Especially when can we excpect consistant 7-8 hour stretches once they do it one time like isabella did last night!!!
Stacy
proud mom to gabrielle and isabella

 

I don't think you will find one true answer. Like you I searched to try to find out when. Every baby is different. Mine never gradually went longer. They basically went from eating every 2 hours around the clock at 4 months to sleeping 12 hour stretches at 4 1/2 months. Every one has a different story. My friends singleton at two months slept 7 hours 2 nights in a row and then went back to getting up every 3 hours for the next two months. Sorry my answer stinks.

 

That's great that you are getting some longer stretches at night. Mine started sleeping consistently through the night once we got them on a good nap schedule during the day. So maybe around 6 months for us. But all babies are different. Sounds like yours are doing great for 2 months old!

Oh, and Congratulations on your babies & :welcome: to Twinstuff!

 

Congrats on your babies and welcome to Twinstuff!
Like PP said, all babies are different. Mine did not get consistent with their naps until they hit 6 months old. But they started going 12 hours at night around 10 weeks. We just listened to their cues and did on demand night feeding once the pediatrician was happy with their weights. Sounds like yours are doing really well :clapping:

 

:welcome: to TS. We started getting longer stretches at about 12 weeks and they kept increasing. We did on demand feedings and they finally STTN at 9 months. GL!

 

Both slept from 10-4 this am so i am keeping my fingers crossed that this is a new pattern!

 

Hi Stacy,

Congrats on your little girls! Sounds like you're doing just great. We did Babywise/HSHHC methods, too, and ours were sleeping about like yours at 8 weeks. That was also the time that naps during the day started to form more of a routine. Our babies were really sleepy, and most of the time I would get maybe 10-15 min of wake time out of them in the mornings after feeding! I would try laying them down for their morning nap exactly 1 hour from the time they wake up for their first feeding of the day (treat the 4AM like a night feeding, and then the 7AM the first bottle of the day). That worked like a charm for our girls. I didn't think they'd still be tired, but they conked out every day, and if I waited too long, they would sleep fitfully or not at all.

Also, if they're sleeping only 15 min, 1/2 hour, maybe they're not really falling into deep sleep. Let them settle themselves a bit longer and see how they do. Mine would often take 20 min or so to fall asleep - not screaming or even crying, but tossing, turning, singing, etc.

All in all, I've always thought that if they are STTN, that is our priority, and naps will be what they are. If naps are great, yay! If we have a bad nap day, oh well. At least they sleep all night.

HTH - and again, congrats! You will have so much fun with those babies!

 

My girls started sleeping through the night at about 4 months old. They used to also take 2, 1 1/2 hour naps a day, but seem to have given up the naps and sleep for 12 hours now.

 

Our babies are part hampster so we have been very lucky. They go to bed with their music and have slept peacefully through the night (7p-5:30a) from about 4 months old. I do attribute this habit of theirs to the music and a very predictable but understated routine at night.

 

Hey welcome Stacey. I am also first time poster as of yesterday. Congrats on the long stretch. I too have twin girls. they are 5 weeks old on Wed. I have a question for you. How many ounces are you feeding your girls at a time? I feel like my girls eat so much now. They were born at 6lbs and i could barely get them to eat 2 ounces at a time and NOW they are at 7.5lbs and are not satisfied with 4 ounces at a time. By the end of the day yesterday, my Lydia had 32 ounces and Anabel has 30. I feel like that is a lot. I feed them 5 ounces at there last feeding of the day, to try and stretch them out.
What has been your experience, since you are bit ahead of me?

By the way... its 2am. They just slept from 9pm to 1am. that was good for them. Just fed them 5 ounces each and put them down again. hopefully it will last from 2am till 6am.
Thanks a bunch! ~Maritza

 

[quote name='Charly's an Angel' date='03 August 2009 - 01:26 PM' timestamp='1249324002' post='1413044']
Our babies are part hampster so we have been very lucky. They go to bed with their music and have slept peacefully through the night (7p-5:30a) from about 4 months old. I do attribute this habit of theirs to the music and a very predictable but understated routine at night.
[/quote]


ha.. part hampster. I love it.
So what is this understated routine? Do tell??

 

My girls are 5 weeks as well - 6 on Friday. I feel like they are eating a lot too - they are each eating 5 ounces at a time and sometimes I think they want more when they are done that. They are doing longer stretches too - mostly five hours - sometimes even 6 at night. Ellie would probably go longer than that if I let her during the night - but I wake her up when Abby gets up in the night. I am looking forward to Abby catching up with her sister and getting those longer stretches. My first DD (who is now four) slept through the night on her second night home - she didn't want to get up to eat. I can't wait until these girls are doing that. Good luck!!

 

We are STILL working on getting them to STTN here. It's been a long road for us, but we decided to do CIO and have been doing it for 1.5 wks now.

Though I hear stories of babies STTN at age 3-4 months!!

GL, mama!

 

How is the CIO working for you? I feel like I can't stomach hearing them cry for more than 2-3 mins. How do you do it? and how long do they cry for at 1yr old?

 

wow, 5 ounces at a time. Ok, well now I know there are 2 other girls eating as much as my girls. That makes me feel better. My girls are 5 weeks today. 6 hour stretch is awesome. 5 hours is awesome. I never get that. Not even on the 5 ounces. Which is what really scares me!

Good luck with Abby catching up with Ellie. And i love the names.

 

Maritza- I think the 5 oz are more the norm than what my girls were doing at that age. Mine have only just recently started eating 4-5.5 oz at a time. At 5 weeks they were only doing 2 oz but 8-10 feedings a day. Now they do 6 feedings a day at about 4-5 oz. They both are gaining well though so i don't worry about it- I have read they need to eat 2.5 oz per pound of weight- so a 10 pound baby needs 25 oz in a 24 hour period of time. Mine are 11 pounds and 10 pounds 6 oz now. I have read a lot and from what i can gather is that the most important things you can do are feeding every 3-4 hours(for formula fed babies bf needs more frequently) so that they learn day time is for eating and night time is for sleeping. We have put them down awake in cribs right from the start so they can fall asleep on their own. So hopefully we have laid the foundation to guide them to become good sleepers- i guess that's all you can do is try! The fact that they are already going for 4 hours is awesome- At that age we were happy if they went 3 hours between feedings!
Katie'smom- i think you are way ahead of the game! Good for you- are you following any specific technique or idealogy?
Thank you all for the warm welcome- I hope to post more and more!!!
Stacy

 

but see.. that's what I am worried about. they are only 5 weeks and about 8lbs and are eating 4-5oz every 3 hours. its crazy to me.
No, not following any specific idealogy. Not sure what that means actually. just trying to get them fed and happy and on some kind of schedule. want them to sleep at night and stuff like that.
today was crazy. they were awake all day. even after feeding 5oz. Not a normal day for sure. I hope they sleep tonight. Wish me luck!

 

:Clap: for the lo's sleeping longer stretches! Days are alot more fun when you have had some uninterupted sleep! Congrats

 

First time posting in First year also, okay seriously Im missing something BIG and monumental, please do tell. My girls will be 8 weeks tomorrow, and eat 4 oz every 3 hours. When we went up from 2-3 oz, they slept 6 hours straight for one night but that's it. I try to make sure they eat at the same time, because it just makes my life easier, but, we eat every 3 hours. Very rarely have they gone for 4 hour naps without eating.

What am I doing wrong? I try to wake them up in the evenings for a few hours, so they will go to sleep and not wake up between 830-1030pm and want to hang out until 1am or later. I dont understand.
I thought we had a good schedule down,but Im obviously missing something, because I didnt expect them to start sleeping for long stretches until 3 months or later.
Please do tell
oh, there are times they act like they want more milk an hour and a half later, there was a few nights that within an hour and a half they drank almost 7oz of milk. The pedi claimed, they werent hungry, they thought they were. grrr
Thanks ladies

 

Tarsha-I dont know if you are doing anything wrong as mine only take 4 oz and same kind of "schedule" as yours...no sign of Sleeping through the night here...per the Babywise book everyone I know has recommended for getting babies to STTN, it seems we are doing everything right...?
Dana

 

You aren't doing anything wrong. they can't really sleep the whole night before 8 weeks anyway. They are too small. If it happens to others... than they are just lucky. But they can start sleeping longer than the 3 hours after about 8 weeks. You'll see. What worked for me is making sure they take naps thruought the day. But not too close to there bed time. Right after 8 weeks my girls started to sleep longer at night and I didn't have to feed them every 3 hrs. Then they only got up twice (every 4 or 5).
Then I like at week 9 or 10, I upped there intake to from 4 to 5oz.
And then just this past week, at week 11, I am feeding them every 4 hrs. So I upped there intake to 7oz and then at night... when they do wake up, only giving them 2oz. Last night, they only woke up once! So they are still having the same amount of ounces by then end of the 24 hrs period.
Right now my girls eat 28-32oz in a 24hr period. I feed them at 8am, 12pm, 4pm and 8pm. 7oz at each shot. Then I still have 4oz to play with during the night. I will offer them 2oz if the get up. The night before last they woke up at 3am and then again at 6am. 2oz at each time.
then they start the day again at 8am. but last night they only woke up once at 5am. So its getting better. they take 2 good naps between bottles 1 and 2 and 2 and 3. So they will nap from like 9:30 to 10:30am. Then again from 1:30 to 3:30pm. Between bottles 3 and 4, I try to keep them up as best I can, so they can sleep as long as possible after that last bottle.
I think with time, age and a good schedule it will get better.
I think that with age and a good feeding schedule it just falls into place.

 

my girls are 8 weeks old and have been eating 5 oz. for about 2 weeks....my one daughter would probably eat more if i would let her but i am waiting until the next doctor visit to inquire....they range from 4 hour stretches to 7 1/2 hour stretches

 

Wow. Some of you guys are truly lucky! My 10 week olds are still going 3 or fewer hours at night. Their daytime feedings are totally unpredictable in size - anywhere between 3 and 8 ounces (when I feed them expressed breast milk, when I nurse, I don't know what they're getting). And they never sleep longer than 3 hours at night. I'm hoping that changes soon since I'm going back to work in 6 weeks. We're planning to start to really encourage regular sleep and nap times at 12 weeks, but right now, I don't see them extending their sleeping periods anytime soon. We shall see!

 

You'll get there! I guess it must be a bit more of a challenge breastfeeding, b/c not knowing how much they are getting and all. But you'll get there.
Maybe you can just bottle it up from now on. But i guess you probably like to BF them. I loved it. But only lasted me 2 weeks. Well good luck. They will come around.