What are your sleep schedules like?

I know sleeping through the night has come up a lot lately, but I'm curious as to what everyone's sleep/nap schedules are like. Our girls are sleeping for longer stretches, but the schedule is a little wonky and we have no nap schedule whatsoever. If we put the girls to bed around 7 - which is when they want to go to sleep - they get up at at 2 or 3 a.m....which is not really when we want to get up. If we put them to bed a little later, say, around 9, they'll sleep till 5 a.m. - but the problem there is that they're extremely fussy from about 5 in the evening until we put them to bed. And like I said we have no nap schedule during the day. Esme, in particular, doesn't really seem to be into napping.

So when do your babies go to sleep, get up, and nap? Oh, and how do you squeeze making dinner into the evenings if your babies are crabby like mine?

 

When mine were that age, I think it went like something this:

7am wake for day
9am nap
1030am wake
1230pm nap
2pm wake
4pm nap (this is when I would rush to make dinner)
5pm wake
7pm bedtime
12am wake for feeding
330 wake for feeding


It wasn't until 4-5 months they dropped to one night feeding. Then, it wasn't until closer to 6 months they dropped the third nap. And it wasn't until 9 months that they dropped the nighttime feedings completely, finally!

I have to admit, for the first four months, they took most naps in their swings...and if I needed an extra few minutes to take a shower or prep a meal, I would turn on Baby Enstein...I hate to admit it, but we did, and it was a nice 20min break for us. Often times I would make a pretty simple large meal to ensure leftovers to spare the time the next day. That way the kids only really got videos a few times a week and it was really only for a few weeks. Now they rarely get a video or TV for that matter, once a week on a good week.

I did the same thing as you, played with bedtime to try and find something that worked for us. Have you checked out "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child"? If not, please do! It was key for me to avoid cranky babies and find a schedule that worked. They also have one for twins.

My guys are now 10 months and are very happy babies, with a very happy momma because they know how to take good naps!!

 

actually, at that age mine were going down at 5:30 pm. They were just too miserable to stay up. I found that if I put them to bed when they were ready they slept longer/better at night. You may find if you put them to bed when they are ready, and before they get too crabby it is much less stressful for you Mine sttn at 3 months anf would sleep 5:30pm to 6:so am. As for napping, I put them down after 1-1.5 hours of being awake. I followed Healthy Sleep Habits Healthy Child.

Now at 10 mos they are going to bed a little later at 6:30-7pm and sleep to 6:30am. Naps are at 9am and 1pm. My DS will sleep for a couple hrs every nap but my DD usually only sleep for 45 min. Hope that helps!

 

Our boys didn't have much of a nap schedule until around 6 months. At that point, they went to bed around 8pm, and most days were up at 6am (they continue to be early risers). When they dropped to two naps around 7.5 months, their bedtime became earlier, more like 7:15pm, and they were still waking up around 6am.

It may just take some time to get a schedule for your LO's. Our boys were total cat-nappers at that age - a "nap" for them was 30 minutes, maybe 45 if I was very lucky, and we went generally by the 90 minute rule. So about 90 minutes after they woke up, I knew they should be sleepy again. That worked for us until that 6 month age when I noticed they weren't wanting to go to sleep at the 90 minutes anymore, and then we were able to move to three more set nap times. We also did a 10pm dream feed for many months, which helped them make it through the night without eating at 3.5 months.

 

So your babies are about the age of mine. WE have traveled out of town 3 times in the last 5 weeks but now are going to work on a better nap schedule. We do have a consistent bedtime of 7 pm. They usually get up to eat after 7-8 hrs adn up for the day about 7 or 8 depending on the night. In the morning they are usually awake for just an hour ( I am going to try to make it a little longer). Naps are 1-2 hrs depending on how long they were awake/ They are on a 3 hr feeding schedule as we are breast feeding. Hope you can get a good schedule. With my last set, they were on a much better schdule adn I am so ready for a more consistent schedule.

 

I could not say enough for the Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child book!!! The main idea is that sleep begets sleep! I thought this was a weird concept until we tried it and it worked! After the babies are up for an hour (sometimes less maybe a bit more) and before they are over tired, then put them to nap. In a swing, in bed, whatever works. They may cry at first (mine did) but by nap 2 they were out! And they were less cranky and they were sleeping better at night. Now they can go about 1.5-2 hours up but we always put them down at the first sign of tiredness. Today this is how it looked.

2pm (yesterday) nurse & nap
4pm wake (nurse)
6pm nurse and nap in swing
7pm up nurse again
9pm bed nurse and bottle
5:15 am (today) up and eat
6am back to bed
9:30 am wake nurse
11am nap
Currently still sleeping!!

Good luck!!

 

I ditto pp to say that mine only were awake for about 1-1.5 hours at that age and that was all day long. They sometimes slept through the night but sometimes woke up once- I didn't really care b/c they usually woke up separately and I'd nurse them lying down.
So, schedule would look like this:
7am wake up, feed
8:15 down for nap
9:30 wake up, feed
11 down for nap
1 wake up, feed
2:30 down for nap
4 wake up, feed
6 down for the night

But if they slept less or longer and had to take a 4pm or so nap, they'd sleep for about 45 minutes and then be up for 1.5-2 hours before I'd put them back down again.