Feeding & Sleep Schedules?

[savepaws]

I'm curious as to what your feeding & sleep schedules were for your little ones when they were newborns.

How much did they eat and how often? And how often did they sleep? Did they actually sleep during the night at all and did/do you have any bedtime rituals.

When our girls were in the NICU they ate every 4 hours and slept the whole time in between. We usually had to wake them up every 4 hours and in the last week or so, they begun waking up on their own for feedings. The schedule was so awesome and we thought that this would be a piece of cake. But when we got them home, everything we did in the NICU pretty much went out the window.

The girls now wake up on their own when they are hungry and sometimes it is every 1 1/2-2 hours. Sometimes 3. It's very rare that they will go 4 hours between feedings now. Everything is just all over the place right now. There is no schedule and I hate it! Sometimes they'll eat their whole bottle and sleep for 2 1/2 hours straight. Sometimes they'll eat part of their bottle and go to sleep and then wake up an hour and a half later wanting fed again. So I'll make them a bottle but they'll only eat a small amount. Then at their next feeding, they won't eat a full amount because they had that "snack" in between. It's like lots of small bottles all day long. It's like a never ending cycle. They are getting plenty to eat so we don't worry when they don't finish a bottle but it just really sucks because for one, we have to throw it away and secondly, because its just tiring. It seems like all we do is feed them.

There is no chance of getting any sleep when they are sleeping because their "schedules" are so wacky, so DH and I take shifts. He handles from about 8pm-3am and I handle 4am til 11, then we tackle feedings together the rest of the day. But we can't live like this forever!

I have read about people having bedtime rituals but how does that work with babies who sleep between every feeding? Do you do those rituals every time or just during the night time? Right now we feed them and hold them (if possible) until they go to sleep, then we put them in their bouncer. I want to work on getting them in their cribs but when they are sleeping so good in their bouncers, I can't bear the thought of putting them in their cribs and upsetting them so they don't get any sleep.

[flyerso6]

Wow this sounds familiar. We are having night sleeping problems as well. We will have a great night here and there then several bad nights. We aren't having feeding issues except for at nighttime. They are doing ok as far as feedings during the day, they wake up about every 3.5 - 4 hours to eat, and they eat 3 - 4 oz each feeding. Now at night it seems like they want to eat smaller amounts every hour or so, then we don't get any sleep.

Are they falling asleep during feedings and that is why they aren't eating a lot at once? I have found that if I feed them until they quit, then change their diaper, then they want to eat the rest of their bottle. But it is frustrating when I make a larger bottle they don't eat it, but when I make a smaller one they want more.

We have been sticking to the sleep in the crib thing, even though we get less sleep. I think it will work out in the long run. Yesterday we bought Mackenzie a crib wedge so she isn't sleeping flat, her head and back are a bit elevated. And we bought her one of those fleece sleep sacs. She slept great! Logan who usually sleeps better was up all night last night, so I think today we will be buying him a wedge and sleep sac as well. We still sort of split the night shift, DH will stay up with them till about 1am while I usually go to bed around 10. Then I will get up and feed them in the middle of the night (3 - 4 am) and in the morning (7 - 8 am). Now I don't think that will work when I go back to work though. They have been pretty good about waking to eat around the same time though.

[KMS]

Paisley didn't really have a schedule then either. She would eat every 2 - 3 hours and then maybe 3 - 4 hours overnight. She was a great sleeper until she was about 2 or 3 months old. There was about a month there when we put her to sleep in her swing for naps and every night. Then she grew out of that. Ive heard to do whatever you need to get them to sleep. If the bouncer is what it takes right now then I would do that.

I highly recommend that you purchase some sort of sleeping book to help with strategies. I got the No Cry Sleep Solution. It's not sleep training, but it's a variety of methods to help your baby sleep soundly. I multitude of things have been happening to get in the way of our fully adopting the methods, but we are actually beginning them head on tonight. I so wish that we would have gotten the book when she was much younger!! (Have you begun the book, Nikki? What do you think?)

We are actually going to be altering our sleep schedule soon. We'll be doing mini 15 minute nap routines and then the full one hour routine before bed. I'll have to grab the book later, but there's a chart that says how many naps and how many hours a baby should be getting according to age.

Speaking of...I hear a baby who wants to eat and take a nap! :hearts:

[ikkin510]

It will be a few weeks until the babies will have a schedule. For the first few weeks they eat and sleep when they want/need to. A routine before bedtime is a great idea and starting it now would be a good idea. But you should only do your bedtime routine before bedtime.
I am also following the No-Cry Sleep Solution book. It suggests a mini routine before nap times. At night you take an hour before bedtime and do baths, books, quiet time, etc. Before naps you would do a book and some rocking in a dark room about 20 minutes before.
They are closer to their original due date now, right? You will find that they are going to be sleeping less now. No more eat, sleep, poop. They will be awake for a bit and will start showing their schedules as time goes on.
They will hit growth spurts tho where they will want to eat and sleep more often then others.
Most things I read say by 2-3 months old babies are able to have more of a set schedule. Before hand they are just too young and still adjusting and needing a lot of sleep and such till then. You will find even once they have a schedule every few weeks it will change a bit. But around 6 months or so it will be more a set thing. Also, as they get older, they will start to eat more in a feeding so they will make it longer stretches.
If they tend to fall asleep during feedings try to wake them and see if you can get them to eat more. Like someone else mentioned, change their diaper after you feed them, expecially if they only at a small amounth. That could be just enough of a wake up if they are asleep to get them to eat a little bit more.
The first few weeks are rough. I'm sure even more so with premies. But with time things will get easier and they will eat more in a sitting, sleep longer stretches and even be awake more, looking around and checking out the world. You'll get there!

[uptowngirl]

From what I have read, until a baby is about three months old there really aren't routines that work... you really are on their schedules for a while. Their little brains aren't going to make the connection that eating+bath+lights out=sleep through the night until they are older...and for preemies that is from their due date, not birth date.

When Hannah was new we woke her up every two hours to feed her since we were dealing with her jaundice/weight issues. We eventually started being able to skip a feeding here or there, but we were pretty much sleeping in 45 minute chunks around the clock - nighttime didn't really make a difference. At four weeks we got the go ahead from her doctor to feed her on cue rather than wake her to feed her, which gave us some longer stretches - but a long stretch was like 4-5 hours. Once she got to be about 6 weeks old she started sleeping for much longer times at night, but during the day we still are about 2-3 hours between feedings with short naps in between.

It makes sense that the girls are eating less more often...if you were breastfeeding they would do that to help regulate your milk supply, and it's more comfortable for their tiny bellies.

The first few weeks really are hard but they don't last forever I promise!!