So here we are at home. Russell and I slept for about 5 hours last night, mainly because Emma didn't go to sleep until 1:15. Like I said, at 7 weeks, we've got to start working on this schedule. The part I need advice on is how often all you mommies out there fed your kids when they were starting to sleep through the night. Right now, the plan is every 3 hours, with the last two feedings at 9 and 11ish. I know every child is different, but I'm just trying to get a few ideas. Feeding Emma every 4 hours isn't going to work because she can't eat enough at each of those feedings to keep her full during the night. What worked for all of you?
We didn't get a ton of sleep last night, and Emma was awake all morning. But she wasn't fussy! She's been a GREAT baby when she's awake; she was starting to get kinda fussy for a while there, and I think it had something to do with the fluid on her brain. My wonderful mother (who has been SUCH a blessing staying with me at the hospital and helping me out at home, just the right amount) came over this morning and let me and Russell nap and shower this afternoon. It was about that time that Russell and I decided we needed a new feeding and sleeping plan.
Emma has adjusted well to being at home, and we've had her sleeping in both her crib and the pack 'n play. She has slept through all kinds of noise tonight - phones ringing, the tv, us talking...how great! We're definitely looking for silver linings anywhere we can find them - we can appreciate that God has blessed with more sleep the last 7 weeks than most parents would get; Emma has learned how to eat on a schedule; she can sleep through a lot of noise because her room was directly across from the nurses' station. There are some others, but these are the ones we're thankful for now, as we're adjusting to being home with her.
We changed Emma's wound dressing this morning and again tonight, and we could even see a difference in just 12 hours. The home health care nurse called to schedule our first appointment for tomorrow morning, and she was doubting whether we needed her 3 times a week. I thought to myself, well, great - ANOTHER nurse who doesn't seem interested in helping us. Maybe it was a bad first impression; based on our conversation, I'm not so sure she realizes what we're dealing with here. She didn't even know Emma had been in the NICU for 7 weeks and was pretty surprised that it was that long.
Now here's a picture of Russell and Emma having a staring contest. You can see on the side of her head where the shunt went in; her hair is shaved right there, and it really looks like she has a mullet in the back.
Mary Beth-
ReplyDeleteOur daughter is 8 weeks old and we are just now getting longer stretches of sleep during the night hours. We feed her every 3 hours during the day, even if I have to wake her to eat. At night, our last feeding is around 11pm and just in the last week, she is sleeping a 4-5 hour stretch at night, then back to every 3 hours. We did the same thing with our son and he was sleeping ALL night around 4 months. Good Luck!
Babies that young usually need to be fed every 3 hours during the day because they don't take but 2-3 ounzes each feeding. At night it's about the same schedule, you may feed her at 11 pm and she may sleep until 3 am if you are lucky, the schedule is usually 11 pm, 2 am, 5 am, 8 am and every 3 hours. Sleeping through the night varies and when you start mixing baby cereal with the formula you will find out that she can sleep longer between feedings. Not much sleep at night when they are this young. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteMost sources are saying 3-4 months before you can really start training her to a schedule. Until then, the nervous system just isn't ready so she is waking and sleeping according to biological responses she really can't control no matter what kind of training you try.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sleepnet.com/infant.html
Not so. Advice my doctor gave me: Babies will train you if you don't train them. Grab sleep when they sleep. Comfort them before you pick them up. Every cry is not from hunger. Don't get hung up on how much they are eating. If you are nursing, you can't measure, why measure when feeding by bottle. Don't wake them to feed.
ReplyDeleteHe began sleeping 7 hours a night by 6 weeks increasing to 10 hours by 3 months, thanks to the advice. Oh, and no cereal in the bottle.
Hey Mary Beth! So glad you guys are home and Emma's wound is healing so quickly! I can't remember with Anna exactly when she started sleeping through the night without a feeding (I think she did do better than Garrett) but I do remember that he would take his last bottle around 11 and then like clock work he was up at 3:00 to eat again. I know that went on for at least 11-12 weeks but after that we were home free. He would sleep until I woke him to get him ready to leave for the morning. You won't have many weeks left and I bet when she gets more comfortable with her new surroundings and maybe the different kind of noises she is hearing, she will do great! I also never had luck with putting cereal in the bottle....maybe I just didn't know the best nipples to buy or the best way to cut the ones I had, but even the couple of times I did get it right & give it a try, it didn't seem to buy me much time with the stretches of sleep. Good luck & take care! Jennifer Murphy
ReplyDeleteThe Babywise book has great advice for getting a child on a schedule and getting them to sleep through the night. When my daughter first came home we had a hard time getting her to sleep but after reading this book we had her sleeping through the night at 9 weeks.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite sleep book is The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems by Tracy Hogg---lots of great advice that worked for all three of my children, who were all unique in different ways. Our first didn't sleep through the night regularly until he was 18 months old (three months before our second was born!), our second (also named Emma Claire!) was sleeping all night by 3 months old, and our third was 6 months old. I classify "all night" as 10-12 hours, but all three were sleeping longer periods (6 hours) earlier than that. Our youngest is 10 months old and he is still eating every 3 hours--I've never been able to get him to go longer than that, but it works for us. I've learned that every baby is different and you just do what works for you. You'll figure out a routine that works for you, Russell, and Emma and y'all will do great. These early weeks of little sleep will fly by and will soon be a thing of the past. I can hardly believe that I went 18 months on never sleeping more than 4 hours straight, but I did and lived tell about it. :) Congrats on being home from the hospital--Emma is precious!
ReplyDeleteHi, MB,
ReplyDeleteI'll put in my two cents here. For us, we made sure that Finn ate every 3hrs (actually, I think it was a 2.5 when he was that young). Even if I had to wake him, he had to eat. That helped him get enough calories during the day to go longer at night. He would sleep from that last feeding around 11 until 8 or so. Our problem was getting him to go to bed earlier. We moved back his bedtime in 15 min increments for a while until he went down at 830. Then, he was waking up at 4 to eat. And at some point, he stopped doing that.
Honestly, if you can get Emma on a good routine during the day, her night sleep will fall into place. You can't MAKE a baby sleep all night, I don't think. But you can help her get on a predictable schedule during the day, and hopefully that will lead her to a schedule at night. Don't be frustrated if she's not sleeping through the night. She's still young, and some babies just take forever to learn that habit. You'll do great!
I'm glad that you are having to work on this, since it means she is HOME. What a great feeling!
First, praise God she's home and you get to do all this regular newborn stuff!!!
ReplyDeleteSecond, two books I liked - Secrets of the Baby Whisperer and The Happiest Baby on the Block. If you want the reader's digest version of either of those, let me know.
You can set her clock so she has her days and nights down. Keep her longer during the day. At night, don't make eye contact, no light, no other distractions. Feed her, change if necessary and right back to bed. Realistically, she probably needs to eat every 3 or 4 hours still. You'll know she's waking because she's on a sched and not because she's hungry when she only eats a little bit and falls right back to sleep. At that point, I gave Andy the pacifier instead of feeding him. We did that for a couple nights and like magic, he quit waking for that feeding (this I got from the Baby Whisperer).
Andy would go for 6 hours at 4 months; Elizabeth is only going for 3 or 4 at the same age, even feeding her cereal at night. Just goes to show that all babies are different!
You can also increase the number of feedings at night. Instead of every 3 hours, do every 2 hours. That helps too. Get her up before you go to bed for the last feeding (10p or 11p).
I've got lots more tips if you want it. Andy is a super sleeper now.
xo
Hey Mary Beth!
ReplyDeleteI worked the past 2 days and no Emma! Thrilled for you but I missed her. Send me an email or text. Thanks.
Hugs. Dawn
Hey MB! I am so happy for you that you are getting to experience the joy of having Emma at home (take the bad with the good!)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Abbey. For me, Babywise and Secrets of the Baby Whisperer were both key to keeping my sanity during the first couple of months. The daytime schedule is key to the nights. She needs to be eating and napping on a regular schedule during the day. For us it was 2.5-3 hours at this point. If he was awake, I fed him at 2.5 hours. I woke him if necessary to feed him at 3 hours. He started sleeping from 10 or 11 until 6 at about 7-8 weeks.
As Merritt said, when we moved his bedtime earlier, he started waking at 4 to eat. He did that until about 5 months. Now, he goes to sleep between 6:30-7 and sleeps until about 6:30. Feel free to call me or e-mail me if you want more details!