Sleep Schedule

My husband and I are kind of split on this.

Did you/do you have your infant in a sleep schedule? If so, which one and when did you start? How successful has it been?

TIA!!

Re: Sleep Schedule

We do not have a set schedule - the baby made the schedule. He liked to go to bed between 8 and 9 and that is what we did. Naps are a bit all over the place though - but one morning and one afternoon nap

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nope not for me i let my newborn set her schedule. But right now @almost 3 mo shes going down around 9:30 and sleeps for 5 hrs straight. During the day its pretty much anything goes.

Sleep Schedule

We didn't have a schedule but used the eat, play, sleep routine and it worked great. We started it around 6 weeks and I just followed DD's cues and put her down for a nap the second she made a fussy noise or started rubbing her face. Times varied depending on when she woke for the day or how long each nap was but she usually napped an hour, nursed, played, and was back down after another hour. Closer to 5 months she would go stay up longer and go three hours between feedings.

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We have no schedules
She ate when she wanted.
Slept when she wanted
You can't force a newborn to do anything they don't want to do.
Trust me.

Sleep Schedule

I didn't put DS on a schedule until he started daycare and we were kind of forced into it. Before that, we were on HIS schedule.

Sleep Schedule

Not really. She's 3 months old tomorrow and we put her to bed whenever we're about to go to bed, which is usually sometime between 11 & 12am. She sleeps til anywhere between 4 & 6am, gets up for a bottle, and will usually go back to sleep when she's done.

Naps are whenever she falls asleep.

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at first we didnt...but around 6/8 weeks we started to sleep train, so thats when we started. I used a modified version of The Baby Sleep Solution book (easy read)...and by about 11/12 weeks DD started sleeping through most of the night most nights...and i would say by 4 months she slept through all the time (except for teething issues).

DH and I are very much of "schedule" people, so this worked for us. If you are not, then you will drive yourself nuts.

there is no wrong way, just do what your gut tells you.

Sleep Schedule

My daughter sets her own schedule. She just started sleeping through the night at nearly 3 months old. She goes to sleep between 10 and 12 and wakes up between 6 and 8 sometimes 9. During the day she naps and eats when she wants. She definitely is developing a pattern.

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It depends what you mean by "infant" but no, DS generally does not have a sleep schedule. I always followed his lead. As he got older, I got him on a bedtime schedule, but that's it. He naps when he naps.

Sleep Schedule

My DS is a newborn so there is NO schedule. He eats and sleep when he wants. I plan to try to sleep train when he is 2 months.

Message edited 6/5/2014 5:18:45 PM.

Re: Sleep Schedule

I had sleeping/eating schedules for both of my kids from very early on (around 8 weeks) BUT it was nothing that I forced. I just followed their lead and their cues and I pretty quickly discovered patterns with them.

Naps took a few months to work out but those became predictable too over time. Once they started STTN at 8 weeks, that was it..........I NEVER gave them a bottle again if they woke up during the night. If they woke up for some reason I would cuddle them back to sleep but in THEIR room.....I never took them out of their dark, quiet, sleeping environment.

I also kept the same exact nighttime routines from the get go so they always knew what to expect at bedtime. Neither one of my kids has ever really given me a hard time about going to bed at night. They go down every night at the same time and are asleep within minutes. Bedtime is easy because for them it's predictable and there is never a deviation in routine or time they go down.

That being said, my DD did have a few phases where she would babble/talk in bed for a while or read books in her bed but that was fine, as long as she was quiet and in bed that didn't bother me. But her bedtime and routines never changed when she had those phases.

With eating they both wanted bottles every 3-4 hrs so that's the routine I followed. I increased ounces and and solids as necessary. Again, eating was never a real fight because the routines were predictable.

I would never force anything on a NB because realistically you can drive yourself crazy because they are always changing. But it's NOT impossible to find yourself in a routine with them that is simply based on their cues/needs.

Babies are a little more predictable then you think, if you pay attention you can see patterns/habits develop with some of them. Every time I did..........I jumped on it. I'm pretty structured though, I function much better when I have a routine each day so I didn't let an opportunity to get them on a schedule slip by.

Sleep Schedule

I never put my ds on any kind if schedule.

I thank god every day we did it that was. Because I was always on the go he learned to sleep anywhere. And I really mean anywhere. He sleeps when he is tired and eats when he is hungry. Because we were laid back he has taken that same attitude!!

Re: Sleep Schedule

We did a sleep schedule starting around 12w. I modeled it around the schedule she kind of made for herself anyway. I found a sleep schedule useful bc it gave DD some kind of understanding as to what was coming up. At 12w she would nap from 8-8:30, 10-1, 4-5, 7-7:30 and then bed at 9ish. Then her second nap naturally adapted to 10-2 and she lost the 4:00 nap. Then the 8:00 nap became a 9:00 nap for 1 hour, her second nap got shorter, and her third nap became a cat nap. Oh, and her bedtime got earlier. Then she dropped the evening nap. Now, she naps at 9:15 for an hour, and a long nap from around 1-3, then bed at 6:30-7:00 usually. Sometimes, it's 7:30, but that really depends on her. Regardless of what time she goes to bed, she gets up at 6:30am.

So, there is some variability. Usually 15 minutes in either direction and occasionally we have an off day. I don't let those days bother me, I just go with it. All and all though I like the schedule and I think DD appreciates having an idea what is coming. It also helps me plan the week. The way I looked at it is this: we as humans typically live on schedules. We go to work the same time everyday (or get our schedules ahead of time so we can adapt) we eat meals around the same time every day etc. therefore, I am going to provide my infant with the same structure I live with everyday. DD naps in the car or in her stroller when it's nap time. She has some trouble when there is too much noise or competing stimuli but that would happen anyway.

Re: Sleep Schedule

Re: Sleep Schedule