Month 2: Schedule (C)

Here is a breakdown of how our schedule evolved during Month 2.

Week 5:
wake time: 6:30/7
bedtime: 8-9pm
number of naps: 5
feedings: during the day every 2 to 3 hours; 2-3 middle of the night feedings
night routine: nurse, bath, swaddle in SwaddleME swaddler, bottle of formula, sleeping in Rock and Play
nap routine: none – naps are either in carseat, swing, or while being held

Sleep deprivation peaked this week.  C would sometimes be wide awake for 3 hours in the middle of the night.  Poor J had to help me so much and then go to work in the morning, and he had to deal with my middle of the night angry rants.  My sister came to visit and I think I talked about sleep the whole time.  I was so desperate.  One night she held C from 7 to 10pm and I slept the whole time.  J’s parents babysat one night and put C to sleep in his crib, and he slept for 2 hours.  J and I decided we weren’t totally ready for crib life so back to our room he came.

After looking at C’s baby app that tracks sleep, feedings, etc.  I noticed that any time he slept more than 2 hours was when he went to sleep between 8 and 9pm, and if he had a bottle at some point that evening.  I also kept in mind that the doctor suggested gas drops and holding C upright after feedings.  So I decided we would start our bedtime routine between 8 and 9pm, and that we would give him a bath, swaddle in A’s old swaddle, give a bottle, give gas drops, hold upright, then place in Rock and Play with pacifier.  And OMG, that night he slept a 3.75 stretch to start!!!  Nursed, gave gas drops, changed diaper, kept upright, then back to sleep no fussing!!!  This continued the next couple nights, increasing to 4.5 hour stretches of sleep!  Wow, I felt like a new person.
Week 6:
wake time: 6:30/7
bedtime: 7:30
number of naps: 4 to 5
feedings: 7-8? 2 night feedings
night routine: bath, swaddle, bottle, rock, bassinet or Rock and Play
nap routine: watch for sleepy cues and stick within wake time window of about an hour or less; take baby to nursery for diaper change, swaddle, and a few minutes of rocking in chair. Place baby in dockatot in crib with sound machine on when drowsy.  If baby wakes, re-settle by putting pacifier back in and placing hand on chest.
This week I started practicing naps in cribs, and tried to be very mindful of awake times. Playing around with a 2.5 hour schedule.  C went back and forth between those 4+ hours of sleep initially at night, but sometimes less.  I was still getting the hang of being alone with my two under two, and some days were better than others.  Just trying to keep perspective and rely on J when I need to.
Week 7 and 8:
wake time: 6:30/7
bedtime: 7:30
number of naps: 4 (8:15am, 11:15am, 2:30pm, 5pm)
feedings: 7; 2 night feedings (7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 1am, 4am)
night routine: bath, swaddle, bottle, rock, CRIB
nap routine: watch for sleepy cues and stick within wake time window of about an hour or less; take baby to nursery for diaper change, swaddle, and a few minutes of rocking in chair. Place baby in dockatot in crib with sound machine on when drowsy.  If baby wakes, re-settle by putting pacifier back in and placing hand on chest.

We moved C to his own room in his crib for nights!  I was nervous to do this so early, but he is such a noisy little sleeper that it seemed like the right decision and it was.  Bedtime usually ended up closer to 8. Things definitely improved on the sleep front and he often took nice long naps and his initial stretch of night sleep got up to 5 hours 45 minutes a few times, but usually at least 4.5 hours so getting up twice.  Still hard to resettle after middle of night feedings.  Also, by no means was the schedule exact each day, but most of the time we got close. He is smiling and cooing and tracking so it has been fun to play with him during the day.  We have all been pretty happy around here.

Anyway, like I said by the time we got to 8 weeks this is what our rough schedule looked like, and it definitely varied day to day:

Time Activity
7am Wake/feed/play
8:15-10am Nap 1
10am Wake/feed/play
11:15am-1pm Nap 2
1pm Wake/feed/play
2:30-3:30pm Nap 3
4pm Wake/feed/play
5-6pm Nap 4
7:30pm Bedtime routine and final feeding of day
1am Middle of the night feeding 1
4am Middle of the night feeding 2