I am a sleep junkie in the sense that I need sleep everyday... at least 7 hours to function well. I can get by with a 4-6 hours for a night or two, but then I need to catch up. The biggest drawback to having babies for me is the initiation into motherhood = sleep deprivation. If your goal is to get your child to sleep through the night as quickly as possible, keep reading for advice on scheduling. If you are one of those moms that either enjoys or otherwise doesn't mind getting up at all hours of the night to feed your baby and thinks the baby should create his or her own schedule that you must cater to, more power to you.. you might not want to read further as the following may offend you.
Both of my kids were sleeping through the night within 6 weeks. I was able to get my second to sleep through the night at 5 weeks old with a little work and the experience gained from baby #1. When I say sleep through the night, at 4 weeks old that mean from about 12am to 7am. By 8 weeks Wyatt was sleeping from 11:30pm to 8:00am. And now at 16 weeks he is sleeping from 11pm to 9am over 95% of the time.
The key for Stage 1 (beginning at week 3) of getting them to sleep through the night consistently is not letting them sleep more than two consecutive hours during the day. Sounds easy enough, but in truth, it's hard work. I was lucky to be living at home with my parents with an Aunt that came over almost every day to visit my kids... and stare with fascination at the little newborn. So I had a team to help me keep Wyatt awake as needed and also to let me nap during the day as I recovered from having the baby and then having to feed him every two hours for a couple of weeks. The trap is that you are so tired, the baby is sleeping so peacefully.. it's hard to motivate yourself to disturb the babies sleep = loud crying = no quiet time or rest for you. Even when you can get yourself past the hump to stir the baby, often times, they do not want to be awake. I would literally submerge Wyatt's body in the kitchen sink while scooping water over his head to wake him up at time... and even that didn't work well at times. Another good trick my sister taught me is to dangle a paper towel around his face - targeting his nose - while intermittently blowing in his face. My poor Aunt Elsie looked like she was in pain when I asked her to help me with this. She would comply while profusely apologizing to Wyatt for not being allowed to let him sleep.
The second key is maintaining a pattern of feeding -> awake time -> sleep. This is the principle of scheduling promoted by the book Baby Wise, which is without a doubt one of the most useful books I have ever read. Wyatt is on a 3 hour cycle that begins at 9am. He has a bottle, stays awake (activity map/bouncy chair/etc), and then takes a nap for 1 - 1.5 hours which ends at 12pm. At 12pm, he gets another bottle and the routine starts over. But after 6pm, he tends to stay awake until bedtime at 11pm - sometimes he will take a a one hour nap. I've found that if he takes a nap for more than an hour after 6pm, he wakes up before 9am. I am a sleep junkie and also a data junkie. I keep track of his eating, feeding (amount), and sleep patterns (including how many minutes Wyatt cried when I put him down for a nap) all day, ever day. That is the behavior scientist in me perhaps. I have a note book that list the patterns down the left side of the paper and then I (or my nanny) fill in the specifics for each day down the vertical columns.
For us, this scheduling routine enabled him to start sleeping through the night and made my days predictable. I knew when he needs to eat and sleep, so I could schedule my days around the times. And, perhaps most importantly for me, I could start sleeping through the night.
Both of my kids were sleeping through the night within 6 weeks. I was able to get my second to sleep through the night at 5 weeks old with a little work and the experience gained from baby #1. When I say sleep through the night, at 4 weeks old that mean from about 12am to 7am. By 8 weeks Wyatt was sleeping from 11:30pm to 8:00am. And now at 16 weeks he is sleeping from 11pm to 9am over 95% of the time.
The key for Stage 1 (beginning at week 3) of getting them to sleep through the night consistently is not letting them sleep more than two consecutive hours during the day. Sounds easy enough, but in truth, it's hard work. I was lucky to be living at home with my parents with an Aunt that came over almost every day to visit my kids... and stare with fascination at the little newborn. So I had a team to help me keep Wyatt awake as needed and also to let me nap during the day as I recovered from having the baby and then having to feed him every two hours for a couple of weeks. The trap is that you are so tired, the baby is sleeping so peacefully.. it's hard to motivate yourself to disturb the babies sleep = loud crying = no quiet time or rest for you. Even when you can get yourself past the hump to stir the baby, often times, they do not want to be awake. I would literally submerge Wyatt's body in the kitchen sink while scooping water over his head to wake him up at time... and even that didn't work well at times. Another good trick my sister taught me is to dangle a paper towel around his face - targeting his nose - while intermittently blowing in his face. My poor Aunt Elsie looked like she was in pain when I asked her to help me with this. She would comply while profusely apologizing to Wyatt for not being allowed to let him sleep.
The second key is maintaining a pattern of feeding -> awake time -> sleep. This is the principle of scheduling promoted by the book Baby Wise, which is without a doubt one of the most useful books I have ever read. Wyatt is on a 3 hour cycle that begins at 9am. He has a bottle, stays awake (activity map/bouncy chair/etc), and then takes a nap for 1 - 1.5 hours which ends at 12pm. At 12pm, he gets another bottle and the routine starts over. But after 6pm, he tends to stay awake until bedtime at 11pm - sometimes he will take a a one hour nap. I've found that if he takes a nap for more than an hour after 6pm, he wakes up before 9am. I am a sleep junkie and also a data junkie. I keep track of his eating, feeding (amount), and sleep patterns (including how many minutes Wyatt cried when I put him down for a nap) all day, ever day. That is the behavior scientist in me perhaps. I have a note book that list the patterns down the left side of the paper and then I (or my nanny) fill in the specifics for each day down the vertical columns.
For us, this scheduling routine enabled him to start sleeping through the night and made my days predictable. I knew when he needs to eat and sleep, so I could schedule my days around the times. And, perhaps most importantly for me, I could start sleeping through the night.
