I was talking to an older friend (she's 60) the other day about how I hope & pray & cross my fingers that this baby will be as easy as my other two were! When my daughters were born (they are 8 and 5 now), I got them on a strict schedule immediately. Feeding every three hours on the dot, bedtime at 8pm, not a minute later. We did the same things at bedtime every day. We did the same things in the morning. Naptime was always the same. Bathtime was always the same. You get the picture.
My 8-year-old started sleeping through the night when she was 3 weeks old, and my five-year-old started sleeping through the night when she was six weeks old. They both slept twelve hours at night and took three hour naps during the day. I never had a problem weaning them, they both gladly switched to whole milk in sippy cups at 11 1/2 months.
I've never known if their easiness was a result of my strict schedule following or if they were just "born that way". My friend told me that when she was raising her four kids, the two that she kept on a schedule were her easiest. Then again, my sister-in-law swears that her baby couldn't be put on a schedule, and that I just got lucky.
So, which is it? Did I get lucky? Or does putting your baby on a schedule really work out that well? Being 8 weeks pregnant, I'm curious to see if this baby is as easy as my other two, so hope and pray for me that he or she is!!!!
LOL Cheryl! It's the thought that counts!! :)
Oh & Just M., my first daughter did have reflux, and the days were pure hell. She screamed in the evening time like nobody's business, but she still slept through the night starting at 3 weeks.
I wonder if the right question is going to be "Were my girls setting me up for their little brother?"
I think it is personality! I believe in schedules but I also believe that kids
need to be somewhat flexible, this way if a nap was missed or bedtime later
no one had a meltdown. Hopefully this baby will be as easy. Good luck.
It all depends on the child I think. My oldest was a very easy going baby and did not have him on a schedule and slept through the night fairly early but my youngest on the other had was the oposite. It depends on their temperments I think.
would love to make this political to make you laugh...but alas...nothing comes to mind...darn..
attitude is everything. each child is different...could be a little of each - luck and using a schedule...
pray they don't get reflux or some other problem that makes them in pain then! my daughter screamed in horrible pain (the lvels were so loud they made things pop in your ear- but they didn't want her on meds) and nursed almost 24 hours a day until she was 6 months old.
Both of my kids slept straight 12 hours thru the night the first week they were home. But they were both 11# at birth and I've heard that bigger babies tend to sleep better in general. Both of mine were angels, everyone always commented how good and easy they were. AND they both took long naps during the day too until they were almost 3. So I'm not sure if I had them on a "strict" schedule, I personally think I was just "lucky". =)
A combo of both. And you better go knock on some wood, G.....you just jinxed yourself. Lol ;)
It's the schedule (congrats!)
We did demand feeding for the first 3-4 months (Doc whatshisname and the 4th trimester idea).
Little man wouldn't sleep through the night or through a nap. Then we found the Babywise series and its schedule.
Happy family sleeping through the night ever since.
It's the schedule.
(yes, some kids are just natural sleepers and some aren't - but with a schedule it doesn't matter - they all sleep) :)
I had a great sleeper then a baby with acid reflux then another good sleeper...you just never know!
I had a super easy baby with a schedule I had to radically change every 3 months (school). Just got lucky we were right for each other. He was brilliant. I attribute it entirely to luck. Why? Because I have a large family. Same parents, different kids. Some it worked for, and some it didn't. Not just my parents, but aunts, uncles, godparents, etc. Its luck. I got durn lucky and know it.
Btw... 'easy' is a moving target. My son was easy for ME, he was easy for my uncle and my mum, he would have been HARD for 3 of my aunts, my dad, his dad, etc. 'Easy' is in the eye of the beholder.
Not sure. I only know my experience!! My son has never been on a strict schedule. We have a flexible life. When he was an infant he ate when he wanted to, and slept when he wanted to. He was sleeping through the night by 6 weeks. Before 6 weeks, he only ever woke up once a night for a quick bottle. He goes to bed easily. We just put him to bed when he is tired. I will say, that's almost always within an hour of the same time. We kind of let him figure out his schedule. He is nearly 3, and dropped naps about 6 months ago. If he got even 10 minutes of sleep during the day, he really had trouble falling asleep at night. Since we dropped his naps, he does sleep 12-14 hours a night. He goes where we go with no complaints, does what we tell him with very little objection. He really just is a long for the ride. People keep telling me he'll hit a bad phase of fits and things...and he really might. So far, he has set his own schedule and is very, very easy. I don't think it has very much to do with us. We don't really do anything specific, for him to be that way. He came that way mostly!!
It can be a mixture, all you, or all them. I have a theory that "easy" children are generally inherently that way. Not that you shouldn't take credit for being a great parent, because it seems you really are.
All kids are different. All 3 of my babies were VERY easy.
My daughter was great until she was 4 and she's been mouthy every since...but she's still amazing.
My middle son did 2 REALLY well, heck he did 3 pretty well too, but he has the BIGGEST heart I've ever seen in any human being, also amazing.
My baby was great until about 18 months, and he's been doing everything exceptionally well since then! I was hoping when he turned 5 in March a switch would go or something - no such luck!! Doesn't stop him from being amazing :).
Good luck with the newest one!
I think it's more to do with luck, but that's probably an inherited temperament as well. I think it's not too much of stretch to find that parents who are the kind of people who take comfort in a rigid schedule and live their lives that way have kids who also find that a rigid schedule is a good fit, and parents who are more flexible may also give birth to kids who enjoy flexibility.
I can tell you that my oldest wasn't going to live by a schedule at all. We lived with my parents (I was single) and my mom watched him 4 days a week after I went back to work and even someone like my mom, who is a nurse and mother of 5 and thrives on a schedule, couldn't get him onto one. That was fine by me, because I'm of the mind that you eat when you're hungry and sleep when you're tired (within reason). My two younger boys fell more easily into schedules but none of them STTN early, which was also fine by me as I enjoyed co-sleeping and breastfeeding at night.
I think that when laid back parents get laid back kids, things are good. And when babies who *need* schedules have parents who are willing to be rigid about things end up in the same family, great. I do feel bad when they're a clear mis-match between temperaments though - I have a hyper-scheduled friend who resented her un-scheduled baby and friends who wanted to be able to go out late, etc. who found it kind of a lifestyle cramp that their child had to be asleep at home by a certain hour or would be "off" all the next day.
My 2 cents is that they are born different. My oldest was the easiest baby I have ever seen, never game me an issues at all and slept through the night at 3 weeks.
I am a big scheduler (have to be to keep my sanity). My second was in no way interested in the schedule I had created and does her own thing. She had awful reflux and ear and sinus infections so she was not a happy baby. She did her own thing and did not sleep through the night until maybe 6months. We make her go to bed at 8pm, but a lot of times she is up until 10pm in her room. She does like to sleep in, but with our schedule she can't. My oldest napped until kindergarten, this one is already stopping naps at 2, but we make her rest anyway.
Good Luck with #3.
Haha, this makes me chuckle. I just said to my husband the other day how I sometimes get irritated when people say "you are so lucky that your child..." I mean, it's not so much luck, I'm TRYING to make these things happen, People! ;)
Anyway, I do think it's mostly you and a schedule. The people who have no schedule and easy babies are the lucky ones...j/k!! ;) Mainly I think scheduling and/or a clear set of expectations are what works, and I don't necessarily think they are mutually exclusive. You can be easy going and still be structured even though they sound opposite.
Bottom line, good for you! Keep it up!
Your strict schedule definitely helped. I was the same way BUT it depends on the kid so much. One of mine never slept due to acid reflux. The schedule did not make a difference. Once I figured out he couldn't lay flat it got much better. Keep the schedule and hope for the best :)
A baby who sleeps through the night at three or even 6 weeks is luck. They also likely were a good weight to be able to do that. Also luck. Feeding every 3 hours is a blessing and says you didn't have major problems with feeding, or milk supply. My first was a sleeper! My second was not. I scheduled the same.
I think it is a bit of both. I can honestly say, as a teacher, the students who have grown up with a schedule or structure and tend to be organized and seem to create their own study schedules etc. They typically have a much easier time of things than those that don't. Students also tend to do better in school and classes that have structure, rather than those that are chaotic. Structure allows kids to know what is happening next, which can be positive at all ages.
Keep it up with the next baby! You gave your children the gift of a predictable, consistent schedule. Good job! It's hard work, but SO worth it!
A little of both??? I tried VERY hard to get my last two on schedules right away...didn't work. I'd feed my middle one, wait an allotted time and go to feed him again and he'd eat an ounce or two and quit. Then want to eat again in 30 minutes....can't deny a baby food so....
I'd put him to bed every night at 8, and it would be 10 sometimes before he'd actually fall asleep. Naps were the same way. Yes I'd try like hell to get them both on a nap schedule..some days it worked, most it didn't. And to me letting them cry for a half hour or trying to get them to sleep for that long was senseless and exhausting.
My four year old starting sleeping through the night at 3 months and has remained a great NIGHTIME sleeper. My 1.5 year old's sleep was torture from the day we brought him home. He JUST started sleeping through the night a few months ago, and he STILL has many nights where he gets up and cries or yells and we have to go in there so he doesn't wake up the four year old.
So I guess I have "bad" luck LOL????? Believe me, schedules are great for children who are willing to abide by them. My last two were NOT, Let's hope whatever the reasons were for you the 1st two times, you get again :) Good luck and congrats!
K this is going to sound crazy (well it kind of is) but I believe I actually *willed* my children to be good sleepers . When I was preggo I would rub belly salve on at night time and talk to them and tell them how great sleep was. I would tell them they were going to be good sleepers, etc. My girls are 10 and 14 and they're still great sleepers! Was it my pre-birth pep talks? I don't know and I don't really care cuz they're great sleepers and I loved talking to them in my belly!
I'm going to disagree with most and say You are just THAT good!! Mainly because I did the same thing with my 2 and got almost the same results, so there MUST be something to it! So YEA mama, good for you!! I'm sure your next will be just as easy! :)
And, in my case, I must give credit where credit is due...thank you, Babywise!!
Luck! :) Honestly, I think you got lucky with their temperament, and it worked with your schedule. My oldest was an easy baby and we kind of fell into a routine that worked for us. I never liked having a schedule (like feed at 9, 12, 3, 6), but much preferred a routine of sleep - eat - play that naturally worked out to be every 3 hours or so. With my baby her routine is closer to 2 or 2.5 hour cycles. I couldn't imagine listening to her cry for an hour because it isn't time to eat. I don't remember when my oldest (the easy one) slept through the night, but it was after 6 months when her doctor said she didn't NEED to eat at 2am every night. With the baby, she slept around 8 hours straight early on. Then at 4-months, she decided she needed to eat in the middle of the night. And like I said, I can't imagine listening to her cry because she's hungry. Good luck with your next baby! Hope it works out for you again!
I think it was a combination. You picked a schedule that worked for your kids. Mine had a schedule - it just varied a little with each one - depending on their weight and temperment. No one has addressed the big issue - your older children. You have an 8 & 5 year old presumably in school with activities, sports, etc. At 3 hours on the dot, you might be picking up from school, etc. My 3rd child is 8 years younger than the 2nd, he did not get the same "schedule" - he had naps in strollers at soccer games, nursed in the car while we waited for pick up, etc. I will say he is a "goes with the flow" kind of person so it didn't hurt him - it was just different. (He's 21 now and in college.)
Luck and good *luck* with this one
