Help with Sleep Schedule

Updated on December 07, 2010
J.D. asks from San Diego, CA
6 answers

I have an 8 week old boy who is doing pretty well with a schedule. He is formula fed and eats around every 3 hours during the day and has recently gone 8-9 hours at night between feedings. Yay! The problem is with the times of the feedings. No matter what time he eats in the afternoon, he wants to eat again between 5 and 6pm and then is exhausted and goes to sleep around 6:30-7:00 and sleeps til 2am. I would like to try and find a way to have his laast feeding be somewhere between 7-9pm ( or even 10pm)if possible so that the long strecth takes him to 4-6 am. I'm just not sure how to do that.

He used to wake up for a feeding around 10pm and then again at 2 am. He has now been skipping the 10pm feeding and going til 2 am which is great My question is, how do I change the hours of this long stretch at night? Do I feed him at 10pm if he briefly wakes up , even though I know he can fall back asleep for a few more hours? Do I keep him awake longer between 6:30-8pm even though I know he is tired and cranky so that I can feed him again around 8pm? What do you guys suggest?

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T.H.

answers from Kansas City on

Well it sound like you're doing it all "right". Are you waking him up during the day for his every 3 hour feedings? If not, do it. I fed my kids at pretty much exactly 3 hours and I woke them if they were asleep. It really worked like a charm. Eating around 5-6 is fairly normal, but both mine didn't go to bed until about 8...so, not sure how to make that happen b/c I agree you don't want to make them over tired. Actually I would probably feed him at like 5-6, let him sleep if he wants and then wake him up to eat again around 8-9 and then put him to bed for the night. He'll probably stay asleep right? That's what I'd do, maybe it will help! Good luck!

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C.L.

answers from Las Vegas on

Let him keep going to sleep around 6:30 or 7 and I would suggesnt waking him up or at least dream-feeding him at 10pm. You might not have to get him totally awake to have him take the bottle and just put him right back down when you are done. Hopefully, that will shift the schedule the way you are hoping.

Good Luck!

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S.F.

answers from San Diego on

Your baby is right on track! Going to bed at 6:00/6:30 is the time an 8 week old should be going to bed. I consulted w/a sleep expert and she told me that in order to drop the night feedings, you need to 'up' the day feedings. So, gradually add more to the day and you'll find that 2:00am feeding to stop. At 4 months, he should be having 4/8oz bottles per day. One at wakeup (6:00'ish, then 10:00, then 2:00, then 6:00 (bedtime). He is doing great! Do not keep him up longer, 'he' is telling you it's time for bed and keeping him up later will not stop that 2:00am wakeup or sleep later in the morning - it just doesn't work (according to the lady I consulted with and it didn't on my babies). Babies 'natural' clock is to go to bed between 5:30p-6:30p. If you keep him up and he is so overtired going to bed, you actually will see more 'wake-ups' from being overtired. Also, she doesn't recommend 'dream feedings' - just let them sleep. At 8 weeks, it's normal to see 8hrs/night, then 12 weeks, 12hrs/night, etc.. (this is for most 'healthy' babies). For more info, go to www.3daysleep.com - Davis is awesome! :)
Good luck! :)

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D.P.

answers from Raleigh on

I have a 14 week old. There isn't much you can do at this point- I think he is still to young to try and adjust the overnight feeding. With my daughter, she will eat when she wants to, and no other time in between. So usually, she will eat her last bottle at 6-7 and then wake up around 2 or 3 am. We tried feeding her later, but she still woke up at the same time during the night, so we don't force the issue now. We just go with it. The way it normally works out is that the overnight feeding drops altogether eventually. But I think he is too young now to try and get on a tight schedule, and you will find it doesn't work that way anyway!
Whatever you do, don't keep him up later. You will get more nightwakings because he is overtired and that will just make night sleep worse.
Take care!

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F.W.

answers from Cumberland on

It is actually harder having a child that resists an early bedtime so you can look on the bright side on that part! 7:00 seems like a pretty typical infant bedtime. I wouldn't try to make him over tired --it'll probably backfire. You can try a dream feed at 10 pm when he wakes--I read about that in Baby Whisperer. If all things are left the same though--he'll probably drop that 2 am feed pretty soon anyway naturally if you are willing to wait it out!

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J.P.

answers from Boise on

When I set up the schedule for my kids, I would feed every 3 hours (okay, not EXACTLY 3) and wake them up if needed and do their wake time, until their "bedtime". In this way, the longer sleep time coincided with my sleep time. I continued this until they woke up when I did, then would back up the to sleep time until they slept the whole time. My daughter is 7 months now and has her last meal about 7:30, goes to beed at 9 and sleeps till 6:30 or later.

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