it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

so, do you wonderful BTDT moms have any advice... especially scheduling advice.

Eryk is going to Oma's (grandma's) starting tomorrow. Oma lives 45 min away. DH will drop off and I will pick-up. (we both work at the same place, roughly 10 min from home).

Eryk is obviously not sleeping through the night yet... he's almost 12 weeks. He naps in the evening, wakes-up at roughly 10pm, falls asleep at roughly 12-1, (sometimes has a feeding from 2-330am), always feeds at roughly 430-6am, and then wakes for good at 7am.

I'm glad I'm going back on christmas week... so we can ease into a new schedule... I pray we find something that works! I'm so afraid we'll both crash and burn from sleep deprivation

please.... any advice or tips?

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

Yikes, have you tried cutting out that late nap and just making it his bedtime? My DS is 12 weeks and has been going down anywhere from 6-8pm and will sleep through till 6-8am. I know that's not normal, but even if you could cut him down to 1 feeding at night and a later wake-up you'll feel a little better. Are you EBF or does DH help out at all? At least if DH could help with one feeding you could get some decent sleep. No other advice as I am going back to a night shift so my scheduling will be different (and DS will be with DH). I'm sure you'll figure out something that will work for you. Good luck

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

DS eats A LOT.... he could never go 12 hours w/o eating. the best he ever did was 5 hours (12am to 5am)... so we need that late feeding to 'tide him over' until morning. we're crossing our fingers that the 2am feeding disappears again (it did for a week, then he got an eye infection and it came back )

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

Posted by wannabemom

DS eats A LOT.... he could never go 12 hours w/o eating. the best he ever did was 5 hours (12am to 5am)... so we need that late feeding to 'tide him over' until morning. we're crossing our fingers that the 2am feeding disappears again (it did for a week, then he got an eye infection and it came back )

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

I agree that I would cut out that late nap.

Either nap him earlier and put him to bed at 8-10pm or put him down earlier than that.

Just because he needs to eat doesn't mean that he needs to get up for all those hours. DS ate during the night until he was 1, but he went to bed by 7-8pm

Good luck going back to work, its not so bad

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

how would we even get rid of that late nap... it's totally a DEEP SLEEP... you could strap him to the roof of the car and drive him around town without a flinch

How do you prevent your kid from crashing early? The only think that works momentarily is a diaper change.. but I'd have to change him every 15 min for several hours

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

When he wakes up for the 10pm feeding, put him back down when he is done. I bet he'd sleep through til the next feeding or next morning

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

Posted by KateDevine

When he wakes up for the 10pm feeding, put him back down when he is done. I bet he'd sleep through til the next feeding or next morning

Message edited 12/21/2008 3:12:02 PM.

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

Posted by wannabemom

Posted by KateDevine

When he wakes up for the 10pm feeding, put him back down when he is done. I bet he'd sleep through til the next feeding or next morning

we already do that... it just takes him an hour to BF and then drink his bottle... lots of burping in there....
After that, he wakes up either at 2, or if we're lucky 430-530am.... if the hunger doesn't wake him, a dirty diaper or an attempt at a BM will

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

yep.... becuase breastmilk doesn't fill him. before I added formula, he'd wake after 30 min . I also don't produce enough for him... I think he'd require something like 9 oz / 2 hours

so yeah, he BF's, and then drinks roughly 4-5 oz of formula.... only THEN will he sleep over an hour.

I should mention that he went to the Dr on a thursday for his 10 week apt and weighed 13 lbs 5 oz... and went back the following monday for an eye infection and weighed 14 lbs 1 oz

(I keep asking the ped if he's fat for his length, and he says no.. he's just super tall for his age he insists these growth spurts will end and he'll level out eventually )

Message edited 12/21/2008 3:25:39 PM.

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

Posted by wannabemom

yep.... becuase breastmilk doesn't fill him. before I added formula, he'd wake after 30 min . I also don't produce enough for him... I think he'd require something like 9 oz / 2 hours

so yeah, he BF's, and then drinks roughly 4-5 oz of formula.... only THEN will he sleep over an hour.

I should mention that he went to the Dr on a thursday for his 10 week apt and weighed 13 lbs 5 oz... and went back the following monday for an eye infection and weighed 14 lbs 1 oz

(I keep asking the ped if he's fat for his length, and he says no.. he's just super tall for his age he insists these growth spurts will end and he'll level out eventually )

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

I just want to say good luck to you ! I am due back to work in 2 weeks so I haven't BTDT yet. My DS is just like yours, he goes to bed around 8 wakes, at 11pm to eat, again around 230 am to eat and then again at 630 am. wakes up for good around 730. He is 14 weeks today and even Cereal in his bottle or off a spoon doens't help. he is also a big eater , born in the 5th Percentile, now he is 75th percentile .

I am not going to try to skip any of his feedings at night, I feel like he really needs to eat this much. I'm just hoping he will change once I go back to work. I feel your pain, and I'm worried I am going to be a zombie at my desk as well

I'm also in the same situation w/ granda watching him, and she lives about 15 min opposite direction of where I need to be, so will add about 30 min to my commute everyday. You have to let me know how everything goes your first week, seems like we are in a similar situation

ETA: My ds takes 5 oz every 3.5-4.5 hours

Message edited 12/21/2008 3:55:37 PM.

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

Posted by KateDevine

Posted by wannabemom

yep.... becuase breastmilk doesn't fill him. before I added formula, he'd wake after 30 min . I also don't produce enough for him... I think he'd require something like 9 oz / 2 hours

so yeah, he BF's, and then drinks roughly 4-5 oz of formula.... only THEN will he sleep over an hour.

I should mention that he went to the Dr on a thursday for his 10 week apt and weighed 13 lbs 5 oz... and went back the following monday for an eye infection and weighed 14 lbs 1 oz

(I keep asking the ped if he's fat for his length, and he says no.. he's just super tall for his age he insists these growth spurts will end and he'll level out eventually )

9oz every two hours at that age is A LOT! I'd call your ped and see if you can do cereal b/c that is a lot of formula/BM.

At 12 weeks my DS took like 4oz every 3-4 hours

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

ok, I'm rethinking my earlier estimate.. I'm guessing 8-9 oz (or possibly even 7 oz... see explanation below) every 3 hours or so...

the 8-9 oz number presumes I'm producing 4-5 oz of BM per feeding... When I pump, I generally get 2.5-3 oz... and I've read that babies are more efficient than pumps, so I presume 4-5 oz... but maybe it really IS 2.5 -3 either way, in which case it would be 7 oz/ feeding.

he definitely consumes exactly 4.5 oz of formula after BF'ing. Dont ask me why, but he rejects the bottle only after 4.5 oz.

krissy888.... that's exactly what my ped said. he said no matter HOW much he wants to eat, give it to him. he must need it, becuase he's not overweight for his length, and he's growing like a weed. He is against cereal to fill him becuase he must need the nutrients in BM and formula for his spurts. I'm taking cues from my ped... when he says cool it with the food, I will. but right now, he wants to feed feed feed.

I'll definitely give you any tips we might figure out. we'll both weather through this horrid transition. I really hope the feedings space out more at night for both of our babies!

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

Your DS is similar to mine in some ways, he LOVES to eat! DS was on 42oz of formula at one point and at his 10 week appt was over 16lbs! My ped gave me pretty good advice…he looks for his bottle for comfort! He has since about 2 weeks….he doesn’t need to eat every 2 hour …she was right, even at 12 months if he is crabby he wants that bottle and nothing else! Even though he eats 3 solid meals a day, he still consumes 30oz of formula at least! And I know he doesn’t NEED 30 oz a day…he just expects it.
With all that said, I think you will kill yourself with that schedule while working FT! Your DS is probably more so in a groove and just expects to be fed more so than really needing it. JMO. I agree with the others get rid of htat late nap, either put him down earlier or do whatever is necessary to keep him awake, diaper changes, baths, loud music, pinching his little toes, etc…then see if he will go down at 9:30 ish for the night. Also if he wakes at 2:30 I wouldn’t feed him, you know he can make it until 4:30, so just try to rock him to sleep instead of feeding him. It will be rough for a few days but in the end he may just get the point that 2:30 is not time to eat! Or if you can get him to sleep at 9:30 feed him at 2:30 but not at 4:30.
Also even though my ped said not to…I put cereal in his bedtime bottle at night…honestly for me it didn’t make DS sleep longer but I know plenty of friends who swear by it.
My DS was a big boy, during the day would never go more than 3 hours without a bottle, a lot of times it was closer to 2.5…but he started sleeping 8 hours at 8 weeks at night and 10 hours by 10 weeks. So even big babies who love to eat can do more than 3 hours at a time.
GL

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

Its hard when they are still little, the schedules can still change. I would say try your best to be consistant with routine (feeding, waking, bath) and take it one day at a time. Eventually you'll get the hang of it

Re: it's my turn... the end of maternity leave

Posted by wannabemom

so, do you wonderful BTDT moms have any advice... especially scheduling advice.

Eryk is going to Oma's (grandma's) starting tomorrow. Oma lives 45 min away. DH will drop off and I will pick-up. (we both work at the same place, roughly 10 min from home).

Eryk is obviously not sleeping through the night yet... he's almost 12 weeks. He naps in the evening, wakes-up at roughly 10pm, falls asleep at roughly 12-1, (sometimes has a feeding from 2-330am), always feeds at roughly 430-6am, and then wakes for good at 7am.

I'm glad I'm going back on christmas week... so we can ease into a new schedule... I pray we find something that works! I'm so afraid we'll both crash and burn from sleep deprivation

please.... any advice or tips?