Moms of newborns or BTDT moms - what should i be doing re: night time sleeping.

So DS is a month old and DH and I have worked out a schedule where we take shifts - I take the first half of the night and he takes the second (in another room with the baby while the other sleeps in our br). Basically - if we each get an hour of sleep during our shift that is good. But, it is basically like daytime. He eats twice during the night (which takes about an hour and half - since he will spit up if we put him right down) - then he may sleep off and on (usually won't go in his bassinet though - either carseat or swing) other times he is crying or fussy the rest of the time.

I feel like this isn't normal and like DH and I should be going to sleep together - putting him in his bassinet and one of us waking up only to feed him and then going back to sleep. But, if we did this - neither one of us would get any sleep.

I would love to hear what your night time routines are and any suggestions you may have

Re: Moms of newborns or BTDT moms - what should i be doing re: night time sleeping.

With both girls nighttime was all business. DH and I though did take turns througout the night and both girls were in our room til they were 8 weeks old.

At night when they woke one us would get up, feed them, burp em all in the light of a nightlight, then right back down they went, very little rocking. We didn't even make eye contact with them and only changed them if their diaper was very full or had poo in it.
With my oldest, she was bf'd, so Dh used to get her for me, then he'd keep me company while i fed her.

We felt nighttime wakings were both our responsibilities and we felt bad when teh other one was up. We were a team of sleep deprivation

Luckily for us, both my girls slept 8-10 hours a night around 8 weeks old, which is not the norm.

Hang in there it will get easier

ETA: We did what we had too on bad nights, my youngest needs to be swaddled otherwise she's up every hour, we learned that one the hard way. You won't cause bad habits if you rock her or put her in the swing or carseat. Habits dont' start forming until about 4-5 months old my ped told us

Message edited 10/3/2007 10:32:43 AM.

Re: Moms of newborns or BTDT moms - what should i be doing re: night time sleeping.

At that early age, you do whatever you can to get some rest yourselves....

Sounds normal to me.

Its rough till they are about 12 weeks old and they can get into a pattern.

Re: Moms of newborns or BTDT moms - what should i be doing re: night time sleeping.

ok here goes.

DH would come between 5-6- we would eat a quick dinner. I would pump at like 6:30pm. Head to bed. If people wanted to come visit, they had to be out by 7pm. No excpetions!


At like 10:30ish-11, DH would come wake me so I could pump again. If DD was sleeping we would go to bed. I slept in a different room. Sometimes DD slept in the carseat or bassinet. Then I would take over then night shift. ususally she would be asleep by 11 or so, and then wake at 3 to eat again. I would feed her and when she fell asleep I would bring her in the room I was sleeping in.

This went on for about 4 months. On the weekends, we would sleep in the same bed but during the week, I slept in DD's room with her. This worked really well for us because I was able to get about 4 hours of straight sleep.

Message edited 10/3/2007 10:33:44 AM.

Re: Moms of newborns or BTDT moms - what should i be doing re: night time sleeping.

Ladies thanks for sharing your schedules...Anyone else? DH and I are suffering from major sleep deprivation and its starting to get unhealthy!