7 p.m. to 7 a.m. - realistic ?

Hi Marble, E&I's Mom, I think every child is different. I suspect spirited babies tend to need more carrying around. It was the same with my boy. During first 3 months, I had to carry him in my arms during sleep. The minute I put him down, he will wake up immediately crying! It happened from 2 weeks old! But it went away naturally at about 3 months. I still have to rock him occassionally now, but patting sometimes work when he is very tired.
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Thanks Cactus.
I think he is hungry cos this morning when i dream fed him again at 5am, he sucks his milk bottle frantically and stop once almost finished his milk and fell into deep sleep, then got movements again around 7am and I pat pat him but finally woke up 7.45am (cos i no time to pat him back to sleep anymore as i need to rush to work).
 
Yeah.. sounds like he was hungry! You mention he sleeps about 11pm. If he wakes up at 5am, it's only 6 hours of sleep. If I recall correctly, bbs generally need about 12 to 14 hours of sleep (day time and night time) per day at this stage. If he only sleeps 6 hours during the night, it means, he should sleep a total of 6 hours in nap time during the day. It sounds quite excessive for a 6 month old. I believe at 6 months, day time nap is only about 3 to 4 hours. You can check babycenter for more info. Some time back, Straits Times ran an article on it.
 
Hi cactus79

hey maybe you're right! my #1 is spirited and i had to carry him like how you carry your boy - all the time in your arms, and once put down, will cry! it was really draining for me then..such a shock as a 1st time mom too. Even now at 22 mths, he's still quite a handful to manage! cries in his sleep in the middle of night, presumably b/c nightmare, and then will wake and ask to be carried and fed milk! sometimes i ignore him but he cries louder and will wake his newborn bro..
 
Hi Cactus,
He actually sleeps less than 12 hours per day... dunno why and he just refuse to sleep loh. He dun naps a lot & for too long either.
 
Oh, do u gals let you bb sleeps in sarong?

I do and i realise if he sleep in sarong, he can sleep better and longer. I just worry next time when he is bigger, how to switch him from sarong to his own cot?
 
Hi Marble, it's good to share experiences with mummies like you and E&K Mom. I'm a 1st time mom and I was caught ill prepared with a spirited baby. People told me I was doing everything all wrong... that I spoiled my bb by carrying him all the time. but mummies like you will probably understand why I have to do it... if not, he will cry and cry and cry! He had colic when he was younger also. and would cry non stop for several hours for no reason at all. We had 7 adults at home to deal with him.. cos we needed a break of our own after having carried him for an hour or so... it was so tiring.. these days, I'm so thankful that he is more mobile and doesn't want to be carried when he is awake. We just pat him for 5 minutes and he will zzz.... sometimes need to rock though. but that's a blessing in itself.

Polo, I used to let my bb sleep in sarong, but he didn't like it after 1 month. Is your boy sleeping in sarong also at night? Cos many mummies use sarong during the day - more cooling. night time, mattress. You may want to try put him on mattress at night, if he is not already on it.
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Bbs nap short durations for different reasons -
hungry,
diaper wet (esp if use cloth),
too bright environemnt,
sudden sound,
not tired enough when he started his nap,
his sleep cycle is short (don't worry about it.. it will slowly lengthen as your bb grows older).
 
Hi cactus
Normally i will coax him to sleep in sarong (so i can swing him pat him sleep faster) at night. When he falls asleep, then i carry him to his cot but nowadays i realised tat when he sleeps in his cot he will have more movements and tends to wake up faster but in sarong he can sleep longer & better.

BTW, there is no way i can coax him sleep in his cot cos he will toss & turn & cry for us to carry him. Unless i carry & rock him to sleep but he's v heavy and i carried him till injured my hand nerves previously so doctor advise me not to carry him for too long.
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Polo, my mom and I used to have wrist muscle pains. Swollen. But now much better. It is quite common amongst new mothers and caregivers... try to take painkillers or creams. I think it's a stage that your boy is going through. On and off, try to let him sleep on mattress.. he may just surprise you with suddenly able to sleep well on mattress. That was my discovery... My son had to sleep prone on me for weeks... both day and night. Then suddenly, can put down in sarong without him crying and waking up suddenly! Then after 1 month, I was able to put him on mattress, but must pat pat pat alot. even now, at night, he will flip flip flip, but I pat him alot. He doesn't sleep in a cot. he sleeps on a mattress on the floor. I sleep on one side, and my hb sleeps on the other side.
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hi ladies, omg, stumbled on this thread and would like to say that YES 7pm - 7am is doable
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I'm a SAHM to a very spirited daughter aged 2 and angel son aged 4 and they both sleep at around 7.30pm till 7.30am. My boy was trained to sleep through by Ezzo (Babywise) method since newborn and he slept through as predicted at 7 weeks. My daughter was a different ball game but I managed to put her on the Gina Ford method from 2 months old.. she only slipped into the method at 4 months but it solved all her sleeping issues. She used to cry for 6 hours on end!

Tracey Hogg is good too.. and Marc Weissbluth's Health Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I get a lot of comments and disbelief when I tell people that yes, my kids sleep at 7.30pm EVERY night and they have 2-3 hour naps in the afternoons too. But like some mommies mentioned above, it takes a lot of discipline because it means that even during weekends, we wake early and sleep early as per normal to preserve the schedule... BUT the good thing about sleep training an infant from day 1 is that you will always be able to make a very accurate guess on whether baby is sleepy or hungry because of the sleep/feeding routine. And when the kids are older, you can be a little more flexible with sleep times because you know that the kids' sleep patterns are pretty much fixed
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We've gone out for family dinners till about 9pm and the kids go back to normal the next night, no problems whatsoever.

So to those moms out there who are facing stigma of sleep training, just go for it. Letting your baby self soothe to sleep is one of the best gifts you can ever give them. A rested baby is a happy baby.. and a rested mommy is an even happier one
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hi polo,

My ger uses the sarong for naps in the day but sleeps very well in the cot at night. But tt came with sleep training.. We read Marc Weissbluth's bk & decided tt we wanted to let her cry it out (CIO) to get her sleep trained. And in 3 days she has learnt to sleep on her own & recently learnt to sleep through as well

But having said tt we did go thru a rough patch after having sleep trained her due to her teething.. But thereafter, we were back on course
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Totally agree with Catz, a rested bb is a happy bb & a rested mommy is an even happier one
 
Thanks for sharing ladies.

Yesterday i managed to let my boy slept at 8.45pm and dream fed him at 11pm but he woke up at 2am and refused to sleep till around 4am! Then woke up again at 5am which i normally feed him milk.

I just wonder for the 2-4am slot is it because he has enough sleep or hungry. BTW, yesterday i changed milk powder from infant formula to stage 2 formula so again wonder if it is because of this change that made him active at that time slot.
 
Hi polo, is it possible that your boy sleeps too much during the day? Or maybe the day time activities don't tire him out adequately for night time? Or maybe he is getting used to the routine? Cos you mentioned last time, he sleeps about 11pm, but wakes up about 5am (unless you pat pat pat, then 7am). 11pm to 5am is about 6 hours. 845pm to 2am is just under 6 hours. If your boy had same amount of nap time during the day yesterday, but was made to sleep at 845pm, he is likely to sleep for just under 6 hours. The mathematics work out. If your boy is used to just 6 hours of sleep every night, if you put him to bed early, you may expect him to wake up early also. UNLESS you shorten his day time naps, or tire him out alot during the day.. then maybe he will sleep longer at night.

I don't think the change in milk powder matters... Maybe over the weekend you can try again?

My boy was quite good last night. Slept at 745pm, dream fed at 920pm, 1220am, and 340am. He woke up at 645am.
 
Hi polo,

in the middle of the night, don't switch on the room light while bf'g. use a bedside lamp instead. this way, bb won't confuse day and night. also don't talk to bb and if possible avoid diaper changes unless bb poops. i stick with these rules and it seems to help my bb adjust body clock better (when my bb first came back from hospital, he was more active at night than day. i figure it's becoz in hospital they do things like bath baby in the middle of the night!)
 
Thanks ladies.

Last night worse! though my baby slept at 9pm but he woke up countless times, crying like having nightmare. woke up at yelling & crying from sleep till i pat him back to sleep...swing him in sarong but once i stop swinging, he started to move and cry! I surrender....
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I almost no sleep the whole night leh!

BTW, he only nap twice yesterday which each nap is abot 15-30mins only. I wonder why my baby can tahan without much sleep, anyway, i almose die of deprive of sleep liao
 
Hi cactus & Marble,

I'm also a 1st time mummy and I was totally not prepared with a spirited baby. I'm staying with my MIL and she has taken care of all my 2 SIL's babies. And I don't remember they were difficult to handle. They were happy and easy babies who slept alot.

So when I got pregnant last year, I was very happy and been looking forward for the arrival of this baby. So when my baby arrived, the 1st week was a joy. But when the 2nd week started, my nightmare started. She loved to be carry all the time!! The tiring part is that I couldn't sit down and carry her. I had to carry her and walked around if not she will start crying again. And I also had to carry her in my arms during sleep because the very moment I put her down, she will wake up immediately crying! And she really nap very little. I think throughout her three months, she only slept about 11-12 hours a day. It didn't help when my mother in law keep commenting to my other family members that this baby was really bad tempered. I was an over-tired, worried, depressed, unhappy and stressed up mother.

My milk supply was low and yet my baby was a milkaholic. And my stress levels went up whenever I finished pumping milk. Cos there were a few times, after T brought out my breastmilk, I overheard my mother-in-law commented to other family members in the living room that I had little breastmilk. And there was once I brought out 30ml milk after pumping for 30 mins, my sister-in-law sitting in the living room saw it and commented "so little only"? All their comments made me very upset. I was really miserable during that period and even starting to dislike my baby. I cried every day... I was totally unprepared for such a handful baby.

Thankfully, I'm much better now after starting work. And my baby is now sleeping longer esp during her nap times. She used to sleep for 15 mins - 30 mins every nap. But now at least 2 of her naps stretch to at least an hour. My baby is now 14 weeks old and she doesn't need people to carry her all the time. She is able to lie down by herself and play by herself...

So any mummies having a handful baby, don't despair. You will see the light at the end of the tunnel soon.
 
HI there,
I am a big follower of Gina Ford routine. It was my saviour to have a happy, well rested baby and family. I know that it sounded unrealistic and with our working schedule and busy life in Singapore it seems undoable. It is worthwhile and i get so many comments that my baby is such a good nature, well behave and happy baby.
All to often i see parents desperately trying to second guess if their baby is sleepy/hungry etc. The baby ended up cranky and people give reasons as teething or just toddler tantrums when in actual fact is not enough sleep.
We stick to the routine dutifully even on holidays. My boy sometimes may wake up as early as 5.30am but i won't go to him till 6.30am and he knows he won't cry out or make much noise. Once the light is off, he knows is bedtime. He is only 13 months.
I have a bath, story and bed routine which he loves.
Letting the baby sleep by himself and in his room is the best. Though it takes one to hear heart wrenching cries in the initial to wean off all bad sleeping habits such as sarong or rocking or feeding to sleep. It is worth the while...
 
hi Polo,

I'm a little 'lost' here. How old is ur bb now?

Books i've read mentioned tt by abt 9m.o, bb shd drop the night feeds.. What hb & I did was to train my ger to drop the night feeds, partially it was done unintentionally. She started teething ard 6+ mo and we thought her cries at night was coz of hunger, so we fed her but she wasn't pacified. Tt's when we realised tt she doesn't need the night feeds

So we trained her.. When she cried at night coz she was disturbed in her rest, we let her cry awhile before attendign to her. Didn't take too long for such nights before she slept through..

A disclaimer though, it doesnt mean bb won't ever wake up/stir inspite having been trained. There are occasions still
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Agree with Tanny, it is most certainly heart wrenching to hear the cries.. But think of the long term benefits rather than the short term pain
 
hi
happen to see thread and thought to contribute.i have a boy (30months) gal (13 months). Both of them sleep from 9pm to 7am. My boy used to sleep from 8pm to 7am but as he grows older i feel that he can sleep in a bit later as i am FTWM and like to spend more time with them. i used the CIO method on both my children. My boy got it very fast so by 4months, i just need to put him in his cot and he will sooth himself to sleep without patting or our presence. He took only 2 days to get the ideas and sleep through it. For my gal, think purely due to my own laziness, only sleep trained when she was around 8months. I usually will settle her after her bro and by the time very tired so let her play on my bed till sleep then carry to her room. After sometime i realise her bedtime is getting very late and she woke up more often so i decided to sleep train her. It could be that i was late in training her but the CIO method took longer to take effect. think she took around 1 week. now i can finally settle her to bed without her crying and patting.

it took a lot of patience and determination to sleep train your children but i think consistency is the key factor. do not let their cries or convenience to deter you. Also i find the younger you train the better it is. these babies are very smart and it is always good to start good habits from young.

Last point, i think it is easier to train them if they sleep in their own room. Can be quite troublesome initially as you need to go to and fro frm your room but once the habits are developed, you will realise you have more private time and rest.
 
Hi Tanny,

i also followed Gina Ford (GF) for my no. 1 initially. He did fine and slept from 7pm to 7am..but not without 2 or 3 wakings at night until he was 12 mths. I never managed to get him to sleep thru with GF method.

i am sleep training no. 2 now. I compared GF and Baby Whisperer (BW) methods and realised 1 distinctive difference. BW advocates dream feed (ie no waking) at 10pm, whereas GF suggests keeping baby awake for at least 1 hour after 10pm feed when baby is 2-3 mths old.

my problem is the dream feed does not seem to work for my baby. He will still wake at 2 or 3am with or without the dream feed. I am thinking of maybe doing the GF method and keep him awake at the 10pm feed. however, I am fearful that he may not fall asleep after that 1 hour..i'll be in trouble!

how??! anyone got any suggestions?
 
hi, i happen to see this thread. i'm surprised to see parents putting their babies to slp @ 7pm. cause by the time i reach home from work ard 7pm, i'll be disappointed to find my kid aslp. meaning to say i only get to see my kid on sat/sun?

i am also very shocked to see parents feeding cereal to a 6wk old baby. i can't seem to find any foods suitable for babies below 4mths other than MILK.

juz my thoughts.
 
hi Marble,

I read a book "12 hours sleep by 12 weeks old" that recommended a method to help cut out that night feed...

What the author suggested was to give the amt of milk as per usual, then after 3 days, reduce the amt (if i don't rem wrongly, 1 oz less).. Let this amt happen for 3 days & then reduce further. Continue this process & after awhile, by right bb shd get the idea that there's no more need for the feed..

Hi petrina,
I share your thoughts as well.. Was struggling with my bb's sleep during the 1st 3 mths that I poured over many books for solutions. I came to the conclusion that these books were written more for ang mo countries coz they have shorter days during the winter months

And the 2nd point being many of them wld have their mums being SAHM, so they can afford to put bb to bed early.

Not forgetting they also have the services of bb sitters, so after bb is put to bed, they can go out... But in SG quite hard to find such services
 
Hi Petrina,

7-7 works for me during my maternity leave as it allowed me a free evening for some rest and personal time.

when i went back to work, it was 7-8pm, which worked pretty well too as getting bb to bed by 8pm allowed me to the all important quality time with my hubby. i could also sleep by 9pm to catch up on loss sleep from all the night feeds.

so i feel it's not really for angmoh countries. it's a matter of whether u/your family can work around such timings.

hi hisstory,

have you tried this before? I am also concerned if cutting night feeds will reduce breast milk supply. my experience with my no.1 was that once he started sleeping thru the night (@ 12 mths), my milk supply just dried up
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!
 
I am also trying to get my 8 week old baby accustomed to BW's EASY routine. She has done quite a few STTN (Sleep through the nights) since week 7, although she has her odd moments too! I would try to put her down for her night sleep by 8pm, do a dream feed at 11.30pm. She wakes up at 7am. However, I struggle with her day naps as she tends to have disruptive naps, but thats a different ball game altogether.
 
early bedtime of 7-8pm works if the parents can get home with bb early enough. my family is home by 6.30pm so we get to play with boy for 1+hour then he goes to bed at 7.30. we appreciate having the night to ourselves so we can have dinner and recharge.

i can imagine for parents who finish work later and are shuttling between caretaker and home, 7+pm bedtime is not feasibile.

i think the whole point of such sleep training is to establish healthy night sleep for a long enough duration. regardless of the bedtime whether 7 or 9pm. bedtime will inevitably be dictated by family's lifestyle.

and also while theories abound, i think exceptions n adjustments must be made to individual bb. some are just more difficult to handle than others, n will not be ready for any training till later age.


now that my boy is 13M, a hindsight I have is that good habits really should be established when young, when they are less stubborn & opinionated, if they can adapt to it. not only applies to sleep habits, but feeding habits and potty training.
 
my boy started sleeping thru from 7pm to 7am @ 13 weeks. he is now 9.5mths old and sleeps @ abt 7-7.30pm every night. n wakes up @ abt 7-7.30am, yes, including weekends and public holidays! ;)

i read many books, including Gina Ford, Babywise and BW. @ 1st i got very very stressed trying to stick to their routines, cos my son was a very short napper. then i decided to be flexible with him and things got better.
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so i tink the most impt thing is to follow ur baby's pace.

he used to be a short napper..30-45min. so he took 3 naps in the day. i dropped his 3rd nap @ 9 months and he adapted within 4 days. he stretched his 2 naps to abt an 1hr each. he'll sleep around 10am and 2pm.

i found this book: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child very very good! it's my baby sleep bible and it really helped me keep my child well rested day and night.
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joelle,

then it defeats the purpose of getting bb to sleep thru night if i need to wake up and pump?!
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timminbuzz

u r so blessed! sleep thru at 13 weeks!! did u do the dream feed before you sleep?
 
marble
i don't pump @ all. total latch on. and i'm still TBF tho my boy has been sleeping from 7-7. so i guess i'm still meeting my boy's demand.
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i used to do a dream feed but it didn't seem to help. cos my boy wld drink really little during dream feed and still wake up around the same timing. so i stopped. he slept thru @ 13weeks on his own. last feed at abt 7pm before i put him to bed. tho he started waking up again a week later at abt 5am and then started getting earlier n earlier to abt 2+am. i felt enough was enough..heheh... so i let him cry it out one night. and he started sleeping thru again the next night. ;)
 
marble
haha i feel ur pain. its a trade*off. most mummies i know say for midnight feeds, the easiest way is to latch on. lie sideways and sleep while bb drinks his fill. but this works best if he is cosleeping.
 
HI Marble,
Yes i did the late night or dream feed at 10pm. There is no problem of keeping the baby up for 1hr or so as bb will fall back to sleep. If their body clock has already tuned to night sleeping, the drive to sleep after milk is even stronger. Gina Ford method is to structure the milk feed. If you realize give more milk at long sleep time not at short naps. Also, she said to do bottle feeding rather than breast feeding as your supply will be low after a long day. It was true for me, my milksupply is extremely low at 10pm if i pump. Hence if your bb feed, bb won't get enough and need to be up at 2-3am to feed again. I dropped this feed only after he is fully weaned at 7 months according to Gina Ford weaning guide. There is no rush to dropping this feed early as it may trigger early waking and your weaning efforts are not established yet. If you follow her timing, her feeds eventually establish a healthy eating habits and timing.
Following my post, my boy now sleeps 7.30pm to 6/6.30am every day. There are odd moments of night waking but he settle back to sleep himself. Sometimes i get lucky like this morning where he settled back to sleep to 7am when i have to wake him up.
I don't do middle of night pump at all at early stage once bb drop 2-3am feed. It really defeat the purpose of having good night rest yourself. The idea is to have your breast produce more in the day not at night. Gina Ford suggest pump first thing early in morning when milk supply is more.

Also, i agree that it is not for ang moh country. It is really how determine one is to make adjustment to your lifestyle. Personally it is unfair to have children late and not having enough rest. I know it is tough not to see your child after work but i feel it we should have let our children have whatever best they need. A well rested bb is one who plays happily and learns quickly. My boy naps for 2 hours after his lunch and the sacrifice is i never took him out on his lunch nap and i never had lunch with friends at noon.

Hope it clarifies and help.
 
hi,
my 4 mth old baby sleeps from 7pm-7am, with 1 nite bottle feed around 3-4 am. it was like a natural process, his nite feeds gradually went down from when he was 2 mths onwards. but he hardly naps during the day. only abt 30 mins - 1 hr, 3 x a day. i wish i could use and stick a routine with him, but my mom who's the primary caregiver during the day thinks that i'm being too "modern".

any tips of good napping habits?
 
athlete
hi there! my bb was like that too. very short napper during the day. as long as ur bb doesn't seem overtired, it's ok! u shld start seeing a pattern emerging with regards to ur bb nap times soon. the 1st to catch is the 1st morning nap. most will be about 9am. once u catch that 1st morning nap, the other 2 naps will kinda follow from then on. mine started with 9am, 12pm and 3pm. at nine mths, i cut his 3rd nap so he could still have an early bedtime. and his nap times became 10am and 2pm.
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Athlete: My bb was also having short naps and would wake up at the 45th minute!! I guess it depends on why your baby is waking up. If like what timminbuzz says, if bb wakes up feeling ok, not fussy, then its ok, just have some quiet play before the next feed. But if bb wakes up fussy and very tired (like mine) then got to work on extending their naps. I had literally sit through a few of my bb's nap times to understand why she was waking up, and realized it was because of her jolts (she wake herself up when she transit to REM stage of her sleep cycle). I had to hold her joints down when she jolts, or pat her gently back to sleep to extend her naps. Been doing it for almost 2 weeks now (very tiring!) but I think she's getting there, not so fussy anymore and usually, she can manage to extend her nap by at least another 30 minutes. On good days, she can sleep for 1.5hrs each nap (she is now 10weeks and takes 3 full naps and 1 catnap). I notice also that its easier for them to sleep better if we catch the first sign of sleepiness and put them down to rest immediately.

Of cos there'll always be ups and downs. I am ever so apprehensive when I think things are getting better cos before I know it, the little one will throw a new challenge in my way!! Regardless, nap problems are really stressful!!
 
Hi, i have just started reading on Gina Ford, The New Contented Little Baby Book. The book was given by my hubby's friend, who claimed that it is really good. Glad to know that there are mummies who actually used her method and are successful with it.

Would love to try out her method when baby arrives...
 
my baby nite sleep is from 11pm to 7am only. normal?

but i have to perform bedtime stunts: read book/pat/sing.
 
Hi Kell

How old is your baby? 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. meaning 8 hours sleep (provided it is uninterrupted)...then how long does she nap and how many times?

No offence and not trying to scare you, but if my baby (now 15+ mths) sleep 8 hours, I get stressed, worried that she may not get enough sleep...

Let's talk somemore...

Cheers
 
hi mummy, my gal sleep from 12 or 1 am to 11am. though its oso a 11 to 12 hrs sleep, but she wake up twice in the nite, but sleep immediately after burp. I am a SAHM, really envious those mums who can adjust their baby sleep from 7pm to 7am. I have tried before but i cant at all, because my family members always come home late at nite and my baby got disturbed. I feel so stress up cos i cant adjust the timing due to this, and in the end i got to wait till every one fall asleep den i can let my baby sleep.. really cant take it..
 
Hi Alicia

How old is your girl? So she wakes up two times for milk? I second your envy that babies can sleep from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m....mine cannot also...

Best is 9 a.m. to 8+ a.m....

Maybe should tell the rest of the family members to cooperate and keep noise to the minimum while your baby sleep....to sleep at 12 or 1 a.m. may not be too good cos' I heard 11 p.m. onwards our body is recuperating, so sleep beyond that may miss the window...

Alternatively, should wake your baby up at 9 a.m. instead of allowing her to sleep till 11 a.m. and then try to put her to sleep by 9 p.m...

Good luck!

Regards
 
hi sunglow mummy,

i tried before waking her up at 8am for one week, but she still sleep at 1 plus am. Thats y i rather let her wake herself up at 11am, cos at least the timing longer. I have oso ask everyone to keep their volume down but she get disturbed too easily, wondering if there is any thing i can buy to cover her sensitive ears so she can get a good nite sleep haiz..
 
hi alicia,
maybe you can try putting on some 'white noise'? cos i read that some babies cannot sleep when its too quiet, and that's true for my baby.
so what i do is i switch on our rather noisy fan to block off all other household noises.

hope this helps!
 
hi alicia...
if ur baby has been sleeping @ 1am plus, it'll hard to put her to bed @ 7pm. cos she's not used to it and will think that it's a nap. try adjusting her timing 20-30min every 3 days to help her body adjust to new timing. and also how's her naps in the day? regular naps in the day will help them sleep better in the night too.

all the best!
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Dear Sunglow,

My daughter is also 13mths old. She sleeps from 10pm to abt 8am everyday. When she goes to bed at 9pm, she'll wake up at abt 4am, play for about an hour and goes back to sleep. To overcome that bad habit, we let her go to bed at abt 10pm.

Below is her schedule;
1) Sleeps from 10pm to 8am
2) 1 hr nap at about 11am
3) Another 1 or 2 hrs nap at abt 2.30pm

Sometimes her nap schedule will change, as she may be busy playing. So, she may skip her afternoon nap and nap for an hour, after her evening stroll.

Since she can walk, we bring her strolling for at least 2 times a day. Once in the morning, after her bath, afternoon after her lunch (depends) and evening about 5pm/ 6pm after her evening feed, then followed by her bath.

It nice to relax the baby abit by bring them to strollings, singing and talking to them. It relaxes them, they are able to rest well, eat well and enhances learning capabilities.

Children with sufficient rest will allow good absorption when they are learning. They may sometimes not able to sleep well due to the weather.
My girl used to be quite heaty since 2nd mth, brought her to YuGuo at Kembangan and was advised to clean her face with 'chrysanthemum tea(w/o sugar)' to remove the heatiness and she becomes so much better. There will be yellowish accumulation around the eyes if they are heaty. Do not give them the tea, it's too cooling for babies.
 
Can anyone share your schedule and difficulties on instilling GF schedule for a 2.5 week old baby?

also waht do you do to keep the baby awake in the afternoons? 2.5 week baby tends to be sleepy. Will i be depriving her from her sleep if she wants to sleep but I keep trying to wake her up?

I have a toddler to look after too.. so what would be the best arragement you have tried and tested.
 
Sunsweet: I just threw my Gina Ford book at the wall in frustration the other day. My first born who is 2 ,sleeps from 7.30pm to about 8am the next morning. I put her on a Gina Ford routine when she was about 9 months old. She naps after lunch for about 1.5 to 2 hours.
But with no.2, there is no way he can last the 3 hours between feeds. He's TBF and he is hungry every 2 to 2.5 hours on the dot. I can't deny him of his feed so I just feed him on demand, something which Gina Ford is strongly against. But it works for me cos I have a happier baby instead of a screaming one. I've decided to put aside the whole routine for a while till he's older
What I found useful is whenever he's awake and wants to be carried, I put him in a sling/baby carrier. This leaves my hands free to entertain my toddler. I try to put the baby down at 7pm so it leaves me some time to spend with #1. When the baby fusses and doesnt want to settle down, I'll put him in the sling again and carry on the bedtime routine with no.1
It can be tiring and the trade off is the housework has to take a back seat cos I'm too tired to do much. But my hb is very understanding and helps out whenever he can as well. Hope that helps!
 
Hi Sunsweet,

I think at 2.5 weeks, it is still a bit hard to instill a routine. GF and TH to me are quite idealistic for early weeks. As long as you feed your baby more in the day, she will slowly learn to sleep better at night.

I also threw away setting a routine with my baby till she was about 3 to 4 weeks old. Even then, 3 hrly is too difficult for a TBF baby. So I work with TH's routine of eat-wake-sleep for a 2 hrly period instead. She only got to 3 hrly when she is week 4 or 5 I think.
 
hi thanks for the advises..

my baby these 2 days manage to have just 1 middle of the night feed btw 2.30 - 3am.. then the next is abt 6.30 - 7am which is fine for me..

its just the evening part she's a little more cranky.. wanting to carry and drink much more.. so that part a bit more stress..

wonder how things till go in time to come wheni return to office.
 
Sunsweet: 1 middle of the night feed with a 2.5weeker is absolutely fab! Which means she is already doing a 4 hr stretch.
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Congrats!

Many babies are fussy in the evenings. Some report says its becos they are more tired by the time its evening. I think its harder for you since you have a #1.
 
hi, i am really surprise to find Singaporean mums that subscribe to the idea of letting their bbs sleep from 7pm-7am. So i'm really happy to stumble upon this post.

my mum, nanny, the aunties all try to teach me how to let baby sleep thru the nite. to teach my baby to sleep later-at 10pm and time the last feed just when i sleep. being a new mum, i tried to follow but i soon give up cos i can't bear to let my baby cry. and with some research online, i realise it is actually the norm of most bbs adopting a sleep pattern from 7pm-7am. so i let my bb sleep lor. but one thing i truely regret is trying to put him into some schedule.

one most important thing i gather from the feedback from angmohs online is that we don't need to train bbs at all. jus BF them from birth and soon bbs will settle into a eat-play-sleep schedule (understd that some bb like play-eat-sleep; mine is a mixture) themselves. so i got enlighten n i let my baby lead the way and i follow his cues. so far, so fine, he is happy, not in one moment is he cranky.

the only grouse that i hv is he is still not sleeping thru and i hv given up all hopes to chg it. I'm very lucky cos i hv a very supportive hubby that help me out with the nite feeds/diaper chg/nite comforting and i can only hope that my bb will grow out of it when he is ready.

i hvnt had the chance to read any of the books that u gals mentioned above. will go hunt these books and learn more! mebe the glimmer of hope to try let bb sleep thru the nite will surface with some tips from the books
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Junior also slept early when he was younger. When he was a newborn, my hubby actually had to rush home from office so that he could have 10min with his mini-me before Junior went to sleep. Back then, my son would sleep at around 6.30pm. When he’s 2-3mths old (before my maternity leave ended), he would sleep at 7pm. Around 3-8mths there about, he would sleep at 8pm. By then I had returned to work and it was such a difficult time! My son sleeping at 8pm meant we needed to reach home, change him, feed him all before 8pm! Imagine the rush to get out of the office!

As time past, his bedtime stretches a little by little but he always wake up around the same time – 6.30 to 7.30am. Now at 20mths, he sleeps by 9pm. We want to keep things this way – children should sleep early.

My boy was a MONSTER when he was born until 3mths old. I remembered how my CL complained that she couldn’t tahan cos my boy was waking up every 1.5 hourly every night. When she’s gone, I was suffering the same fate and it was driving me crazy! I recalled how I was telling him (yes, my son) that mummy couldn’t go on like that with him waking up every night every 1.5 hourly cos mummy needs to work in the day time. Of cos he didn’t understand but miraculously, he began sleeping through the night (from bedtime till morning) after that! Maybe he thought ‘short and intense pain’ (wake up 4-6 times per night for 3 months) is better than “marathon but less intense pain” (wake up 1-2 times per night for 3 years)!

We don’t do anything that you mummies don’t know of. It’s all the same things we all know – hot bath, warm milk, story telling.
 

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