Need to Sleep

I highly recommend the book, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." By Dr. Marc Weissbluth. It has been extremely helpful for me and my daughter.

You didn't mention what your husband is doing during all of this. I sincerely hope he's not in bed at 9 and making you handle everything by yourself! I'm not sure of your situation, so I can only offer advice based on what you told us, but your hubby needs to help out. Tell him he needs to get the 3 month old to bed so that you can be asleep by 10. Or if you're absolutely desparate, enlist the help of a family member or a night nanny to get those few precious extra hours of sleep. Remember that you're no good to your family if you're too tired to function. Best of luck hun!

Can your husband give the 3m old his last feeding before bed from a bottle? If you're going back to work the baby will have to get used to a bottle anyway.

Your husband is going to have to cover one of the shifts or your seven hours ain't gonna happen.

I don't know if you're nursing. If you are, then he gets the two year old. If you're formula feeding, go to bed early and have him handle the three month old.

Good luck!

I would suggest having your dh either do the last feeding or take the early shift. My dh takes our early riser and it makes a world of difference ( i still do the middle of the night feeding or soothing or potty break). Good luck and make this a team effort!

What a challenging time, indeed. What time will you need to get up to get ready for work? Maybe try to get the 2 yr old to wake up later than 5 am esp if you can sleep in until 6 am. What are the nap times for the baby? If the last waking is not that late, you should be able to move the bedtime. Sleep begets sleep and he should soon be sleeping longer than 6 hrs through the night. Start by moving his last feeding 15 minutes earlier every couple of nights. By doing this, by 4 mos both of mine were going to bed at 7 and sleeping until 6 or so.

Wae him up an hour early from his last afternoon nap. Play with him. Keep him active. Exercise his legs and arms. Give him a warm bath before bed so he's calm and cozy and put him down an hour later than usual if possible. If not, the exercise should tire him out. Fresh air on a car ride usually tires them out if you can do that before his late day nap.

Sounds like Dad will need to get involved with the toddler early riser.

Go to bed early and have your huband put the baby to bed later. My husband and I made a deal...he was "on duty" before midnight, and I handled everything after. Even when I was nursing, he would just quietly deliver the baby to me, then collect him for burping, etc.

Another comment....I have been sleep deprived for 13 years. Since when do mothers get enough sleep? I was used to 8-9 hours, and learned to funtion on 6. You will always be tired, but it is worth every moment with your angels.

Start putting him to bed 15 minutes earlier every two or three days until you can get him to bed by a decent hour.

Hi

Can your hubby help? We split the shift so he had 8pm-midnight and then I had any wake-ups from midnight on.

This way I would go to bed at 9pm and my son typically wouldn't wake up until 2pm so I got a solid five hours then once I put him down again he wouldn't get up until 6am. My hubby would typically come to bed by 11pm and be able to sleep until 6 or 7.

This exact plan might not work for you but you can modify it to fit your needs. The main thing is is to partner up with your hubby so you both are getting enough sleep to be the best parents possible!

Best of luck -

Court