Kari's Keen Knowledge

Hello there,

I see you with your dark circles, your frazzled hair, and that twitching eye. It can only mean one thing: your baby doesn't sleep through the night yet. Have no fear! No time for reading "The Baby Whisperer" or "How to get baby to sleep"? Neither did I! So here it is in a nutshell for your reading (and hopefully, soon, sleeping) pleasure.

I'm probably about to lose some of you here, but if you're determined (or just desperate enough) you'll stick with me. Get your baby on a schedule. I'm sure you're thinking: "Kari, it's a baby, I can't possibly get him on a schedule, he does what he wants, when he wants it, I can't change it." To this I respond: It can, has, and will continue to be done. Your little junior is quite unique-true. But every child can benefit from a schedule; and if you're diligent, with a little time he'll be sleeping through the night.

When my twins arrived home, they were 17 days fresh from the NICU after having been born six weeks premature. They needed to eat 30-40ml on the hour every two hours, around the clock. Each child had thirty minutes to eat that tiny little 30 ml bottle-and each child took the whole thirty to do so. Needless to say-I was exhausted-a walking zombie. Why am I sharing this part? Because if your child is underweight, premature, or perhaps has some physical impairment/digestive or reflux issue-he may not be ready for a schedule. You should follow the advice your pediatrician gives you on how much and how often your child should be eating. For us, we got our schedule go ahead from our pedi around eight weeks old.

It may seem obvious, but the first meal we discarded was the 6am feeding. Making sure they ate a healthy amount at 4 am, we proceeded to skip the 6 o'clock feeding, followed promptly by a healthy 8 am feeding. Your child may or may not sleep through that first night, but I assure you if they slept through, they will be taking keen notice in the coming nights. Be patient. If your child doesn't seem able to be calmed back to sleep, you may need to space his feeding in thirty minute increments over one to two weeks for each meal. Gauge his progress closely. I highly recommend a food diary for your little one; so many feedings can often become highly confusing.

As you continue to slowly remove one feeding after another during the night, be sure to start to increase your day feedings in quantity. For our twins, they were given a full bottle at 4 pm, a 2 oz. snack at 6:30 pm, and another full bottle at 8pm. Since they were 10 weeks old, aside from the occasional "I need a paci" freak out, they've slept from 8:45pm to 8am regularly.

All in all, you should keep to your schedule. Your child and their body will adapt and begin to desire food about 5-10 minutes before time. They should panic over hunger pains less and generally be more calm. It may take some time, but in the end you and your baby will be much happier.

Do keep in mind to get your own rest as well! If you're not well rested and feel just as taken care of as your little one does, then you simply won't have the energy to keep up with him! Eat well (I'm a hypocrite, I know) and try to exercise (if you can find the time). Trust yourself and your baby, he'll let you know what's going on. I know it may sound easier than it is, but it comes in time, just let it.