3 ms·
3 kids in, aged 6, 4 and 2... 12 hours a night for all of them. I guess I did the "sleep training" thing, although all I did was what I thought was common sens
by werdnapk 6y ago
3 kids in, aged 6, 4 and 2... 12 hours a night for all of them. I guess I did the "sleep training" thing, although all I did was what I thought was common sense stuff.
Some things I did off the top of my head:
- 15 min cry buffer. More than that and check diaper, or give a bottle/feeding. Never turn on the lights during these check-in times... always use a dim (soft colored light) night light that's already on to keep things "dark". Changing diapers with little light gets easier the more you do it.
- Burping a newborn/baby is an essential technique. Don't leave the feeding until you get a good burp out of them. More often than not if the diaper is clean and they're fed, and they keep crying, it's trapped air that needs to be burped out.
- I use a sound machine with white noise which drowns out almost all external noises.
- No soothers. I let me kids figure out where their thumbs are and they use that. Too many times with my first kid I was going in to pick up the soother that dropped out of their mouth which made them cry.
- Keep their room "cool". Nobody likes sweating in their sleep.
A newborn will be waking up every 2-3 hours likely, but so far for me, by 3-5 months, the kids get to 12 hours.
Side note, I'm the father of the kids. Breastfeeding was not done by me, so I'd bottle feed from pumped milk.
Good luck!
- bredren 6y agoThank you for these specific points of advice.
- _carbyau_ 6y agoTo further with some views on feeding: 1. breast pumping provided us appreciated flexibility. After a crappy one, we got a good breast pump that did both at once. Wife appreciated being untethered from child for her relief. I appreciated being able to feed child. 2. We weren't too worried when we switched to formula exclusively after a while. Sooo many people get hung up on "breast is best" dialogue. Best comment I heard was a Maternal Child Health nurse pointing at a school yard of kids saying "Can you tell me which was breast fed and which was formula?" Ultimately though, you do you.
- werdnapk 6y agoI think my kids were breast fed for 2-3 months and then another 1-2 months from frozen milk and finally a gradual move to formula by mixing the breast milk and formula so that there's no sudden transition if the child isn't used to the taste, etc. No qualms at all about using formula within the first 4-6 months.
- bredren 6y agoThanks to you both.
- bredren 6y agoWould you mind sharing the type of breast pump that ended up better for you two?
- _carbyau_ 6y agoUnfortunately work automatically blocks the site due to the word "breast" in it. Also, as an Australian this may not be helpful but that's for you to decide. https://spectra-baby.com.au https://spectra-baby.com.au I think we have the Spectra S2 still in the cupboard for a possible next kid. The difference between this and a cheapo one we got because we didn't know better: - two at a time, concurrency FTW! 10 mins instead of 20 was appreciated, especially in the middle of the night! once going, milk production waits for no one. - much quieter - separately adjustable timing and force(pressure). Cheapo just had a single dial for "more" or "less". - handy nightlight built in. Not a biggy but there. Possible negative for breast pumps in general. Wife mentioned feeling like a cow in a milking shed. But would do it again.
- bredren 6y agoThanks again.