8 hours of Sleep!

Dylan slept 8 hours - 2 nights in a row. Neisha slept 8 hours last night!!! We hope this will last. Mommy, Daddy, Mowgli and Auntie Janine might be able to return to normal with real sleep!!!

Dylan & Neisha like eating more than their bottles. Last 2 nights we feed them 2 boxes of veggies, 1 box of fruit at around 6:30 p.m. Then right before bed, as much milk as each would drink. Bedtime between 8 - 9 p.m.

Dylan didn't want to eat this morning at 4:20 a.m. He needed a diaper change and some Tylenol. We've been following (better now, than when the babies were smaller) the "Becoming Babywise" pattern and schedule. While many moms are strict about times/schedules, we are focusing on the pattern, full feedings and schedule ranges.

The pattern is this; 1) Wake-up; 2) Diaper Change; 3) Eat (full feeding); 4) Playtime; 5) Sleep. At night you skip the playtime part. The pattern gets your baby to wake up to eat and be active after sleep and avoids putting babies down right after eating. What I like about the concept is that it follows how the world (or at least in America) operates, so when the babies get old enough to go to school, living in a world of schedules won't be such a big surprise.

I find the flexibility part to be the most important. Each day is different, wake up times / quality of sleep / whole multitude of variables, so sticking to the pattern with a range on when the babies will eat or sleep seems to work the best. We have two babies with very different personalities, not sure how a strict schedule would work with one, but with two flexibility (roll with it) seems to keep a productive/calm/happy home.

The goal is getting baby enough good quality sleep to support brain/physical development. Besides, we love sleep, more than we actually thought we did. At the D'Penha house, we all agree after a good nights sleep we all get along much better! ;-)