Infant Schedule?

[Nickel]

So, I've read some previous posts about providers that have their infants on a schedule. I am really in need of pointers, because I am about to have a 4mnth old start tomorrow and a 2mnth old start next week. So let me give you some background. sorry if it's kind of long.

dcb1 come tues and thurs from about 915-130. He doesn't sleep at all, although he was super super fussy the other day and I finally put him in the pnp and he fell asleep within a minute or two of fussy. Talked to dcm and she occasionally lets him cio when nothing else will work. So I am not too too stressed about him.

dck2 is a 4mnth old that starts tomorrow. She is here mon-fri until about 1. dcm says they are trying to get her to sleep on her own, no cosleeping, formula fed, low maintenance child, or so they say.

dck3 comes 3x week from about 2-5 but she is super high maintenance! She needs to be held ALL THE TIME. She is rocked to sleep and still won't sleep longer than 30 minutes even with swaddling. she is bf but takes a bottle but struggles with that first one. Giving her the first bottle is an ordeal! It takes her a good 30 minutes to drink 2 ounces.

dck4 is starting next week, mon-wed from 130-7. I have no ideal what her temperament is or anything. i haven't met her yet (met her sibling right before dcg was born. Mom interviewed and was going to start that Monday but went into labor Saturday and went on maternity leave! )...

So my concern is more for ft dck2 who starts tomorrow. I really need her on a schedule so I can continue to do preschool with the older ones, make lunch, etc. I think she will be here enough that I can get her on some type of schedule, but I have never done that before.

both of my children were fed on demand. They ate when hungry and slept when tired. But I am really hoping to get dck1 and dck2 to nap about the same time as my 1, 2, and 3 year old. I also would like dck3 and dck4 to be on a similar but opposite schedule. Like one eats, the other eats. But not screaming at the same time.

So any pointers would be great. Or is it just a hopeless case with these 4 infants (although I will only ever have 2 at one time except for some slight overlap during pick up and drop off

[Blackcat31]

My two babies sleep whenever they want and eat whenever they want.

Fortunately for me (and for the other kids) that is usually about 1-2 hours each morning (both of them) and then are both awake over lunch time and will go back to sleep around 2:00 and then both are picked up...one at 3:00 and the other at 3:45.

They both come fed (one at 7:45 and the other at 8:30) and don't need to eat again until right before their morning naps which usually falls anywhere from 9:30-10:00 until 12 noon.

I didn't put them on any type of schedule, just requested that they be fed right before or as close to drop off time as possible. Nothing worse than having to take a child in and IMMEDIATLEY have to feed them.

My babes are 2.5 months and 7 months old.

I think you won't necessarily have too much trouble with having 2 infants there IF they are good sleepers and eaters....which it sounds as if one of them might not be if she requires rocking to sleep and resists the bottle. THAT one might prove to be tough.

Neither of my babies need to be rocked or encouraged to take the bottle (both are BF) but both get laid down fully awake, changed and with full bellies and go right off to sleep. Both sleep right in the kitchen/dining room area right smack dab in the middle of all our acitivities so no quiet room, darkened environment or white noise machines. They just go to sleep.

I think you aren't really going to know the answers to your questions until you actually do a few days with these kids because you can't force a schedule and what the parents say they do and what they actually do has to match as well as the temperament of the infants being a big part of what your day will be like so until then, I think you would be just guessing.

[Heidi]

My two babies sleep whenever they want and eat whenever they want.

Fortunately for me (and for the other kids) that is usually about 1-2 hours each morning (both of them) and then are both awake over lunch time and will go back to sleep around 2:00 and then both are picked up...one at 3:00 and the other at 3:45.

They both come fed (one at 7:45 and the other at 8:30) and don't need to eat again until right before their morning naps which usually falls anywhere from 9:30-10:00 until 12 noon.

I didn't put them on any type of schedule, just requested that they be fed right before or as close to drop off time as possible. Nothing worse than having to take a child in and IMMEDIATLEY have to feed them.

My babes are 2.5 months and 7 months old.

I think you won't necessarily have too much trouble with having 2 infants there IF they are good sleepers and eaters....which it sounds as if one of them might not be if she requires rocking to sleep and resists the bottle. THAT one might prove to be tough.

Neither of my babies need to be rocked or encouraged to take the bottle (both are BF) but both get laid down fully awake, changed and with full bellies and go right off to sleep. Both sleep right in the kitchen/dining room area right smack dab in the middle of all our acitivities so no quiet room, darkened environment or white noise machines. They just go to sleep.

I think you aren't really going to know the answers to your questions until you actually do a few days with these kids because you can't force a schedule and what the parents say they do and what they actually do has to match as well as the temperament of the infants being a big part of what your day will be like so until then, I think you would be just guessing.

My 4 mo that arrives at 7:15-7:30 each morning ALWAYS arrives hungry. It's a bit annoying, but I wasn't sure if I should say anything. She is part time now, 2-3 days a week, but will eventually be 4 or 5.


Thankfully, she DOES sleep on her own quite nicely. Otherwise PT baby would not be possible because I am NOT trying sleep train a part timer...

oh, wait...yes I am! 11mo gets rocked/held at home, and she's only about 2 days a week. Here, its CIO, sadly, but she's been doing ok with it. Luckily, I have a room waaay far away from me, because it breaks my heart. It started out 15-20 minutes of crying the first week, now she only fusses for a few minutes.

Back to OP...it's pretty tough to get a baby on a "schedule" before 6 months or so, and if they're br. fed, even tougher...my br. fed munckin last 2 hours at most between feedings.

[Nickel]

YuP! My bf baby is also on a 2 hr schedule. Funny thing is my 3mnth old bottle fed baby is also at 2 hrs... The 4mnth old is every 3 and the new baby I have NO idea... But today has been a breeze with the 3mnth old and new 4mnth old so I am hopeful it will all work out!!!

[cheerfuldom]

goodness, i hope things work out for you. The hardest kids to take care of are part time infants. we have had numerous discussions on this board about it and most providers agree with that statement. I have taken a slew of infants over the years and the only ones that work out permanently for me are FULL TIME infants (so I put them on a routine) or the very rare part timer that is just an super super easy baby OR parents have them on a routine and the parents make my job very easy.

I personally would keep interviewing until you get full time kids of any age or older part timers. With that many babies, even though they are not all there at the same time, I would lower your standards as far as what you will have time to do with the other kids. sounds like you will be in survival mode most of the time....trying to keep babies happy for a few hours till mom comes back.

[Alice Of Legend]

My two babies sleep whenever they want and eat whenever they want.

Fortunately for me (and for the other kids) that is usually about 1-2 hours each morning (both of them) and then are both awake over lunch time and will go back to sleep around 2:00 and then both are picked up...one at 3:00 and the other at 3:45.

They both come fed (one at 7:45 and the other at 8:30) and don't need to eat again until right before their morning naps which usually falls anywhere from 9:30-10:00 until 12 noon.

I didn't put them on any type of schedule, just requested that they be fed right before or as close to drop off time as possible. Nothing worse than having to take a child in and IMMEDIATLEY have to feed them.

My babes are 2.5 months and 7 months old.

I think you won't necessarily have too much trouble with having 2 infants there IF they are good sleepers and eaters....which it sounds as if one of them might not be if she requires rocking to sleep and resists the bottle. THAT one might prove to be tough.

Neither of my babies need to be rocked or encouraged to take the bottle (both are BF) but both get laid down fully awake, changed and with full bellies and go right off to sleep. Both sleep right in the kitchen/dining room area right smack dab in the middle of all our acitivities so no quiet room, darkened environment or white noise machines. They just go to sleep.

I think you aren't really going to know the answers to your questions until you actually do a few days with these kids because you can't force a schedule and what the parents say they do and what they actually do has to match as well as the temperament of the infants being a big part of what your day will be like so until then, I think you would be just guessing.

I have 2 infants (10mos and nearly 11mos) I started the second one when she was about 3 months. Both napped whenever they needed it and ate about every 2 hours (one's BF, one's Formula). Both also sleep in the kitchen area (although I do use the stove fan as "white noise" Machine).

I had to really work with DCG1 (10mos BF) at the beginning because she wanted to be held all the time and some days DCG would arrive and had just woke up, others she was ready for a nap or sometimes she would arrive starving, others having just ate. Plus she was part time (3days a week, not always consecutive either) so it was even more of a struggle because the days that she was here varied so much. I had to have a talk with DCP's about our routine here, DCPs make sure she arrives (9am) fed and ready for am nap. Swaddling helped both infants at nap when they were younger but I always put them down awake, I can't hold or rock them to sleep. It was a bit of a struggle at first but they have both been great sleepers since.

With feedings I slowly increased length in between when they were about 4-41/2 months from every 2 hours to every 2 1/2 then every 3. The other infant (nearly 11mos FF) was eating every 3 hours by 4 months so I adjusted her to ever 4 slowly as well. By 5 months they were both on 4 hours eating routines, usually one hour apart. I tried to get them on the exact same eating schedule but it just didn't work with DCPs drop off times.

I feel like really the infants have adjusted themselves to their own routine, since about 8months both have been on a 2 nap a day schedule, am is around 9-930 (to 10:30-11ish) and then afternoon is about 1:30 or 2ish til 3:30-4. My older kids nap 1245ish to 3:30 so i usually have at least an hour of "break" time while everyone's asleep.

goodness, i hope things work out for you. The hardest kids to take care of are part time infants. we have had numerous discussions on this board about it and most providers agree with that statement. I have taken a slew of infants over the years and the only ones that work out permanently for me are FULL TIME infants (so I put them on a routine) or the very rare part timer that is just an super super easy baby OR parents have them on a routine and the parents make my job very easy.

I agree that PT infants can be some of the hardest (in my experience anyway). Plus it can make adjustment very hard and long. DCG1 that was the part timer, was also my resident screamer for the 1st 2 1/2 months, I nearly termed but thankfully she started coming more often (4 days consistently/consecutively, occasionally 5)

Once they start you'll be able to see where you can adjust things and what works best for all of you.

Good luck!