Let's talk baby schedules

I thought I would do a post on this since it tends to be a hot topic and I have gone both directions! 

With Carter and Dylan, we were hardcore about the schedule!  From some recommendations, we followed the Baby Wise schedule (not down to every detail, but followed the structure).  Play.  Eat.  Sleep.  That was our 3 hour cycle for months.  With twins it was something I felt like we needed to do because otherwise we would constantly be feeding if we didn’t have them eating at the same time.  They seemed to always be hungry about the same time, but we would wake the other one up to eat if it was feeding time.  All I knew was the book told me they would sleep through the night by X weeks (can’t even remember now) if you followed the schedule, so I remember thinking back to that so many times looking for that light at the end of the tunnel – if we stick to it, we will soon sleep againJ  Seriously, there were moments I was just holding on to those words to get through the day.

With Olivia – ABSOLUTELY NO SCHEDULE!!!  This really was not my intent.  At first I just fed on demand, when she was hungry, she ate and when she was tired, she slept.  I kept thinking after a few weeks I would put her on a more consistent schedule but, it just didn’t happen.  Then I went back to work and with different people watching her, I didn’t really see a need to put her on a schedule.  Of course, in the back of my mind was always thinking – did the schedule get the boys through the night???  We might be in trouble!   

So here we are at 11 weeks and at this point, the pros and cons in my mind! 

Right now, my opinion is NO schedule is so much LESS stressful.  One thing I always remember back to with the boys is always feeling stressed trying to get both of them to sleep when they were both supposed to sleep.  Then they were asleep and it was time to eat again.  And we start all overL  So because of this, I think the schedule added a bit of stress. 

With Olivia, it’s been AWESOME not having a schedule.  I make sure she is eating about every 3 hours.  At times she’s fed sooner and other times it’s a bit later.  She usually seems to be hungry right on that 3 hour mark. Sometimes she plays most the time, other times she sleeps almost the entire time between feedings.  She’ll take a good 2 hour nap.  Of course, I never know when it will happen, nor can I bank on it happening.  She’s does like her sleep (must be like her mom), so she is pretty easy to get to sleep, but usually will fall asleep on her own.  Now for a while I was starting to wonder if we should get her on a schedule as I thought she would never sleep through the night.  But this week (10 wks), she has been pretty consistent sleeping through the night (11ish – 5:30 ish) –I think the boys hit this at 9 wks. 

One thing nice about the schedule, you could plan your day a bit more around it- but I haven’t had a ton of issues with Olivia and this.  However, Keith did say that he liked the schedule because he feels like he never knows what she is supposed to be doing, where with the boys we always knew!  As she gets into daycare and a bit older, I would like to work towards somewhat of a schedule for a morning and afternoon nap and be more consistent at bedtime once we can start putting her down earlier.  Maybe Olivia will be one of those kids who takes a 2+ hour nap in the afternoon!!!!! 

I would be curious to hear from all of you, what your opinion is??? What worked, what didn’t?  Any recommendations?