https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 19 May 2026 06:27:37 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2090217 Sun, 01 Mar 2015 14:00:29 +0000 ChiCalGoBee 2090217@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs Green Grass: Yep, the author (<a href="http://www.thebabycoach.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.thebabycoach.com/</a>) doesn't suggest this plan for preemies or those with health issues IIRC. Before you start this program your baby is supposed to be a certain age and/or weight so that's what I went by. I'd actually never heard of the book until a pediatrician recommended it, and I trusted her enough to give it a try. As far as supply goes she does talk about continuing to pump if you are concerned about supply-which I am! I pump at 10 PM to keep my supply up so I'm going 8-9 hours between feeds which I was told by an LC is okay for overnights.<br /> @ShootingStar: Yes, unlike the title of the book, I didn't have any expectations by 12 weeks old! I simply wanted to see if using a method to slowly eliminate our last night feedings would work, and it did. Like I said above, I know we're headed into the 4-month regression, so I have no pretenses about things going on as they are. I'm hopeful we've set a good foundation for when we get to the other side of the regression. We'll see!<br /> @NovBaby1112: fun! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2090183 Sun, 01 Mar 2015 13:18:30 +0000 NovBaby1112 2090183@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ChiCalGoBee: haha both...she was born 11/12/12 :happy: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2090156 Sun, 01 Mar 2015 12:34:00 +0000 Mrs Green Grass 2090156@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I can see how this would work for some, but it definitely wouldn't be ideal for a small baby. I do wonder the effect it would have on supply unless you had a really great supply/oversupply since supply isn't fully established until 12 weeks. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2090119 Sun, 01 Mar 2015 11:21:02 +0000 ShootingStar 2090119@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I read this book and while I thought it was helpful, there was no way I could have done this bye 12 weeks. I also thought a lot of her suggestions go against the conventional wisdom for breastfeeding. But I really liked the concept of teaching babies little by little to learn to sleep on their own without crying it out. I also found that DS started sleeping much better and we were successful with sleep training when we were on the eating schedule she recommends.</p> <p>But I wouldn't get too excited about baby sleep before 4 months. The 4 month regression seems to throw most babies through a loop, no matter how well they sleep. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2090116 Sun, 01 Mar 2015 11:14:38 +0000 ChiCalGoBee 2090116@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MrsHansen82: Before starting the book, my son wouldn't have a reliable nap ever (he'd sleep during the day but it'd be sporadic-sometimes a 30 minute nap, sometimes 2 hours, and no telling when!), and would typically go 3-4 hours between feedings at night, and 2-3 hours between feedings during the day. I feel your pain at having no schedule of any sort at 6 weeks-it was so hard for me!! Hopefully once your babe is a little bigger/older she'll do some longer stretches for you. Feel free to PM me if you want more info!<br /> @Adira: If I'm remembering correctly (and I only skimmed this chapter), she talks about illness, going on vacation, getting off schedule, etc. She basically says to try and stick as closely as you can to your schedule (so if the growth spurt is a few days feed him when he needs it but then try and quickly get back on your routine), knowing that it might take some re-training to get back into the swing of things. I personally feed my son longer or closer together during daylight hours when he's showing me he needs it, but so far I haven't had him show an interest in eating overnight.</p> <p>@78h2o: Good to hear! The author says she's had 100% success rate with clients, and that even includes parents with twins and triplets. I've recommended it to two mom friends and both have given it stellar reviews!<br /> @NovBaby1112: Oh my gosh that must have been such a hard schedule :bummed: . It does sound like the snacking, like you said, was probably a perpetual cycle of not getting enough. No fun. Hopefully a future LO will be a more efficient eater for you! BTW-is your daughter's birthday 11/12? Or was she born in Nov 2012? 11/12 is my son's bday:-D.<br /> @charlotte: It's amazing what they'll take in when they have bigger tummies! I think part of the reason this worked well for my son is that he has never missed a meal, so I knew he'd be totally fine with "tanking up," in a sense. He's by no means sleeping 12 straight hours, but we've had a lot of long stretches and very brief night wake-ups when we do have them, so I count it as a success so far! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2089987 Sun, 01 Mar 2015 08:48:06 +0000 charlotte 2089987@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks for sharing, bookmarking for my next one. This basically happened with my first because my nanny started giving him HUGE bottles of pumped milk and he drank it all. And after a few weeks of her doing that he too started going 12 hrs. I remember coming home and being shocked how much milk they had gone through while I was at work lol. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2089965 Sun, 01 Mar 2015 07:32:43 +0000 NovBaby1112 2089965@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ChiCalGoBee: that's awesome, it sounds like this plan worked really well for your LO. This never would have worked for my DD- she wanted to nurse like every 20-30 minutes all day and would have screamed bloody murder if I tried to space her feeds out to even an hour! She wasn't the best sleeper though and I always wondered if it was bc she was basically snacking all day, but I just didn't know how to change it. I like hearing stories like this though bc every baby is different and its interesting to hear what works for some. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2089929 Sun, 01 Mar 2015 01:56:06 +0000 78h2o 2089929@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My sister used this approach with her first and had good success with it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2089910 Sun, 01 Mar 2015 00:20:06 +0000 Adira 2089910@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ChiCalGoBee: What do you do during growth spurts? My son was sleeping 8-9 hours overnight and is now up every 2 during a growth spurt. Curious what you did (and what the book suggests). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2089901 Sat, 28 Feb 2015 23:38:38 +0000 turquoisemama 2089901@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What was your schedule like before starting the book? My LO is just about 6 weeks and the only thing I can pretty much rely on is her napping sometime around 2/3:00pm for a couple hours. She doesn't like to go down for the night before 11:00pm and will sleep in until 1:00pm(with MOTN feelings of course). I have to go back to work soon and I cannot stay up till midnight with her every night! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2089896 Sat, 28 Feb 2015 23:08:01 +0000 ChiCalGoBee 2089896@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@glitterboots: Good luck!! Having a schedule once they move beyond those unpredictable newborn days is so wonderful. Feel free to check in if you have questions if/when you try to implement some of this!<br /> @regberadaisy: Interesting. If the person you spoke about just let the kids CIO s/he wasn't following the book very well-you aren't meant to let them cry more than 3-5 minutes at the most. As for nursing-it's a good question, although I always wonder in general how does anyone know exactly how much their child is eating when nursing (unless you have a scale at home for weighted feeds)? I have had weight checks at a BF group as well as the pediatrician and was told he's gaining beautifully for his size, so that's how I personally knew he got enough/continues to get enough. The author does suggest that for the overnight feeds that you bottle feed to know that they are getting enough (a pumped BF bottle) or reduce feeds by minutes on each side if you don't want to bottle feed. Sorry you had issues with your first! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2089842 Sat, 28 Feb 2015 21:04:46 +0000 regberadaisy 2089842@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Interesting to read how you altered the plan. I know someone that did this when her kids were very young, like 2-3m and basically let them CIO'd. I wasn't all about that at such a young age.</p> <p>I guess if you are nursing my question is how can you be sure they're getting enough? That's truthfully a question and not meant to be snide at all. I had issues with my first that left me very scared of underfeeding while breastfeeding and not knowing how many ounces!</p> <p>Anyway, I'm glad this method worked out so well for you! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2089840 Sat, 28 Feb 2015 20:57:30 +0000 glitterboots 2089840@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This sounds really interesting. I struggled with a feeding schedule, sleep, and working full time with my son. He woke up a lot at night to nurse but wouldn't really eat. I'll be off work this time around 14 weeks and it would be great to have a schedule and without the stress from crying. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/12-hours-sleep-by-12-weeks-old#post-2089693 Sat, 28 Feb 2015 16:57:55 +0000 ChiCalGoBee 2089693@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I thought I'd share my experience after reading the book 12 Hours of Sleep by 12 Weeks old. I've been hesitant to share about it because I know there are a lot of opinions about how/when to train a baby to sleep (if at all), but I hope this might help at least one person who is looking for some help getting his/her infant to sleep.</p> <p>The basic gist of the book is that you space out a baby's main feedings to 4 in one day (for example 7 AM, 11 AM, 3 PM, 7 PM) and give your baby a decent amount of breastmilk/formula at each feeding (6ish ounces). You then can wean him or her off of the night feedings slowly. Getting in all those calories during the day should satisfy your baby's needs, and thus s/he sleeps through the night eventually because s/he doesn't need to eat. My son is thriving growth-wise, so I know his daily caloric-intake is going well!</p> <p>That's the idea.....here's what I did. I started this all right around when my son turned two months old. He's now 3.5 months and is mostly STTN and doesn't eat between 7 PM-6:45 A.M.</p> <p>My son's first feeding of the day is between 7-7:30 AM. I BF him for a total of 24 minutes. I then feed him again roughly 3.5-4 hours later (if he's napping he'll stretch it to 4, otherwise he wants to eat pretty much at 3.5 hours). Let's call his second feeding between 10:30-11, his third one between 2-2:30, and his third one around 5:30/6. At his 6 PM feeding I either feed him for 20 minutes on one side, or feed him for 10 minutes on both sides. I then take him upstairs and give him a bath, and then feed him again for another 15 or 20 minutes. This isn't from the book-I just figure topping him up right before he falls asleep is a good way to ensure he sleeps well.</p> <p>Now we have the "this is when you sleep 12 hours" period of time-roughly 7 PM-7 AM. You essentially are trying to let the baby dictate night feedings, but slowly eliminating how much you feed them at each one. When I started this process, I was dream feeding my son at 11, he typically wanted to eat again around 4, and then I often could stretch him until 7-sometimes not. He woke up more frequently than that, but using a pacifier meant he only ate at 11 and 4 (roughly). Thanks to @Mrs.Blue's advice of trying the pacifier before automatically feeding, I discovered a lot of what my son wanted in the MOTN was comfort-not food. He'd take the pacifier and almost always head back to sleep. Following the advice of the book, I let him dictate the wake-ups. The first three nights he woke up around midnight-about 5 hours after his 7 PM feeding. While this was impressive for him eating-wise, since I go to bed between 10:30-11:30, I was only getting about an hour of sleep or less for the first stretch, and it was really messing with my overall sleep. As a result, I brought back the 11 PM feeding that I prompted, and then went to bed. I started by giving him 3 pumped ounces in a bottle. Three days later I have him 2.5 pumped ounces. Three days after that only 2, etc. Here's the neat part....about 5 days into this, I put his pacifier in around 3:30 AM, went back to sleep, and he slept until 6:30!! He went from 11 PM-6:30 without eating! I was SO excited! The book very explicitly says once they self-drop a feeding on their own, you reeeeallly shouldn't add it back in. If you're desperate you can give them an ounce or two, but if it's possible, try to hold out until the next feeding. For the next three weeks I slowly decreased the amount he got during his dream feed by half an ounce every 3-4 days. He would always eat and go right back to sleep. About two weeks ago I didn't offer him the half-ounce in a bottle anymore, and he was totally fine. He now doesn't need to eat between bed time and morning wake-up time. He still has wake-ups (and now that he's getting close to four months he's starting to think about rolling over-hello 4 months sleep regression!), but he hasn't once gotten hungry so I haven't offered him food. </p> <p>I don't love or follow everything in the book (she suggests a modified CIO for getting them down and/or when they wake up between 7-7, (no more than 3-5 mins each time). For my son, if I let him cry for too long, I need to start from scratch soothing him, so I typically go straight in for the pacifier replacement. He is slowly learning how to fall back asleep on his own (recently I've heard him 'talk' to himself in the MOTN and I see he's rolling around on the monitor, but he doesn't cry and sometimes puts himself back to sleep so I let him do it himself). </p> <p>Tl;dr: My son is 3.5 months old and goes from 7-P.M. to 6:30/7 A.M. with a few wake-ups for comfort but doesn't need to eat. He also has put himself on a nap schedule which is amazing-I didn't even need to re-read the chapter on nap training in the book because he was so well-rested at night that naps came about naturally. Feel free to ask questions or anything else. A link to the book: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Hours-Sleep-Weeks-Step/dp/0525949593" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Hours-Sleep-Weeks-Step/dp/0525949593</a> </p>