Showing posts with label schedule. Show all posts
Showing posts with label schedule. Show all posts

Nora 2 months old


nora sleep and eating at two months

Nora is 2 months old! This post goes over the last month of her life (from 1 month old up until she turns 2 months old).

OK. So she isn't actually 2 months old right now. But she used to be. I have this tendency to finish posts 98% of the way and then not post them. One day I will get to these mostly finished posts. With life as busy as it is, I'm proud of myself for getting this one up!

Eat/Wake/Sleep Routine
Nora pretty much always goes 3 hours between feeds in the day. Rarely she'll wake up sooner and I'll feed her. She wakes up right around the 3 hour mark some of the time, and the rest of the time I'll wake her (give or take a few minutes). She goes back and forth each week with waking more on her own for feeds during the day, and needing me to wake her for feeds.

Nora 1 month old



Eat/Wake/Sleep Routine
I didn't work much on teaching Nora to sleep on her own the first few weeks. This is the norm for me and my new babies. I am mainly just getting the e/w/s pattern down, enjoying snuggling with my baby, and trying to rest. I also can't emotionally handle any possible crying from baby at this point. I have found that helping babies take long naps is really beneficial, even if they are taking them in your arms (the same goes for night sleep). It helps get them into a pattern of spread out eating and sleeping.

Sleepiness
Nora was pretty sleepy the first 2-3 weeks. She fell asleep pretty easily in my arms, with or without a pacifier. If I set her down, she almost always stayed asleep for a couple hours. This was amazing! None of my children have done this. I know to very thankful for this, and the fact that she fell asleep easily. Jacob, my 6 year old, literally didn't have a single sleepy day in his life and he never ever fell asleep easily, no matter how may sleep props you used.

After about 2-3 weeks Nora started to have a harder time falling asleep in my arms. She usually had 1-2 sleepy periods a day where she'd fall asleep somewhat easily, and the rest of the time it started to take her up to 45 minutes. She'd be restful and start to fall asleep, but then keep waking up. I decided that it was time to work on having her sleep in her own room since she was obviously starting to get too stimulated by her surroundings to fall asleep in them. Books usually say that babies have to be older to not sleep well wherever, but that has never been the case for my children.

Newborn Sample Schedules


Baby sleep and eat schedule

**see example schedules below

Newborns can be very sleepy eaters, so it can often be hard to get a full feed in the first few weeks before baby falls into a coma like sleep (tips on keeping sleepy newborns awake here).  If baby isn't able to get a full feed, then she'll likely feel hungry much sooner than if she had a full feed. Just do your best and feed baby when she is hungry. She will get less sleepy soon and full feeds will be easier to get. Read more about full feeds on this post.

A well rested baby will eat much better than a tired one. You'll struggle to get full feeds when baby is overtired because she'll be too sleepy or fussy. This means that while you may be trying to work on having baby learn to fall asleep on her own, you will also want to make sure this doesn't results in her being too overtired. This is a tricky balancing act, I know!

Back to School you Sleepyhead!


Joshua's first day of school
For the first time in many years, the fact that school is in session doesn't just mean that me and my kids carry on like usual (it's a summer routine 365 days a year for us). My oldest, Joshua, started school for the first time ever -- kindergarten-- and now I've entered a whole new phase of parenting. It's exciting but kind of scary. And for him, it's also really tiring.

I wrote a while ago about how sleep can get all mucked up with changing seasons. Well, the same thing can happen when

Jacob's Schedule at 2.5 years


Here's my little Jacob's schedule around 2.5 years of age. If you haven't already, check out the post about

2 year old - Example Schedules


Jacob, 2 years old
Seeing what someone's schedule is with their children can be super helpful.  Please leave a comment with your child's schedule so others can benefit from your experience. Let us know how old your child is and feel free to include as little or as much information as you'd like.


For a look at Jacob's schedule at 2.5 years, look here.

My Kid's Schedules


After having people ask over and over again, I've given in to peer pressure and decided to add my kid's schedules to this blog. I've been hesitant to do this before now because some people seem to take what my kids do to be exactly what their child should be doing and that ends up

The only consistency with children is change


Reonis
One of the chapters in The Baby Whisperer is titled Just When You Think You've Got It. . . Everything Changes!

So true! Right?!

This goes for all of parenting, of course, with sleep being no exception. You finally get waketime figured out and then suddenly

Eat/Wake/Sleep Routine (EWS or EASY)



Yeah. I'm finally doing this post. I think it will clear up a lot of the question I've gotten from some people since Eat/Wake/Sleep (EWS) is a common routine that

Can I sucessfully breastfeed and have a routine/schedule?


by Pablo Picasso
YES! It is very possible!

I have successfully breastfed my kids past a year (Jacob, my 15 month old, is at this time still nursing) and have done a routine since day one. My kids have thrived. And I have thrived. I know some people are fine with feeding baby every second of every night and day for months (or years) on end, but I am not. I start to

Joshua at 3 years old


Joshua, 3 years old
Joshua has had a similar sleeping routine for some time now. Once again, these times are approximates. He is not a

Jacob at 8 months


Jacob, 8 months old

Here's where we're at right now with my 8 month old son, Jacob. Your 8 month old might have a completely different routine, but sometimes it is nice to look at other

Keeping a Sleep Log


Keeping a sleep log is a great way to make sleep problem solving much easier and faster. It allows you to look over the patterns of the last several days to determine what needs to be changed and what should be kept the same. Why the last several days and not just a day or two? Short term success may be a fluke and not an actual

Why have a schedule/routine?


First off, let me say what I do and don't mean when I say schedule.

I don't mean strict feeding times that don't take into account your baby's hunger (see pdf feedings for a look at how to keep your baby eating on a routine that takes into account baby's hunger) and I don't mean you randomly put your baby to sleep at a certain time because "it is time" even when your child is not tired. What I do mean is a

Waketime Length - How long should baby stay awake?


**See average waketime lengths at end of post** 


What is Waketime?
Waketime length is how long your child can stay awake between sleep periods before he's ready for another nap or bedtime. It includes any time baby is awake, including feeding time and wind-down time before naps/bed.

How does Waketime Length Change?
Waketime is continually changing so you need to be on the look out for your baby's Sleep Cues and monitor how well your child's naps and night time sleep are going since

Parent-Directed Feeding (PDF)



There are many feeding methods out there--demand feeding, hyperscheduling, cry feeding, demand schedule, self-regulating schedule, clock feeding, natural feeding, rigid feeding, cue feeding, responsive feeding. Which to do? Is demand feeding the only way to fulfill your baby's needs? Will scheduled feedings dry up your milk supply if you are breast feeding? With all the choices out there and so many people telling you to do this or that it can be

A few words of advice from the Baby Whisperer



 Parents who in the heat of the moment take what seems like an easier road, only to find out later that it leads them to a dangerous dead end... Start as you mean to go on.
Parenting is the ultimate test of patience. Our child doesn't want to take a nap. Do we give in because we just don't feel like fighting a battle right now or do we