Brinley Baby Summary: Week 19

Baby schedule for baby’s 19th week. Baby schedule and routine for the nineteenth week of life. 18 week old baby routine and daily life. Find out what to do with a 4 month old all day, wonder week impact, early morning wakings, dropping the dreamfeed thoughts, dropping the swaddle thoughts, and helpful parenting books for this age.

19 week old Brinley in the jumperoo

This is a summary for Brinley’s 19th week–she was 18 weeks old.

NURSING

Nursing was all the same. Nothing new to report.

SOLIDS

This week we added pears to Brinley’s menu. She wasn’t so sure about them at first, but she quickly liked them okay. She doesn’t have the love she has for bananas, but she likes them.

>>>Read: How To Introduce Solid Foods to Your Baby

Reading a story with her Daddy

NIGHT SLEEP

There were three nights toward the end of this week that Brinley woke up early in the morning.

The first one, naturally, came the morning after I had stayed up late for the first time since she was born. We had friends over and I was up until about 12:30 AM. It was a Friday night and I figured I could sleep in a bit the next day. Then she was up at about 6:50. Oh babies!

She just talked until we got her at about 7:10. It was so funny because it has been months since she woke earlier than 7:10–most mornings are right around 7:30.

The next morning was even earlier–right around 6:30-6:40 if I remember right. The next night was 6:50.

So of course when you have a baby start waking early, you start to analyze why. I had four theories.

Theory one was that the dreamfeed was disrupting her sleep. She had started to wake for the dreamfeed and talk to me, so I knew it was disrupting her more than was ideal. Because of that, we started leaving her swaddled for the dreamfeed.

>>>Read: When To Stop the Dream Feed

Which leads me to theory two. Theory two is that she liked to be unswaddled for the dreamfeed so she could stretch out a bit. Maybe she wanted to be unswaddled again for the dreamfeed.

>>>Read: Everything You Need to Know About Dropping the Swaddle

Theory three was that the heater was waking her up somehow. It had suddenly gotten much colder right when she started waking early so the heater was coming on earlier in the morning.

Theory four was that it was just some random thing. Babies are people and can randomly have some insomnia. This was my initial go-to theory until she woke early the second day. I didn’t think she would have a random off day two days in a row.

Then you of course have other endless possibilities. Is she getting sick? Does she need to drop the swaddle? Is it a wonder week issue?

Which theory was right? I believe it was theory three–the heater.

DREAMFEED

So Brinley woke early night one and we did nothing different. We decided if it was a fluke, we didn’t want to do anything that might further the waking.

After the second night of Brinley waking early, we decided to go with the dreamfeed. We just dropped it cold turkey and went to bed early 🙂 It was so sad for me. I love the little sleepy baby feedings. But if it was disrupting her sleep I obviously didn’t want to keep it around just to suit my own desires.

As you might recall, the next night she woke early again, but back up to 6:50 so it was better than the night before. At the very least it told me she likely didn’t need the dreamfeed anymore. We stuck with it and she continued being fine without the dreamfeed. So it is officially gone.

HEATER WAKING

We moved on to the theory that it was the heater waking her up. I had noticed this months before–she seemed to wake up in the morning shortly after the heater came on in the morning. So we set the temperature to come up at 7:30–her desired waketime.

With the colder nights, however, the heater was kicking on and she was waking shortly after. It must have just been close enough to her wake time that it disrupted her because I know it comes on a few times through the night.

I started making sure the heater did not come on and she did not wake up. I honestly have no idea what about it would wake her. It isn’t blowing on her–we bought a deflector and have it blowing away from her so that isn’t it. It also isn’t noisy. I don’t have the mystery solved.

It could just be the change in temperature in her room.

PLAYTIME

Brinley started to love to stand this week. I decided to get out the old Jumperoo. She loved it!

She couldn’t stay in it for long periods because her muscles weren’t strong enough to keep her there, but she is slowly getting stronger and able to play in it a bit longer.

I am also amazed at the strides she is making with her hand abilities. She is improving on those fine motor pincer practice. They learn so fast!

>>>Read: Best Toys for Baby: Ages 4-6 Months

SWADDLE

I decided to try a nap with one arm unswaddled again. It took her about 20 minutes to fall asleep, compared to the 5-10 that is her norm at that time of day, but she did it! It was her first nap to fall asleep with partially unswaddled.

I did it for the fourth nap of the day because it is short anyway and the least important nap in my mind. I stuck with that each day. Once she gets better at falling asleep for that nap, I will move it to the third nap as well.

CHECK UP AND VACCINATIONS

She had her four month check up this week. Everything was great. She is continuing to move higher on the growth curve. She is still small, but getting higher and higher on the curve at each visit.

She did not like her vaccinations. At all. It took her a few minutes to get her to stop crying. I did this visit later in the day. I typically like to do it after the first nap of the day so they have all day to react to vaccinations if they are going to. This time slot was all they had and I figured it would work out well so I could take older kids with me and get the flu mist for them.

Brinley did not like the initial injections, but she had no issues with the aftermath–no swelling, no fever, no disruptions to sleep. I have found if my children had a rough time with the two month shots, they don’t for four months. If they didn’t for two months, they do for four months.

SCHEDULE

Our schedule typically looks like this:
7:30–feed
8:35–nap
11:30–feed
12:45–nap
2:30 or 3:00–feed
3:45–nap (75 minutes later)
5:00 or 5:30–feed
6:30–nap (80 minutes after waking)
7:30–feed, then bedtime
9:45–dreamfeed–until it was dropped

HELPFUL BOOKS

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18 thoughts on “Brinley Baby Summary: Week 19”

  1. My baby boy is 19 weeks as well, and we have been having the same waking early problem this week! He normally has the exact same schedule as Miss Brinley, and wakes at 7:30 (sometimes even closer to 8 if we are lucky!), but this week it has been between 6:00 and 6:30. Hoping it is just related to this Wonder Week leap that they are almost out of! Can't end soon enough for me 🙂

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  2. Hey Val! So I've had a hard time getting baby #3 on a schedule (babies #1 & 2 are babywise text book babies!) She is now 25 weeks and just this past week has been STTN from 1030 (strangers) to 7/8a but I still have her on a 3hr schedule bc I remember reading not to move to 4hr until baby is sttn. she also had 60min intruder EVERY nap until last week as well. all of a sudden naps are perfect and night time as well. so my question is…how do I start moving to a 4 hr schedule and when to drop DF?. She wakes at exactly her wake times now for a 3hr schedule.As always thanks for years of advice and congrats on the new baby :)Tania

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  3. My little girl is 19 weeks as well! Unfortunately, she is still not STTN yet. I'm not sure what exactly the problem is, considering I'm doing pretty much the same schedule I did with my 2 year old when she was baby, and she was STTN at 19 weeks and sleeping almost 12 hours. I feel like you with all the different theories of why she wakes up EVERY night at 3:00 am! I wonder if she is too hot, or if the DF is disrupting her sleep, or if she needs to be changed, etc. I have been feeding her at 4 am so that she will sleep more soundly until about 7:15 (DWT) but I don't want to make it a habit. She does great during the day with a 3 hour schedule, full feedings, 3 (approx. 2 hour naps) and a catnap in the evening. Any suggestions??

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  4. Val,my DS is almost the exact same age as Brinley and he is similar in that he does longer stretches for his first 2 naps and then short in the afternoon. But now with WT getting longer, I am wondering what you do at the end of the day here:5:00 or 5:30–feednap (80 minutes after waking)7:30–feed, then bedtimeSo let's say you feed at 5:30pm, she goes down for a nap at 6:50? and then you wake her at 7:30 to feed and go to bed? Just curious.Thanks,Kristina

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  5. Sandee..sounds like your LO is waking at 3am out of habit. there is a technique called "wake to sleep" (I think) that should help. Val has blogged about it before to break waking habits.

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  6. Thanks Tania! I have heard about that technique but have yet to try it. Maybe after Christmas when things slow down a bit for us I will give it a try. :)Sandee

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  7. Hi. I have a question about the dreamfeed. My newborn (1 week old as of now)screams/cries every time his diaper is changed after a feeding. I havent started the dreamfeed yet, but i am wondering how am i suppose to do a dreamfeed when my baby doesnt sleep through a diaper change/swaddle and burping. any thoughts would help. THANKS

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  8. I am on the same schedule as you guys but m daughter is 18 weeks on Tuesdsay. She continues to wake at random times through night. Last night it was 1:30 the night before 2:30 the night before she slept through night. She has been doing this for several weeks now. She seems hungry when she wakes so I nurse her. I haven't introduced anything but bm. Maybe she needs to start solids? Or, she seems to be teething already. I see a small white spot on bottom gums. Last night we let her cry a bit before getting her. Not sure what to do but would really like her to stop waking through the night. Thanks for a great blog.

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  9. My son is 18weeks today and I'm fairly new to your blog. I've read up on a lot, but I'm not sure where to start. My son isn't on a schedule and doesn't sttn. He isn't swaddled and takes a paci. He's ebf and hasn't started solids. Do I let him cio at night all night, does he still need a feed? Should I give him the paci instead of a feed? Should I drop the paci all together? Should I get him on a schedule before working on sleep? I've got a 3 yr old who is in preschool MWF from 9-12 so I have to work around that. I just don't know where to begin. The boys share a room (we only have a 2 bedroom house) Sometimes during growth spurts I bring the baby to our room and he sleeps in the pnp by my bed. I'm just at a loss. Last night I tried to offer the paci before nursing. He had a dreamfeed at 11 and then went until 4, but was up again until 6. He woke in between those times and I offered the paci, but those are the times he woke back up. Thank you for your blog, please help me!

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  10. Brooke I'm on baby #3 for babywise and while I'm no expert…or Val…I can give you a bit of advice. I know exactlyyyyyyy what you are going through. been there a few weeks ago with my LO. First, don't worry about STTN. once you get the days sorted out, night fall into place like magic! If your night's are tough, look at how your days are. more than likely there is a problem dying the day. my first advice is start a day schedule. most importantly pick a wake time and bed time. mine are 7:30-8a wake and 730 bed. Your wake time but be the same every day..otherwise you are on a pattern and not q schedule. Don't be afraid to wake your baby up if you have to. if my LO isn't up by 8am I wake her up. I wouldn't worry about the swaddle or pqci. those are baby preference. if baby sleeps fine without a.swaddle, then don't use one. my 1st loved a pqci, secretnd wouldn't take one, 3rd takes a paci if she feels like it. paci might make it harder for STTN (paci falls out and baby cries for it) but I personally like them bc of SIDe and it helped break the night time comfort nursing. CIO is also.a personal thing. I will do CIO to go.to bed but not in the middle of the night. if LO cries at night I assume she needs something. she sleeps in pnp next to my bed. we had a hard time around 20 weeks where she cried every hour. for 3 days…ugh! She then one night drank a ton of milk (I Bf from bottle) and she's been good since…growth spurt probably. so if baby cries at night I treat it as a hunger thing when she was younger. now I know she can go longer without feeding and its not hunger. to break the night time feeding was.hard but this is what worked for me….I stopped nursing at night. she would nibble and fall asleep 3-5 times during the night. once I switched to bottle feeding that stopped. (I use bottles bc baby wasn't gaining enough weight and doc recommended formula but I knew baby wasn't nursing enough bc she was being distracted by her brother's. so with a bottle I can make sure she eats enough during each feeding) so I started bottle feeding and cuttin back the amount she ate at night and incelreasing amount.during the day. I also did the paci when she would wake and I.knew she wasn't hunger. I have a 4 yr old and 2 yr old so.I know how hard schedules can be but the beauty of this is when you get the schedule down.it works for you. knowing.you have to take your.son.to.preschool at 9am you may want your wake time at 8am so you have time to feed baby, get in the car and go and be bqckin time for baby to nap at home. once the schedule starts to work you'll see baby sleep at night as wel!!

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  11. Thanks Tania,We got up at 8 and had a great morning. He did his morning nap with minimal crying, but he's only sleeping 45min at a time. He was hungry at 11 (still a 3 hour schedule) so I fed him, but he's been up since 10:15. I don't know when to put him down for his nap. He seemed tired, so I put him down at 11;50. He was up for 90 min. Will his naps get longer once he learns to put himself to sleep? I'm having a hard time figuring out the schedule due to his short naps. He's tired after eating and ready for a nap then, but I'm not nursing him to sleep. Tell me it gets better please!

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  12. Lol it DOES get better! Sounds like the 45 min intruder. what I did to get to get over that hump is I deviated from the eat/play/ sleep cycle for just a week or so bc it seemed my baby was waking early from her naps and I couldn't get her back down so I would feed her but she wouldn't take a full feeding…then she would get cranky and need to go down early…then woke early and so.on. she was snacking and I was going crazy!! Since I knew she could go at least 3 hr without eating what I did is if she woke early from her nap I waited to feed her until it was her scheduled time. that sometimes meant before sleeping but I made sure she didn't feed to sleep. she was awake when I.put her down. I did that for just a few days and "bamb!' She was on schedule! I still fought with her waking early from naps bu I was able to get her back down easier and sometimes she wouldn't wake early (those are the days I know she will sleep great at night!) What it boiled down to for me was making sure baby got a goooood full feeding each time. now if your LO is waking early AND taking a full feeding then he is hungry and needs a feeding. mine wasn't. I would stick to the 3 hr schedule until your baby is on schedule. you know to love when you constantly have to wake the baby to eat…then its time to move. for now stick to 3 hr. and be sure to wake baby if you have too. I know there will be those days he is sleeping linger and you just hate to wake him! Lol been there!!

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  13. Hey Val! First off let me say THANK YOU for your blog-it has been a lifesaver! =) However, we have been having some sleep issues at night. He will be 5 months this week and has been STTN since about 12 weeks with no waking at all. He began waking around 5:30/6:00 (goal waketime is 7:00am). I was hoping it was only going to last a few days, but that was 5 weeks ago! He isn't hungry or too hot/cold. We have just been walking in-giving the paci-and walking right back out. He usually falls asleep for about 10 or 15 minutes and then repeat 3 or 4 times and he'll sleep until 7:00am. I'm worried his bedtime is too late?? Or maybe it's time to cut his last nap?? We are still on a 3 hour schedule and I don't think we're ready to leave that yet. His last nap is 5:45-7:00, we then feed and play until bath/bedtime routine starting at 8:00..we leave him in his crib awake/drowsy and he talks himself to sleep by 8:30ish. Maybe we should cut the last nap though so he can have enough wake time and eat earlier and go to bed earlier?? Or leave the schedule the same and CIO in the mornings?

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  14. Since you dropped the dreamfeed, have you had rhe need to pump? Wondering if my supply will decrease once I drop the dreamfeed. Never had issues w my other three but wondering if I will with this one (14weeks boy) since he's my forth and I'm in my late 30's now…

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  15. Since you dropped the dreamfeed, have you had rhe need to pump? Wondering if my supply will decrease once I drop the dreamfeed. Never had issues w my other three but wondering if I will with this one (14weeks boy) since he's my forth and I'm in my late 30's now…

    Reply

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