Brinley Baby Summary: Week 20

Baby schedule for baby’s 20th week. Baby schedule and routine for the twentieth week of life. 19 week old baby routine and daily life. Find out how to increase milk supply, drop the fourth nap, and find sleep cues. Get a daily routine for your 4 month old.

Plowman kids with Santa and Mrs. Claus

This is a summary for Brinley’s 20th week. She was 19 weeks old.

NURSING

Typically, nothing exciting really changes with nursing at this age or older really until you wean.

But something did change this week.

I decided to start taking Fenugreek. I tried it when nursing McKenna, but I never noticed a change so I didn’t stick with it because Fenugreek can give you the runs and it is not worth it if you see no difference. 

Despite the fact that I haven’t ever had supply issues, it is a concern I have always had. I don’t want to lose my supply. I decided to try Fenugreek to see if it made any difference in my supply.

Oh yes it did! I took it one night before bed, and the next morning I felt twice as full as I had been on previous mornings.

I just have a lot of extra milk now.

But something else interesting happened.

With the larger quantity of milk, Brinley went back to taking longer to eat. She has moved back up to usually 10 minutes per side instead of 10 minutes total and sometimes even spends 20-30 minutes on one side alone.

Then it just perpetuates the cycle of more milk–she eats longer, which brings in more milk, which continues her eating longer.

Needless to say, I am a Fenugreek believer. I don’t notice a drop when I don’t take it–in fact, often when I skip some I actually have more milk after that (could be a coincidence), but I think it definitely has increased supply overall. 

Why did I try it?

I was talking to a friend at my church Christmas party who is expecting her fourth and was telling me about her nursing experiences and how she has a hard time keeping supply up. She told me how much Fenugreek helped her supply.

Since I live in concern over it, I thought I would try Fenugreek out again. I have a new factor in my nursing life I never had with other kids, and that is PCOS. PCOS can reportedly hurt milk supply (though I have also read it can help…so you never know). 

SOLIDS

This week, we added oatmeal to Brinley’s menu. She doesn’t love oatmeal alone, but she will eat it mixed with bananas or pears. She really likes the combo of pears and oatmeal.

DROPPING THE 4th NAP

One night this week, as I mentioned, we were at a Christmas party at our church. While we were there, Brinley just skipped her fourth nap. By the end of the party, she was obviously quite tired, but she made it a very long time happily awake.

Most babies will drop that fourth nap around 4 months old. This happens either by skipping the nap and doing feed, play, feed or by moving to a four hour schedule.

I decided to give the skipping of the nap a try. I figured she wouldn’t be able to skip every night because my other babies would skip some nights and not others, but she just skipped it and never looked back.

So she is now up for a longer stretch and it is a lot of fun to have her around more, especially at that time of day because it is when the whole family is home and together.

>>>Read: Dropping Naps: A Quick Reference

NAP CUES

Speaking of naps, Brinley seems to have nap cues. I haven’t really ever searched for them because my other kids did not keep nap cues long.

But she starts to get a bit jabbery–jabbery in a frustrated or discontented sort of way. It is so great because rather than watching the clock, I just pay attention to her. 

>>>Read: Baby Sleep Cues and How to Get it Right for Your Baby

SWADDLING

I had been keeping one arm out for Brinley’s fourth nap since it was just an hour long anyway. She initially took a while to fall asleep–18-20 minutes instead of about 5-10.

Then one night this week, before the dropping of the nap, she started taking only 5 minutes to fall asleep with one arm out. Success! It is exciting to move forward on the road toward no swaddle.

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

19 WEEK OLD SCHEDULE

Our schedule typically looks like this:

7:30–feed
8:35–nap
11:30–feed
12:45–nap
3:00–feed
4:15–nap 
5:00 or 5:30–feed
6:30–nap (80 minutes after waking) until it was dropped
7:30–feed, then bedtime

HELPFUL BOOKS

RELATED POSTS

Baby schedule 4 months 2 weeks old

25 thoughts on “Brinley Baby Summary: Week 20”

  1. Hi there, my daughter Cayla is about the same age as Brinley (5 months and 2 weeks). Is Brinley napping straight through from her naptime until the next feed? Cayla rarely does this, but is content to be very close to a 4 hour feeding schedule. I waver between thinking I should follow a routine of eat, play sleep, eat etc. But then that gives every day a different rhythm. So should I just pay attention to her feed times and let her nap when needed instead? It's a funny phase we're in. Depending on the rhythm of the day we can either be at 5 or 6 feeds (including the dreamfeed – we haven't dropped it yet). Feeling a little lost right now.

    Reply
    • I will be curious to see what Valerie says, but with my daughter, we simply played for a bit after her nap if she was happy before eating when we started going to more of a four hour routine. In retrospect, I'm glad we did this because then, when she wanted to, she could take a longer nap and not wake because of hunger, and also, now that she's older(14mo) she will get up from a nap and be content to eat lunch 30-45 min later. Your routine will always continue to change!

      Reply
  2. I wish I would have started reading your blog when my 13 month old was younger! However, this will be helpful for the next child! Thanks for sharing 🙂

    Reply
  3. Hi Val! What brand and kind of Fenugreek did you use? I'm nursing 8 mo old twins and feeling like my milk is decreasing…I haven't been able to get a good recommendation for Fenugreek from any moms I know, so I'd really appreciate a recommendation. Thank you!Jen [email protected]

    Reply
  4. IF you over-produce and have to freeze your milk and don't end up needing it, please consider donating it to someone who is unable to nurse their baby. Our son is adopted, and he has been fed donated breastmilk from birth due to donations of generous mommas who over produce! 🙂 Just a suggestion from a grateful mom. 🙂

    Reply
  5. Just wanted to share that I used fenugreek with my first and it allowed me to bf for 13 months! It's amazing stuff! It made me have the faint smell of maple syrup all the time, which is a strange side affect, but I guess it could be worse 🙂 Glad it's working for you too!!I am at a loss about my 6 month old. He has yet to sttn, but he went from waking up once at night to eat, to now waking every 2-3 hours. LOTS of things have changed since he started waking more often. He has 2 new teeth, started on solids, the holidays and traveling, and I started slowly moving him from a 3 hour routine to a 4 hour. Our feedings (exclusively bf) are now at 7:30,11,2:30/3,6:30,7:45. Since I have been slowly moving him towards a 4 hour routine and dropping the 5th nap, his nights have gotten even worse. I know I have read somewhere in your blog to not drop naps until baby is sttn, but he had outgrown the 3 hour schedule and I know he is getting plenty of calories…especially now he is eating solids. So, my question is do I follow my gut and continue to move him to a 4 hour schedule OR is he waking more frequently at night because he isn't to adjust OR is the night waking from something else?Thank you!

    Reply
  6. Hello.. My baby is 18 weeks almost 4months.. We've never had great napping, always kinda of inconsistent. Worked awhile on wake time and always assumed it was the problem but not sure it really is/was. We've been doing CIO since Saturday for day sleep as her nights are great she sleeps from 730-545/6 and goes back asleep till wake time at 8am.. I haven't seen much progress with our CIO for day. She goes down no problem or crying at about 1hr 20min wake time. I've been letting her cry when she wakes after 45min-1 to the next feeding time.. Usually about an hour, she'll cry on and off.. Wondering how long CIO takes when doing it mid nap? Feeling very discouraged and wonder if I need to adjust

    Reply
  7. A, I would probably do a 3 hour schedule unless she just wouldn't eat at three hours. It really just depends on your personality and what you prefer.

    Reply
  8. Jen right now I am just using the Spring Valley brand you can get at Walmart. I wanted it ASAP and walmart had it close. We have an herb shop that sells other brands, and that is the brand I used with McKenna. I honestly did no research–I just grabbed what was available to me.

    Reply
  9. Jen there are so many possibilities! I hate it when there are so many factors to work out. What I would do is try to get the factors gone.I think I would go to a three hour schedule and see if that fixes the night. It is a simple thing to do and it will give you your answer right away. I think in most cases, a baby that age wouldn't need a three hour schedule, but some do. Then you will know if that is the reason for the night waking or not and can go from there.

    Reply
  10. Denise, I haven't ever done CIO mid-nap, so I am not sure how long it would take. Now, if Brinley wakes early I will usually give her 10-15 minutes to see if she is going to go back to sleep, and often she does. But if not by that point, then I will either get her up and feed her or move her to the swing. At that age, I actually would move your baby to the swing or rock back to sleep (so long as you know she isn't hungry). She is probably waking because of wonder week stuff.

    Reply
  11. Thank you! Feel I might be at end of wonder week madness! How long do I do that for? I don't want the rocking Back to sleep to be a sleep prop. She goes down so easy, maybe trying 1.30 wake time also?

    Reply
  12. After putting your baby down at 7:30 do you feed her at all during the night? How many hours can breastfed babies go without eating at 5 months? Thanks for a great blog.

    Reply
  13. I am having the HARDEST time with my baby sttn. He is 20 weeks old and wakes up 2-5 times per night. Lately it has been every hour and a half. I follow babywise and do a 3 hour schedule. He is a VERY content baby, but sleeps horribly at night. He used to sleep from 11pm to 6 am. Now I put him down to bed at 8 pm. He wakes up at 9 and then at 10. I dream feed him at 11 ( I have found that he sleeps the longest at this time). He wake up at 2 and then 4 and then 6 (sometimes more in between). I need help, please.

    Reply
  14. PLEASE HELP! I started taking fenugreek right when we came home from the hospital with our son.. 3 capsules a day, 3 times a day. This was before my milk even came in. So I have been taking it since then and he is now 3 weeks old. I only started taking it because I wanted to produce extra milk to create a stock pile in the freezer, which was a big mistake because now I don't want to take it anymore and am worried that my body thinks it needs it in order to produce milk. I haven't been pumping the last few days because my baby has been in a growth spurt and has been drinking it all! He went from 7lbs 3oz to 9lbs 4oz at his 3 week checkup yesterday. Am I giving him too much milk? Should I back it down and pump at each feeding to let my body know there is still a demand? Or will my body adjust ad still give my baby enough milk if I back it down and eventually stop taking it? Thank you in advance for any answers. I don;t want a stock pile any more, I just want to feed my baby from my breasts.

    Reply
  15. Hello,Thanks for the blog! Just wondering about going 12 hours without breastfeeding. I thought I had read not go to over 10? What are your thoughts on this?

    Reply
    • I have heard some moms can't go more than 10 hours without breastfeeding without compromising supply. If you are that way but you baby is a 12 hour sleeper, you can pump just before you go to bed.

      Reply
  16. Hello! My baby turns 4 mo tomorrow and I have been doing bw from the start. Thank you so very much for your blog. It is a lifesaver! My question is this: my baby goes to sleep almost without a murmur for all his maps but bedtime is horrible! I wake him from his nap at 5 or 5.30 and try to feed him at 7.30 or so and then put him to bed. He will not have it. Why would he be having trouble going to sleep only at bedtime? Thanks!

    Reply
    • It could be witching hour. He is a little old for it, but some do still have it. It could also be overly tired. Is he usually up for two hours? He might need more like 1.5 hours. Tweak waketime length and stimulation levels.

      Reply
  17. Hi Valerie,Thank you so much for your response. What about not feeding less than 2 hours? Could you look at his schedule and tell me what you think? I have spent hours on your blog and still can't figure this out.Some things you should know: -He is a reflux baby (unmedicated since my going off dairy seemed to help so much).-Due to the reflux, he is a tummy sleeper -Since birth I have dealt with his witching hour by laying down with him for an hour each evening at bedtime and nursing him till he was in a deep sleep. This could be the root of my problem.-He is EBFoccasionally wakes at 6.30 so I treat that as the first feeding:7.30 eat50-65 minutes of watetimeNap #1 down with minimal/no crying. Nap 1.5 to 2.5 hours~10.30-11 AM feed50-70 minutes waketimeNap #2 down for a nap with little/no crying~2 feed60-80 minutes of waketimeNap #3 down for nap with more crying than in the first two napsNow HERE is where my problems start:~5/5:30 feedgets sleepy around 6:30, but I keep him up until 7 PM to have his bedtime feed because I don't want to feed before 2 hours, and I also don't want to have another feed/wake/sleep cycle.When I have tried putting him to bed at 6.30 we wakes up at 8 or so and is not sleepy enough to sleep after his feeding (wants waketime). When I do give in and put him to bed at 6.30 he is very upset. Perhaps that is because he is overtired already. Do you think I should add another feed/wake/sleep cycle?Should I put him down for a nap at 6.30 and feed him whenever he wakes up and put him straight back to bed even if he cries more than usual? (I think this is what BW says to do)Should I continue keeping him up and having him skip his fourth nap?Have you ever had a kid cry for more than 30 minutes at bedtime even though he goes to sleep like an angel all the rest of the day?THANK YOU so much! Your blog is so helpful and I love your logbook e-book.

    Reply

Leave a Comment