Schedule and routine for a 21-22 week old newborn baby. Get info on this baby’s daily schedule and routine for each day and know how to structure your day.
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NURSING
This was a great week. McKenna turned five months old this week! I can’t believe it! She is so fun.
Things are still uneventful. McKenna just nursed this week without talking or biting.
WAKETIME LENGTH
Waketime length kind of extended. I didn’t really officially move it, but the morning waketime went from 55-60 minutes. I said it in the past, but she no longer is super-sensitive to waketime length. A five minute sway doesn’t affect her nap at all.
I noticed this week that now that she is older, she can be awake in her crib for part of waketime without me needing to count it toward total waketime. As a newborn, you need to count every minute awake. But as they get older, time in the crib is more restful than out, so waketime isn’t the same minute for minute out of the crib and in the crib. The most I have ever had her wait in her bed is 5-10 minutes, but she didn’t need to go down 5-10 minutes earlier. That likely has something to due with the fact that a five minute sway doesn’t negatively affect her nap.
Read: Optimal Waketime Lengths
DROPPING NAPS
At the beginning of the week, I thought she might be done with the fourth nap for good. Mid-week, she had a few days where she really needed the fourth nap. By the end of the week, she didn’t need it again.
Read: Dropping Naps: A Quick Reference
NIGHTTIME SLEEP
McKenna had been sleeping until seven consistently. For a couple of mornings, she started waking early again. Not very early; only 10-20 minutes. I decided I thought she was waking early because she needed to go to a larger diaper at night. So for nights, she now sleeps in a size three and during the day she wears a size two. She is once again sleeping through. She usually makes it until 7:30. I sometimes need to wake her at 8:00. I have decided our 30 minute sway will be 7:15-7:45 for now, with 7:30 being our typical morning waketime. If she will consistently go to 7:30, I might sway 7:30-8:00 (8 would be nice for the weekend 🙂 ). This week I let her sleep later a few days because it was our last week before Brayden started preschool. I thought we would make it a relaxed week.
One nice thing is that my body is used to her sleeping until at least 7 consistently, so I sleep until 6:30 or 7:00 consistently, too 🙂
SOLIDS
We made a lot of progression with solids this week. I started having her eat solids three times a day. By the end of the week, I started having her eat solids at her first feeding so I could train her metabolism toward eating breakfast.
I still nurse McKenna a full feeding before giving her solids. Since she eats solids well, I don’t see us ever changing that.
I gave McKenna bananas this week. In Super Baby Food, Yaron says she doesn’t understand why parents feed their babies store bought bananas since they are so easy to make. I fed Brayden and Kaitlyn store bought bananas, but I want to make most if not all of McKenna’s food. So I made her bananas.
I have to say, I agree with Yaron! What was I ever thinking? Brayden and Kaitlyn both hated bananas worse than any other food until they started eating real bananas. McKenna LOVES bananas. Her first bite, she didn’t make a strange face. She couldn’t eat fast enough. She wanted a lot more, but I didn’t want to give her too much in case she had a negative reaction.
As I was feeding her the bananas, I was struck by how different home-made bananas look from store bought. Really different. It made me wonder what they did to store bought bananas! Most store bought baby food looks and smells like the food it is representing…but not bananas. If making baby food is not your style, you should consider making bananas. When you consider how cheap bananas are, it is worth it! Right now, where I live, bananas are .20 cents a pound!
Okay, on to peaches. I also made peaches for McKenna at the last day of this week. For a five month old, peaches need to be cooked before being mashed up. So I cook a pound at once and froze a whole bunch. McKenna is not as thrilled with peaches (not surprising to me; both Brayden and Kaitlyn didn’t like them). She will eat them happily mixed with her rice. I figured that way, they wouldn’t be such a potent flavor while she got used to it.
Right now, I am introducing foods to her that I can either easily make (bananas) or we grow ourselves (peaches). I plan to make applesauce soon (homegrown), but I won’t be giving it to her yet. I also plan to make carrots soon (also homegrown), but you aren’t supposed to feed homemade carrots to babies until they are seven months old, so I will be waiting a while to make them so they can keep in the freezer.
McKenna didn’t try to put her hands in her mouth at all during feedings this week.
I fed her solids at breakfast. She then went 3.5-4 hours until the next feeding, so we did lunch then. We then did just a nursing. We then did dinner at the next feeding and just a nursing before bed.
SWADDLING
My feeling is now that McKenna will soon be ready to drop the swaddle all together. I want her to drop it before I drop the dreamfeed.
THUMB SUCKING
McKenna finally decided she likes to suck on her thumb this week. She has previously gone back and forth among many different finger combinations. This week she stuck to the thumb and seems quite pleased with it.
Read: Why You Should Encourage Thumb/Finger Sucking
ROLLING
I am happy to say that she hasn’t rolled onto her tummy during sleep. At least that I know about.
MOVING
We have some big news. We will soon be moving. At the beginning of July, we put our house up for sale. It was a crazy time as we got things ready to sell and had to keep the house spotless 🙂 Happily, it sold a little over a week later. Since then, we have been packing. We bought a house a few days ago. We will be redoing the carpet, flooring, and paint, as well as build and remove some walls all ourselves (if this sounds like a lot to you, it is nothing to us 🙂 ). It will be a crazy couple of weeks. We are only moving a few blocks away.
I am glad McKenna is solidly sleeping through the night. I am debating if I should try to drop the dreamfeed before we move or after we move. I am also aware that once we move, I will have to re-figure out how to dress McKenna for sleeping, but I think I know her well enough now to have a good idea where to go.
If any of you have great moving tips, I would love to hear them!
TEETHING
I have suspected teething pains in McKenna for at least a month. She is most defnitely teething. I am really hoping this is a false run and she won’t get teeth in yet. But it is looking close. She doesn’t complain at all. She isn’t fussy and she is sleeping well, but you can see the tooth.
OUR SCHEDULE
I will now start at 7:30 as an average
7:30 AM–wake, nurse, solids (1 T rice. I will add 1 T peaches this next week)
8:30 AM–nap
11:00 OR 11:30 AM–nurse, solids (at least 4 T bananas)
12:00 OR 12:30 PM–nap
2:00 OR 2:30 PM–nurse
3:15-3:45 (75-90 minutes later) PM–nap
4:30 OR 5:00 PM–nurse and solids (2-4 T sweet potatoes)
7:00 PM–nurse and straight to bed
Sometimes she eats after only two hours in the evening since she is extending her day out right now. This is a temporary situation and it is fine with me for now. I know it won’t last too long. I find that preferable to having a fourth nap and eating at a 3 hour interval, and thus having a later bedtime. I want bedtime consistent.
HELPFUL BOOKS/WEBSITES
- Super Baby Food
- On Becoming Baby Wise
- What to Expect the First Year
- The Wonder Weeks.
- Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
- Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby
- The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems: Sleeping, Feeding, and Behavior–Beyond the Basics from Infancy Through Toddlerhood
- http://kellymom.com/
RELATED POSTS
- How to Teach Your Baby Highchair Manners
- McKenna Baby Summary: Week 21
- McKenna Baby Summary: Week 23
- Brinley Baby Summary: Week 22
- The Wonder Weeks and Sleep
I make all of my 8 month old's food using Yaron's book and love it!! It is so easy and so cheap! We recently went out of town and my sister-in-law gave me some of her left over baby food jars to take with us. I gagged when I opened the bananas and refused to feed them to Kate. I don't know what they do to them- it sure doesn't look or smell like bananas! We just went to the store and bought her fruits that we could just mash up before meal time so she didn't have to eat the smelly processed foods.
Val just wanted to throw in there. You have to be careful with the peaches. If you cook them too long you will end up with peach froth instead of smooth peaches. It can cause painful gas. Find the right time of cooking can be a pain based upon your microwave or stove. I found all this out the hard way 🙂
What a wealth of knowledge you are! Thanks for sharing. 😉
Need some guidance…doesn't have much to do with todays post, but would love your help!My little guy is 14wks and this is our schedule6:30-7eatnap10nap1:30nap5sometimes short nap8bed by 8:40 or so10:30 dreamfeedtrying to decide what to do for dropping the dreamfeed. I seem to be waking him up for most of his feedings and he doesn't wake up for the dreamfeed, and only eats on one side. I used to feed him at 11 and moved it up to 10:30. what are your thoughts on dropping the dreamfeed? Do I change my schedule at all? or stay with hit and just gradually move the dreamfeed back. Is the STTN based on last evening feeding or the dreamfeed? If i gradually move him back do I do it in 15 or 30 min increments? or just stop doing it? BW is wonderful! He's the best baby and slept through the night faster than my first(BWB also)! Thanks!
Good luck with the remodeling, packing, and moving! When we moved a few months ago, I used colored 3×5 cards to label our boxes–a different color for each room and put them on the top of each box. We had about 10 people helping us unload the truck, but only 3 boxes ended up in the wrong rooms! It was great! (I stole the idea from Uhaul–they sell colored tape you can use). You sound pretty organized, so I'm sure things will go smoothly!
good job on making the baby food! our little girl is nearly 8 months old and i love making all of her food. the cookbook i use is by anabel karmel and it's wonderful! we moved from nashville to new jersey when adelaide was 3 months old and it was a pretty smooth transition, probably because she was so young. hope everything works out well for you guys!
I know Pittmans. I don't know what they do to bananas! If there is just one home-made food you feed to babies, that should be it.
Val! Oh my heck! Can you tell by looking at them? I just steamed them for 6 minutes. What do you think?
You are welcome Heidi. I like information. I like to know as much as I can…lol
Eltza, see the blog label "dreamfeed" for information on dropping the dreamfeed.
Jennifer, taht is a good idea. I have labeled each box as to what room it goes in and I was going to post a map on the door. Color coded might be easier than words 🙂 Strange, but true.
Rachel, Thanks! I think that 5 months might be easier than 3 months. I just hope she will be okay in her new room. She really seems to like her room right now.
Happy 5 Months! My W is 5 months today! I started giving him rice cereal about 2 weeks ago. I have added some pear juice to it a couple of times and the other day I added some mashed up bananas. He seems to like that much more than just plain rice cereal. I am currenly just giving it to him every afternoon after his 4:00 feeding. At what point should I begin feeding him 2 and 3 times a day and begin adding in other solids? We are still on a 3 hour schedule and he is sleeping through the night most nights(6-6:30).
20 cents a pound for bananas is AMAZING! A GOOD deal for us is at Sams– 3 pounds for $1.48– ha!
I love your blog! Thanks for being out there for so many of us! My 6.5 month old has started solids, she eats rice cereal at Bfkst, lunch and dinner (between 1-3 T). We have introduced sweet potatoes this week and will continue with other veggies and then fruits. Is it necessary to continue with the rice cereal at each of those feedings, or just have it at Bfkst and dinner? How often does she need the cereal? Also, is it good to just stick with rice, or change it up a bit with the oatmeal?
Yes, 20 cents per pound is amazing for bananas. I'm in Southern California…and I'm lucky to find them for 69 cents a pound! Still a cheap fruit though!
I too have been making baby food for my 6 month old. I'm a working mother and have found that it is really NOT time consuming and is really easy. I've done butternut squash, sweet potatoes, pears, apples, asparagus and banannas. The only food I've bought is prunes which she loves. A friend gave me "Cooking for Baby" by Lisa Barnes which I've enjoyed, but again, overall it has been really easy and she likes the food!
hi Val, I love your weekly summary 🙂 i'm expecting #2 and this gives me a good idea of what to expect and how to implement babywise. I'm a bit late to implement babywise with #1.nonetheless, 1 qn about putting baby down for naps. you would just swaddle/put baby down in the crib for naps and walk out of the room? or would you pat pat, sing, talk sit ard and wait until she dozes off? thanks! 🙂
My daughter just turned 2 and I made all her baby food, except 2 jars which I got at a shower. She didn't like either of them. At first I was a bit intimidated to make her food and I was unsure how much time it would take. After I found http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com, making her food was simple. Squash is really easy too!
Hi! Your blog is so helpful to me…thank you! I have a few questions regarding swaddling. We have been swaddling my almost-6-month-old son since birth. He has generally been a good napper up until a few weeks ago. He has learned to roll onto his tummy while swaddled, at which point he usually cries until I go in and flip him onto his back again. I have been trying for the past week to wean him from the swaddle during naps (just wrapping his torso and leaving his arms free), and he basically has not napped for a week now. He simply will not sleep unless he is swaddled. He will cry for the entire naptime! Any advice? Since he is so tired, he has been incredibly fussy! 🙁
Hi! On a related note, I've made all of my 9 month old's food from the beginning, and it has been a really great experience! I chose to use only the purest organic find I could find locally, and from my calculations, I've still spent only half of what I would be buying jars. We spend one day each month roasting, baking, boiling, pureeing, mashing, and freezing. We have a great time! He especially enjoys sitting in his high chair sampling things as I prepare them! On an unrelated note, this lovely little 9 month old has started waking super early in the morning, and I cannot figure out why! He slept from 7pm-7am for several months, only waking occasionally if there was a tooth popping through, etc. About 3 weeks ago he started waking closer to 6am. And now he's waking around 5:30, which I can't live with! Plus, he's a baby who does not do well staying awake long enough to make it to his usual nap time. This morning he woke at 5:30 and was ready for a nap at 7:30am. That tells me that he definitely wasn't ready to get up for the day. But even if we feed him at 5:30, he absolutely will not go back down. He has never done well with CIO, as he always escalates to an out of control, inconsolable cry. We've tried putting him down earlier and later in the evening, and that doesn't seem to effect his morning wake time. He takes 2 naps, which each last about an hour and fifteen minutes. Do you have any insight? Do you think he could be hungry? Could he be sleeping too many hours in a 24 hour period? Any insight you have would be greatly appreciated!Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge and encouragement!
I'm so appreciative of your blog – I don't have much time to read books with parenting three babies under 7 months old – so your posts and references are GREAT!We have no choice but to follow/enforce a schedule with three babies, and we're using BW. We're having better success with two (5 and 7 months old) of our babies – the other (also 7 months old) one is having way more difficulties with naps and sleeping through the night (as in, she isn't).Our youngest is one week older than your youngest, so I'm trying to sort of follow your schedule. Does she create the schedule and you take note of it, or do you create the schedule and help her to follow it? Also, I didn't see a time for your dreamfeed – are you still doing it? Thanks!
I cannot believe McKenna is 5 months already!!! Have fun making the baby food! I have done prunes, carrots, and bananas so far. It is so easy and convenient!As far as apples, my sister tried to make her own, and said it was way time consuming. Better off just buying "adult" applesauce in the jar. Make sure it is "natural" with no added sugar. I buy Mott's Natural applesauce – my DD loves it. Really, all they put into the applesauce is apples and water, so it comes out the same as if you made it at home. Good luck!
Redheads -if you still wanted to try making homemade applesauce, i found it quite simple. here is the method i used:peel and chop 2 apples. place in a heavy-bottomed pot and simmer on low for about 8 minutes with 2 TBSP water. puree until smooth.i think the biggest advantage is the cost savings. but like you said, the Mott's variety is very good as well! enjoy 🙂
We used colored construction paper and a giant black marker to color code & mark each box (all 4 sides for quick view in case they are stacked) for each room and contacted local grocery stores in the area to get large/small boxes to pack with and wrapped fragile items in the previous seasons clothes (summer/winter). We used disposable dishware and packed suitcases of the very basics so we could access those things right before and after the move. It worked well, but like many friends advised, we had friends and family help with the move and many things got ruined in the process. Unfortunately, unless people are paid to do it and are held accountable if they break something, your items won't be treated with extra special care. Of course people mean well, but I'd recommend hiring movers (we moved just 2 blocks down the street and regret not hiring movers) For those items that are precious to you, make a plan to have either yourself or your husband be present during that item being moved. Also post a large neon construction paper sign stating "DO NOT TOUCH" so everyone knows to leave it alone until you are able to be there when it moves (ex. couch, stove etc.)Sorry for the long novel! -Nikki
Just another thought… A friend of mine did this: you could pack a "favorites" backpack for each child so they can access those toys, blankies, books etc. that they can't be without for one day. If they hate change, it will comfort them when everything else has changed around them. Her little one had a meltdown during one move, when he couldn't find his woobie! -Nikki
hi Jenna,my schedule is about the same as yours. i put my girl down at ~7-7.30pm every night. between the hour of 4.30-5.30am, she would wake up 80% of the time. if she's making a lot of noise, i would go and give her some water/milk, but she really isn't hungry. then i would just leave the room and let her cry/talk herself back to sleep. then i would get her at 7am.sometimes i would switch off the baby monitor at 4.30am and try to get some sleep. it's just her bad habit.her next nap is at 9.30am.dunno if this helps. 🙂
Anna, see the blog label "solids" for lots of info on introducing solids. There is no one right way to do things. It is wise to take things slowly. At this point, you can definitely start adding other foods. Wait at least 4 days between each new food, and the first time you give a new food, give only 1-2 T in case there is an adverse reaction.
Linds, .20 was amazing! I got my three months supply 🙂 I think they do it every year. Next year I will dry a whole bunch of bunches 🙂
Sarah,The necessity of cereal depends on how you are feeding her (breast or bottle) and who you talk to. Cereal is beneficial for iron stores. If your baby is formula fed with iron fortified formula, she doesn't need cereal.If she is breastfed, then after 6 months of age, most will say she needs supplemental iron, which is found in cereal. You can also get it through drops if you talk to your doctor.There are those out there who say breastfed babies don't need supplemental iron. My belief is they do, but you can decide for yourself.Cereal definitely isn't necesary for all three meals. I give it at breakfast and dinner. You could do once a day, too, if you wanted. And rice definitely is not necssary. I don't really feed rice once other cereals have been introduced. When you do introduce other cereals, be sure to use the same practice as introducing other foods. Also, start with the single grain cereals first.
Jennifer, that surprises me. I would have thought CA would have cheap bananas? I guess I figured the closer you were to the banana growers, the cheaper they should be 🙂
LKD, I agree; it is a lot easier and less time consuming than I thought it would be. If you make a couple months worth of each food at a time, it isn't too bad!
Grace, there are a lot of ways to do it. With my older two, I just swaddled and/or put in bed, sang a lullaby, and left. With McKenna, I did the 4 S's outlined by Hogg in The baby Whisperer Solves All Your problems. I highly recommend it. It was great.
Laurie, I would try just one arm out at a time first. That seems to be easier for babies to do when they first stop being swaddled. I would really work on it, though, because it isn't really safe to be swaddled and on the tummy.
jenna.daniel,I would check out the 5-8 month sleep disruptions post first to see if any of those apply.
Kelly, that is a good site. I tend to be a book person so I prefer having a book (super baby food) by my side as I am making stuff, but for those who prefer computer stuff, that is a great and free site 🙂
Richele, I am still doing a dreamfeed.It is hard to say…I have decided on a schedule and she actually follows it. I wake her up from most naps (currently all naps), so that makes things easy. See the post "getting a consistent scehdule" for ideas on getting things consistent for you.
Thanks Amy (Redheads)! I might try applesauce. My friend has a whole bunch of apples for free and she was going to show me how…if we get to it and apples are still good once we move. Were prunes hard?
Thanks for your tips, Nikki! I like the backpack idea. And the color coding. I like organization.
Hey Valerie!The prunes are easy. We buy the Sunsweet in the bag. You have to add LOTS of water as they have a very sticky texture otherwise. We used a blender. I also made summer squash and zucchini (steamed them, pureed in the processor, and froze). After 7 months of age you can leave the skin on, which I did. Very easy!! I wish I had access to a garden like you do. We live in Florida, so we are limited to what we can grow here due to the extreme heat.Amy
I bought prunes and I am going to make them tomorrow or the next day. The container of prunes was only two dollars, so I think it will be a lot less expensive! Thanks!
Hi Valerie,I feel like I'm muddling through the 5month old schedule, but it seems similar to yours I guess. But according the book, my 5 month old is getting too much sleep. Here's our schedule:7AM Wake8:00/8:15 nap11 Eat12:15 nap2:30 Eat3:45 Nap6:00ish Eat (we're lucky to make it till 6)7/7:30 bedOur wake time has actually decreased–about two weeks ago she successfully stayed awake for 1 hr. 15-1 hr. 30 and now we're back to 1 hour tops. Then by bedtime, she's overtired and we've had to start CIO again, even though we did that a long time ago and she was getting great at putting down with no crying. I feel like we're regressing and I don't know why. Is there something obvious to you that I don't see? I'm just sad b/c I got a taste of that glorious longer waketime, paired with great naps and it's totally gone. Poof.(There are days, I wished you had your own "Nanny 911' type show and visited families to help solve sleep problems. I'd totally sign up for that!)