Schedule and routine for a 11-12 week old newborn baby. Get info on this baby’s daily schedule and what her routine was each day.
This is a summary for McKenna age 11-12 weeks, or the twelfth week. This week was kind of difficult. Let’s get right to it.
Post Contents
- NURSING
- WAKETIME
- CRY IT OUT
- SWING
- NIGHTTIME
- SWADDLE
- HAND SUCKING
- OUTINGS/EVENTS
- OUR SCHEDULE
- HELPFUL BOOKS/WEBSITES
- RELATED POSTS
- McKenna Newborn Summary Posts
- McKenna Newborn Summary: Week One
- McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Two
- McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Three
- McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Four
- McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Five
- McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Six
- McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Seven
- McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Eight
- McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Nine
- McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Ten
- McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Eleven
- McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Thirteen
NURSING
McKenna is getting faster and faster at nursing. This is very typical as a baby reaches 3 months old. Both Brayden and Kaitlyn got a lot faster at three months–cutting their previous nursing time in half.
My yeast infection came back and came back with a vengeance (my friend who is a lactation consultant says this is typical). There is still no sign of it in McKenna. I called her pediatrician’s office and spoke to the nurse who is always rude on the phone (though she really is nice in person) and she told me the only treat the baby if baby has it. However, everything I have read says you treat both mom and baby if one has it. My lactation consultant friend says the same. AND I remember my pediatrician saying that with Kaitlyn. So McKenna now has Nystatin oral suspension drops and I am on a two week Diflucan (fluconazole) plan. Things are looking better.
WAKETIME
Waketime length stayed the same–about 50 minutes. However, I still found it elusive this week. I got the first two waketimes down with no problem. By the time her third nap rolls around I am confused and unsure…just as I was last week (I have since figured it out, but that was during week 13, not 12). I continued experimenting.
How do I know the waketime is wrong? Well, mostly due to the video monitor. I can watch her and I see that she takes a long time to fall asleep. This is a curse of the video monitor. If I didn’t have it then I would think all was well and she was sleeping. But, it is also a blessing because I can fix things. However, this week she also started crying before the nap.
CRY IT OUT
Ugh! What? Crying! We had this down. Things were so peaceful for her entire life (save that witching hour at the end of the day when she cries only if left alone in her crib). I was frustrated. By the time Kaitlyn was this age, she was totally done crying. Why is McKenna starting now? A hard thing is that I really don’t know McKenna’s cries well since I rarely hear her cry. So when she started crying before her afternoon nap, I didn’t know what was wrong. I responded and I interfered, which I think was the right thing to do under the circumstances. She didn’t do it every day, and I meticulously kept logs (of course) and review the meticulous logs from her lifetime to see if I could see the common thread.
No luck. I could not see any reason to it. I hypothesized it might be the heat because that is the point in the day it starts to warm up in her room. As the days passed, she started crying before other naps. Finally one day she cried before her first nap. At that point, I realized I had created a bad habit.
It was hard for me since she had never cried. I figured something was wrong with her, which I honestly think is a wise assumption. I quickly saw, however, that there wasn’t anything wrong and she was just starting to protest the end of social hour. It was time to CIO. She must have sensed my resolve because she stopped crying that day.
Read all of my sleep training posts here.
SWING
This is where my downfall came, I think. McKenna has never liked the swing. We purchased a new swing before she was born and still had the swing Brayden and Kaitlyn had as babies. I decided to pull out that swing. She loved it! During her witching hour, she would sleep in it which is much better than being fussy in the other swing. It is often at the time of day Brayden and Kaitlyn go to bed, so it isn’t really practical for me to just hold her the whole time.
When she started having a hard time going to sleep, I would move her to her swing since she liked it. She has always gone down so well and I worried she would get overly tired. Then I started creating a bad habit.
I love the swing. I think it is great to have it as a back-up. Since McKenna senses my departure, it gives me more freedom when I cross our property line :). But I started to mis-use it. More on that next week 🙂
NIGHTTIME
The days were warmer for the most part and she started STTN again. One day it was quite cold. That night she woke at 3:30 AM. The other nights she slept through the night. Now, when I say STTN, I mean she is sleeping 7-8 hours. This puts her waking earlier than our ultimate waketime. So it is technically still a night feeding.
SWADDLE
The first day of this week I decided to try McKenna’s arm out of the swaddle. I did it for her first nap of the day. I debated when to do it. Her first nap is consistently good and I view the first nap of the day to be very important. If you mess up the first nap, you tend to mess up the whole day (especially with the younger babies). However, since her first nap is always good, I decided to go for that one.
As soon as I left the room, she was crying. This was before the crying started later in the week. So I immediately went back in and swaddled her arm in and she went to sleep just fine. She isn’t ready yet.
Read: Dropping the Swaddle
HAND SUCKING
McKenna is trying to suck her hand. She sometimes works her arm up from the swaddle (though not out of it) and sucks on her hand. Sometimes during playtime, she gets her hand there. So far it only serves to make her really mad. She can’t get it how she likes it I guess 🙂
OUTINGS/EVENTS
We of course still have a lot of disruptions. This is the reason I planned for a baby at the time of year that I did. Then she could be nice and established before the disruptions started, right? Well, she was 🙂 She doesn’t seem to be terribly thrown off by the disruptions. Like I said last week, I work to get her to sleep when she should and I keep feedings on time. I also always have a morning nap and I try to keep the disruptions to the evening as much as possible.
OUR SCHEDULE
It is the same:
7:30 AM–eat
8:30 AM–nap
10 or 10:30 AM–eat (I always get her by 10:30)
10:50 or 11:20 AM–nap
1 or 1:30 PM–eat (I always get her by 1:30)
1:50 or 2:20 PM–nap
4:00 PM–eat
4:50 PM–nap6:00 PM–eat
6:45 PM–put in swing (due to witching hour)–sometimes she sleeps, sometimes not
8:00 PM–eat (essentially a dreamfeed–no waketime)
8:30 PM–in bed
10:00 PM–Dreamfeed
HELPFUL BOOKS/WEBSITES
- The Wonder Weeks. Eight predictable, age-linked leaps in your baby’s mental development characterized by the three C’s (Crying, Cranky, Clingy), a change … and the development of new skills (and a link to their site: http://livingcontrolsystems.com/)
- On Becoming Baby Wise
- The Nursing Mother’s Companion: Revised Edition
- 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
- Super Baby Food
- What to Expect the First Year
- http://kellymom.com/
RELATED POSTS
McKenna Newborn Summary Posts
McKenna Newborn Summary: Week One
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McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Two
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McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Three
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McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Four
Babywise 4 week old schedule. Babywise one moth schedule for the one month old newborn baby. Babywise tips for newborns from a Babywise mom of 4.
McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Five
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McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Six
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McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Seven
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McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Eight
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McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Nine
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McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Ten
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McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Eleven
Schedule and routine for a 10-11 week old newborn baby. Get info on this baby’s daily schedule and what her routine was each day.
McKenna Newborn Summary: Week Thirteen
Schedule and routine for a 12-13 week old newborn baby. Get info on this baby’s daily schedule and what her routine was each day.
I love these newborn summaries! It's good to see that even you can make the mistake of getting into a bad habit 🙂 However, I love how you recognized it and changed too. I always found that the third nap was the hardest to time and that we got a lot of fussiness as a result. Now I can't wait to hear about next week…Oh and you mention two different swings and how she likes one better than the other…what's the difference? We'll be swing shopping soon. We didn't have one with baby #1, but will get one for baby #2.
I have been hesitant to say this, but my husband and I purchased a small space heater from Wal-Mart. It doesn't have exposed coils like most space heaters – it's kind of like a hair dryer. The best part is that it has a numerical thermostat. We set it for 70 degrees and if we have a chilly night it will kick on and if not, it won't. I didn't sleep well for the first several nights we used it b/c I was worried about a fire/etc., but it has been great and the thermostat is right on target (we have an indoor thermometer we put in her room). It has been wonderful since we're in Colorado and will get a chilly night here or there even after warmer temps have set in. Just a suggestion for those ppl who have chilly nights and warm days like we do – it was great to have b/c baby slept well even on those unanticipated cold nights. I'm hoping no one skewers me for using a space heater… 🙂
CO mom, we have a space heater too and it does the same thing – only kicks on when it starts to get too cold. I don't think they are that bad as long as they have the tip over feature – where it turns off if it tips over. I know for a fact it helped our son sleep through the night on some of the cold winter nights because the two times we didn't turn it on, he was up in the middle of the night crying because he was cold!
I absolutely love reading your weekly summaries! My daughter, Hannah, was born the same week as McKenna and it's nice to hear what other families are doing who are in the same boat as ours. Hannah is our first child, and we have turned to your blog for tips from day one. So I greatly appreciate your willingness to do life publicly. Thanks for helping us make sense of this new territory. 🙂 You're making a difference in the lives of so many families.
I love reading the schedules you post… thanks for investing in the lives of many, many babies and their families! I'm wondering if I could have your take on my babies schedule (8 weeks old). Currently I feed every 3 hrs. After his 7:30PM feed I try to get him to sleep until I wake him around 10-11PM for dreamfeed. Yesterday he was on a different schedule so his early evening feed was at 6PM. He refused to go to sleep so he was up until 9PM when I fed him again and he went to sleep until 4:30AM. Typically he wakes up around 2:30AM to eat so I was thrilled! However, I don't know if the way things were (eatting at 6 and 9) is the way we should do things every night. What would you do? I'd like him in bed sooner and wake him later for the dreamfeed but maybe it's good that he gets wore out and then after he eats at 9 he's really ready to sleep. Thanks for your thoughts.
First of all…thanks for all these posts. I wish I would have had this for my first born, who is a B/W baby by the way. However, he was much easier than my second son who is only 10 weeks old. I need advice on the night-time feeding. My first born dropped the feeding on his own at 9 weeks. It doesn't look like my second is going to do that. His schedule is 5 oz formula every 3 hours during day until 7:00 pm, bed at 8; dreamfeed at 10:30 and he's waking at 3:30 am for another feeding. I've been feeding him less at that feeding hoping that he would automatically drop it on his own, but he hasn't. I'm thinking of starting CIO next week. B/W says that it will take about 3 days and each night about 5-45 minutes. Should I intervene while doing the CIO (i.e. should I go in every 5 or 10 minutes to pat him until he falls back to sleep) or should I just let him cry for 45 minutes straight? I'm not sure what to do at this point. I'm also afraid that his sleep position is a factor in his waking. I was forced to place him on his stomach in the earlier months during naps and I put him on his back after he's already asleep for the 10:30 and middle of night feeding. I wonder if that change in position will hinder my efforts. Any ideas?
Thank you so much for writing all of this. Everything is so helpful. I have a question… my little girl is 15 weeks old and up until about 1 week ago was napping beautifully. Well, that all has changed. Her first nap is excellent, but then she doesn't nap so great the rest of the day. She is able to stay up for about an hour and a half. My question, how long should her naps be at this point?? I always have to wake her up from her first nap (I let her sleep for 2 hours), but recently her other naps only last about an hour or even 30 minutes. I'm just bewildered… I've done CIO, but nothing is working. Any advice? Tips? Reasons?? Thank you!
OH- I thought of a few more things that might be beneficial to know. She is sleeping through the night. She has been eating between 8:00 and 8:30 and then I wake her up at 7:00. When she cries during her 2nd nap (and 3rd, and so on), I'll CIO for 15 or so minutes (she is usually SCREAMING at that point). If I put her in her swing or hold her, she goes straight back to sleep… this is great and all, but I don't want her to continue to rely on me or the swing. I just feel like I am creating such a bad habit… thank you for your help 😉
Valerie- thank you so much for these Newborn Summaries! My son was born the same week as McKenna so I love to see where you guys are with everything. Quick question about McKenna STTN- are you counting the hours from 8:30pm until when she eats in the middle of the night or are you counting the 7-8 hours from the 10:00pm DF? My little guy is going to bed b/w 7:00-7:30pm, DF at 10:00pm and then not eating again until anywhere b/w 4:00-7:00am (7:00am is wake time). Is he STTN? Sometimes he wakes up around 2/3/4 am and I put his pacifier in and he will go back to sleep w/o eating. I guess until he stops doing that, he is not STTN?
Hi there… I am so excited about your website. I wish I would have had support like this for my DS-5. He was a BW baby and very easy. One night of CIO and he was trained. Now I have a DD born 1week after Mckenna. We are not yet STTN. We pretty much do the schedule that you showed. But, we eat at 7 pm, and 10 pm DF, then again around 2:30-3am. Lately, she has been awake for the night feeding. This is new b/c those were df. Also, she has been waking early from her naps. I really don't know what is going on…I am thinking of trying the evening schedule the way that you do it. Finally, you mentioned Mekenna sucking her hands… My dd is doing that too. I had been putting mitts on her b/c I didn't want her hands to get too cold. She suck throuh th mitts. I Took off the mitts and her hands are cold and she is sucking her hands. Any suggestions?—thanks, D
I am so grateful for your blog and have scoured the pages and posts over the past months as we've implemented BW with our first. I have a Nap/Sleeping question regarding our almost 8 month old little girl. We've done BW from the beginning with her and have pretty much found her to be by the book. I've also found the Baby Whisperer to be very helpful. We've had nap issues from pretty early on, though (probably 3-4 months of age). Maddy is extremely inconsistent with her naps – sometimes taking a two hour nap and other times a 45 minute nap. At 7 1/2 months, we are currently down to two naps a day with an optional late afternoon catnap if needed (which it still often is). As I understand it, she should be sleeping 1.5-2 hours for each nap in order to be well rested and get good nighttime sleep. She sleeps very well overnight for the most part – a solid 12 hour night with a dreamfeed at 10p. We have noticed, however, that about once a week she seems to have a bad night's sleep – fitful, waking up, crying out, etc. I usually attribute it to teething, but she's yet to pop a tooth so I can't know for sure. Anyways, her daytime schedule – or at least our attempted schedule – goes something like this: wake 7a, nurse 7:30a, solids 8a, independent play, together play, nap 9a; wake 11a, nurse 11:30a, solids 12p, play/outings, etc., nap 1p, wake 3p, nurse 3:30p, solids 4:30/5p, bath 6:15p, nurse 7:00p, bed. The trouble is she is consistently napping only 45 minutes-1 hour. This throws off the whole routine and necessitates a catnap – often her longest nap of the day (because she's so tired at this point!). I have tried watching her waketime amounts and have put her down both early and late with no consistent observable difference. I have debated simply accepting her short naps (especially since she's generally a good nighttime sleeper), but she almost always wakes up cranky from her short naps and I know that's a sign that she's still tired. It breaks my heart to see dark circles around her eyes all the time and she's simply not herself on these short naps. I would give anything to know the reason and/or to find a way to help her get longer naps! Any suggestions or insight?!?
oh no, now I can't wait for week 13! I think I might have begun abusing the swing. How often is too often? My 17 week old son hadn't been waking an hour into almost every nap except the morning one. So today I decided not to use the swing at all & his 2nd nap (he's on right now) is going well. Only 8 mins til his regular waketime & he's still in his crib, wahoo!
Jennifer, The swing she likes is the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium Swing. The one she doesn't like is the Fisher Price Rainforest Swing. When I was preggo with her, we bought the rainforest one because it plugs in. We went through a lot of batteries with Kaitlyn, who often slept in the swing because of her reflux. The difference is that the ocean wonders swing is more snug. It hugs the baby on the sides more. The rainforest one is a bit more flat and doesn't offer much support to the baby on the sides. See, this is tricky. It is hard to know what your LO will like. I remember back when we bought the Ocean Wonders swing (when Brayden was born), it was very popular and raved about. All three of my kids liked it, so I think it was just a good swing. Perhaps you can go to Amazon or something and read reviews to see what is good that is available now? I don't know if Ocean Wonders is still sold.
Thanks!
CO Mom, I am basically in the same climate as you 🙂 All three of our kids have space heaters–from Walmart (or smiths marketplace, but same brand). That helps McKenna, but it doesn't totally warm the room. Her room is kind of big. I am hoping by the time winter comes around, she will have more fat on her body and she will be better at regulating body temperature by then also.
Randi, Thanks! I am glad it helps out! Sometimes I wonder about these newborn summaries. I think it will be fun for McKenna someday to be able to read so many details about her life. 🙂
Lana, first, that is the age McKenna started getting fussy in the evening also. Was he born early? Most babies are done being fussy by that age :)It might have been a fluke. If you like feeding at 9, then you can try it and see if the trend continues. If you don't, then I would try to go back to the original schedule if he will.When McKenna was that age and fussy, I did a similar thing. We cluster fed. We fed at 6-8-and 10. We had previously been feeding every three hours. Well, she slept longer at night. We did that up until a few nights ago. You are supposed to stop cluster feeding at 8 weeks, but it helped. It was starting to interfere at this age, though.
csammonds, First, I usually like to wait until 12 weeks old before considering CIO at night. BW says some babies just take until then. So that way you can avoid CIO if possible. If you want to go ahead with CIO, the method of not going in is supposed to be the most effective and get results the fastest. I kind of think if you go in initially and tell them to go to sleep, you might get results faster. Then they know you have heard them. That is my theory with no hard evidence to back it up :)Has he ever done CIO on his back? If not, that might be of concern. He doesn't know how to sooth while on his back. Also, BW says it can take as few as a few days and as long as several weeks, so prepare yourself for that possibility.For me, I avoid CIO at night with older children. The reason is just that I don't sleep while baby is CIO, then you don't really have a chance to nap the next day when you have other children to take care of. Then you just get cranky 🙂 But if you can do it, go for it!
Shealy, I would wonder about a growth spurt. I always like to treat these things as a feeding problem first to see if that fixes it.If not that, then it would be a transition issue. Has her waketime length recently gotten longer? If so, bring it back. Check out the naps troubleshooting posts for many ideas as to reasons for waking early.
thank you so much! i actually looked at that post last night and tried a few things today (shortening her waketime) and she is almost back to her old self with napping. i still had to wake her up from her 1st nap, but the other ones are getting back to normal. thanks for your advice!!!
hello,my daughter is about 11 weeks old and she is not STTN. her bedtime is 7pm and her dreamfeed is between1030pm and 11pm. her morning wake time is between 7am and 730am, depending on what time she wakes up for her middle of the night feed.she will wake up for her middle of the night feed anytime between 3am to 6am, and i follow the suggestions posted in the 'early morning feeding before waketime' (i feed her and put her back down right away). she has been doing this for about 3 weeks. there was a stretch of a few days where she woke up consistently between 5am and 6am, but that stopped for some reason. regardless of when her middle of the night feed is, she is always sleepy for her breakfast and sometimes will have a full meal, sometimes not.should i wait until she drops the middle of the night feed on her own? or should i be proactive and wean her off/cio? when do most babies stop the middle of the night feeding? thanks!
Hi, Val!! I'm avidly reading your newborn posts in anticipation of this new LO. Your waketime posts are always interesting to me. You've always been so good at evaluating and adjusting waketimes to be optimum. What are you using to make your decision? Sleep cues, crying, or video monitor?
Thanks for all the advice. My son is 16 weeks and is not sleeping well for naps. If he wakes up early and isn't due to eat for another 45 minutes, does this count as wake time? If is does, isn't going to mess up the schedule for next time. So now when he wakes up at 12:00 but isn't due to eat until 12:45, do I keep him up after feeding him for another hour? This is the problem that I am having. Another thing is nightime. My son is going down at 8:30, then waking up around 1 and 4. He will not take a dreamfeed. He is 16 weeks. I would like to have him CIO at 4:00, but like you I have a 4 and 3 year old also. I don't want them to wake up. Even at the 4 feeding I am only feeding him for 2-3 minutes. I tried to not feed him, but that didn't work. Just wondering if you have any sugguestions.I am also using the swing for the afternoon nap, I know this is not a great idea, but that is the only way he will sleep for 2 hours. I use it also because the 3 and 4 year old are sleeping at this time, so this is the only time I get alone time. Do you really think this will be a huge problem? Or is my sanity more important at this time? 🙂 Love the cite, my husband says I am addicted. – Joy
Thanks for your advice, but I have good news! My little one slept through the night on his own. I didn't have to CIO. The day after I posted my comment, he slept through and the next night as well. But of course, this creates another problem, he's waking at 5:30 am; he usually wakes at 6:30-7:00 which is a perfect time for me to start the day. Do you think it's ok to hold him off with a pacifier? I definately don't want to start my day at 5:30 in the morning and I don't really want to make his bedtime later, which is currently 8:00 pm with his last feeding at 7:00 and then the dreamfeed at 10:30.
I am so glad I found you! I have a 12 week old as of Tuesday and I can't wait to read your past posts. My first born was sleeping through the night using the babywise method at 8 wks. My new daughter on the otherhand has not gotten there yet. She has a body clock set at 4am. . .what should I do? We tried to let her cio a couple of nights ago to no avail we gave in after 10 min. My DH went in to change her diaper and re-swaddle her. He held her for half an hour and the crying never even simmered down. I went in to feed her. The crying was breaking my heart. Any advice?
Rachel, I count sleeping straight hours as sleeping without waking and needing me at all. So her STTN is from DF until 7-8 hours from that point, even though she has been asleep since 7 PM. She is sleeping from 7-7 or 8 AM, but has a DF and if she sleeps until 8, she had a small feeding in the 5 AM hour.
Doniell, I think it is possible that this was a growth spurt. It was an age for it. Is she still waking early?
mamunaco, it looks like there is a possibility her waketime length is too longer. I might try going to a 3-3.5 hour cycle and dropping the dreamfeed. Even on Baby Whisperer plan, she is an the age for dropping it.
The Shipe's,"too often" will vary from child to child. You just have to observe and be mindful of the long-term effects of using it.
You are welcome Shealy! Thanks for the feedback. It is always nice to know if things worked or not 🙂 lol
hopeful,BW says some babies take until 12 weeks to STTN (meaning sleep 7-8 hours straight without disruption). I find that there are many who take longer. It sounds like your LO could be a gradual baby. That is how McKenna is. She starts sleeping longer, then goes back, then longer, then back…it keeps going that way.Don't do CIO unless/until she is waking at basically the exact same time every night for at least 5 days in a row. Then you know it is habit. Things should work themselves out over time. Hopefully you have seen improvement by now.
Bethers,I use a lot of factors in figuring waketime. I really don't go by cues. My kids don't show them. I also think a lot of cues are actually "too late" cues rather than "it's time" cues.I monitor crying, but McKenna doesn't really ever cry.With the video monitor, it has added a whole new dimension to my trouble shooting. I do use that, also. I think the biggest hint is nap length. I will do a post on these factors so I can ramble on 🙂
Clarification on your answer regarding our 8 month old with nap/sleep issues…Just to clarify… If I tried moving to a 3-3.5 hour cycle that would mean going back to 3 naps a day right? And I would nurse 5 times during the day? I am in favor of dropping the dreamfeed, but I do not think my milk supply could survive on less than 5 nursings a day.Just over the last week I've been cutting her awake time back (never more than 2 hours and often closer to 1.5). It seems to have made a difference in her nap lengths (thankfully!). If I did try to nurse her 5 times a day, I'm guessing at least one would have to be right before a nap. Our solids schedule is currently breakfast 8:30a, lunch 12:30p, dinner 4:30/5:00p. So would I keep the solids meals the same and just add an extra nursing?Thanks so much – you were right on with your advice. I would love any wisdom on how to tweak the current schedule to drop the dreamfeed and incorporate an extra nursing during the day.
daileyrj,If he wakes early, it does need to count toward waketime. You might be able to not count it minute for minute, but you definitely can't count the time from him being up from bed or he will get overly tired. When he wakes early, you can try to help him go back to sleep. If he won't, I would do a 2.5 hour interval that time. He might get addicted to the swing at that time. By now I would try putting him in his bed and see how he does. You could always move him to the swing if he woke up early, but you would be moving toward bed sleeping. Sleeping in a swing isn't as restorative as sleeping in a bed. I am glad you like the site 🙂
csammonds, you can definitely try holding off with the pacifier. This is a method suggested by the baby whisperer. You could also feed a little bit (from one side or few ounces) then put back to bed and start around 7:30 until he can last longer through the night.
Holly,It sounds like she was really hungry since she couldn't be soothed. In that case, it is appropriate to feed her. You can try to get more feedings or amount per feeding in through the day. See also the blog label "STTN" for ideas.
mamunaco,You can work 5 feedings into your day for sure. If baby doesn't need 5 feedings, you can always pump for a 5th and that is fine.What is your nursing schedule right now?
Our schedule is as follows:7:30a Nurse8:15a Solids9:00a-9:15a Nap11:15-11:30a Nurse12:00 Solids1:00p Nap3:30p Nurse4:30-5:00p Solids7:15p Nurse7:30p Bed10:00p DreamfeedIt's not often that a day goes exactly like that though with these crazy naps. I was recently talking to a BW friend and she suggested that perhaps Maddy is waking up early from naps because she is hungry. She suggested nursing her each time. I've been offering her nursings much more often the last two days and she has been taking them. Mostly full feedings. So I'm guessing that she needs more food than what she's been getting. Also, I'm trying to re-evaluate her solids and she if she needs an increase there as well. The trouble is, she never seems overly hungry at any one time. Maybe her stomach is just tiny?It's so hard because I obviously want to feed her all of the food that she needs and I think I've been focusing too much on the 'sleep' portion of the BW routine. Should I be concerned about snacking with her adding these extra feedings?Any advice about schedule, food, etc. is so appreciated! Thanks!
Thanks for the info. I've got the sleeping through the night thing down pat, he's now sleeping later than he was when I was giving him a middle of the night bottle. I have a new problem though. He's not napping well, especially in the afternoons. He doesn't appear tired for the last nap but I put him down at normal time and he does fall asleep but wakes early. I try to get him back to sleep with a pacifier or CIO (he doesn't sleep in the swing) but sometimes I just have to pick him up because he will not go back to sleep (usually about 1/2 hour before feeding.) Do you think that going to a 4-hour routine will help because I'll be eliminating the 4th nap this way? Maybe I can try feeding him more (6oz) every four hours? My concern is that if I move him to a 4 hour routine, does that mean he'll be napping longer? His waketime is only about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. I'm not sure I can keep him up longer and if I don't, that means that he'll have to nap for 3 hours to make it to his next feeding. When I move to the 4 hour routine, is he still supposed to nap through to the next feeding or do his naptimes remain the same. I'm confused by this and absolutely cannot remember what I did with my older son; he was a sleepyhead though so I'm sure it didn't take much thought. Please help! Thanks!
mamunaco, Is there a reason you are doing solids so long after nursing? Does she take that long to nurse? I would do solids immediately after nursing.
So, since the last post I have made some major changes that I should probably tell you about if you are going to give me advice. 🙂 A week and a half ago I decided to switch to formula for the daytime nursings. I also dropped the dreamfeed. I didn't seem to have enough milk for her and it was becoming so stressful that I was not able to be the mom I wanted to be. The transition has gone reasonably well. She's taken to the formula pretty good and doesn't seem to miss the dreamfeed. Her nighttime sleep seems to be unaffected. She is still waking up a couple times a week but goes back to sleep relatively easily. Naps have not improved though. If I can get her waketime exactly right she will take a two hour morning nap and a decent afternoon nap. Otherwise it's 45 minute naps for each and a necessary third nap. It's hard to get the waketime exactly right – especially if we try to go anywhere. The reason I'm waiting so long between liquid feedings and solids I guess is because I read to do that in Baby Whisperer. It seemed that at her age, the suggestion was to treat the liquid feeding as a snack and then give solids separately. Honestly, it confused me. I really don't know what would be best for her food-wise. Any thoughts?
csammonds,Most babies are down to 3 naps a day by 4 months old. As they approach dropping a nap, that nap will often shorten and shorten. See Dropping Naps for more on this. See the post "Dropping Naps: A Quick Reference" for help on this transition.
mamunaco,The Baby Whisperer does suggest that, and it is something I disagree with. I think it is best to eat the whole meal all at once. That is a call for you to make, though.Work on waketimes one at a time. So start with the first waketime. Get that perfect, and then move on to the next one.Try to not go out until after the first nap if at all possible.
I'm so confused and not sure if I'm doing something wrong. My first child was STTN at 6 weeks and was a perfect BW baby!! He was so easy! But I feel like I've forgotten everything with my daughter. Here's our schedule at 12 weeks:8:30a Nurse9:30a-Nap12:00 Nurse1:00p Nap4:00p Nurse5:00 Nap7:30p Nurse8:30 Nap9:30p Nurse11:30 NurseShe sleeps right after the 11:30 feeding. I'm wondering if I need to cut out some or both of her late night feedings. My husband and I are night owls and normally don't even go to bed until 12. So it seems to work for us…but I'm wondering if we are creating bad habits. Basically…i'm just not sure if I have her on the right schedule. Also, she does fine on a 4 hour schedule…but is she too young to be on 4 hours already? HELP!!! 🙂
Alicia, If she is on a 4 hour schedule, then she doesn't need to eat every two hours in the evening/night (this is also known as cluster feeding). If you want to get that many feedings in, I would take it back to a 3 hour schedule in the day:8:3011:302:305:308:00I would do the dreamfeed no later than 11 PM.Also, some babies don't STTN until 12 weeks or later no matter what you do, so don't feel like a failure 🙂