Baby's Natural Schedule Changes...

Interesting.

We have had our baby (8 months old now) on the same schedule for a while - sometimes the naps worked, sometimes they didn't.


This first schedule was based on his natural schedule - BUT I did not change it for months - so he was on the same schedule for many months, I never gave him the chance to let me know that he was bigger now and needed a new schedule.

So basically we had him on almost the same schedule from 3.5 - 8 months!


Because I work full time and am breast feeding, I was reluctant to change the schedule because my work meetings were all set up around his feeds, etc... So changing the schedule meant rearranging my regular weekly business meetings.


But on Friday, for a number of reasons, I let him dictate his schedule. Then we did the same Saturday and Sunday.


We found for those three days he did have a schedule, but it was different from what we had been doing for months!


I also have the goal to increase his solids to 4x per day (to increase food calorie intake), and to drop the mid-morning breast feed (b/c of work)


The main difference, is his naps are at different times than what we were trying, and a much longer morning nap.


Then I added an extra feed at 8:30 am (so when I drop the 11:00 am he will still have 6x feeds per day). We also added an extra solids meal at 8:30 am, so he gets 4 x per day.



This is his new schedule for 8 months old:

6:30 am - Breast Feed

8:00 am - Breast Feed and Breakfast # 1 - fruit, yogurt, cereal

9:30 am - 11:00 nap

11:00 am - breast Feed and Breakfast # 2 (or Lunch #1, depends on what we have!)

1:00 - 3:00 pm nap

3:00 - Breast Feed and Lunch - vegetable and yogurt

5:00 - Breast Feed and Dinner - vegetable and protein and yogurt

7:00 - Breast Feed and Bedtime

10:00 / 11:00 pm - breast feed (he practically sleeps through the whole experience!)


Why this is interesting:


1. Give the choice, he adapted to this immediately - no transition time required!


2. He took to the extra feed and extra morning meal with gusto - makes me wonder what else he would like but can't communicate!


3. Ironically, his natural schedule actually works better for us as a family!


4. Lessons learned - every month or two, have a day to let baby decide what he wants to do and adjust schedule accordingly.


5. The 3pm and 5pm meals are too close together, he eats a lot at 3, but not at 5. So tomorrow I am going to make the 3 a smaller snack, and the 5 his larger dinner.

Thanks Ruth - to be honest, I feel guilty I didn't do this earlier!! But better late than never... now we continue to try to fatten him up :)

CRJ,


You totally have this baby business sorted!


I terms of fatteneing up your babe have you thought about adding a few more carbs to his diet? Perhaps you already do, not sure from your post - I do get the feeling you've done your homework so advice isn't really needed :)

@@

advice always needed - I sooo do not have this baby business sorted. I learn a lot from this forum!


For fattening up, was refering to another thread on less than 10% babies - we are focusing on high calorie foods, but the boy is just so darn active and poos so much that it seems to not 'stick'

(of course, as an adult this feature is great, but as a baby, they need to keep some of the calories to grow!)

Thanks everyone for your great questions and comments. It really has helped me so much along the way as a first time mom. My Lo is now 7.5 months old and has never been able to follow a strict nap schedule no matter how hard I tried. The last couple of weeks she has been changing her nap pattern quite a lot as she can stay up longer between naps. Some days she will take three naps and go to bed later around 9pm and other days she will just take two naps and sleep at 7.30 - 8pm. On the days that she sleeps early, she sometimes wakes in the middle of the night and will not settle back until she has had some milk. Morning naps can start anytime between 8.30am - 10am for 40mins - 1.5 hours and lunchtime naps start anytime from 1 - 2pm for about 1 - 1.5 hrs. Late afternoon naps are now around 6pm for no longer than 30mins if she does sleep.


Luckily I don't have to work, so I have the luxury to work around the baby's schedule until she settles into somewhat of a routine hopefully soon!

Hi Janey


Sounds like your baby is getting a good amount of daytime sleep, and that is the important thing! Best of all, it is working for both you and her - which is wonderful!


So you wake her up at the same time every morning, or just let her wake up naturally? I think, although could be completely wrong, since our baby wakes up at 6.30 every morning, it helps 'organise' his datyime naps, since by 9.30 every day he has been awake 3 hours. But it could just be luck!

ours is 6 months and everytime i think i get his routine sorted out, he surprises me the week after with a totally different pattern!


but at 6 months, i don't sweat it anymore because gone are the endless night wakings - as long as that's gone, i'm pretty flexible except his wake-up and bedtime which is 7am and 7pm.


beyond that, i do have a schedule of sorts for him but i adjust accordingly during the day. e.g. he naps at about 9am, ideally i want to put him down again for another 2 hours at about noon after lunch. but if he doesn't sleep for more than 30-45mins, he'll get tired faster so i have to give lunch earlier and put him down 2 hours from the tim e he was last up. and come weekends when we go out more, we just play by ear....as you have said before crj, routines are meant to help us, not restrict us. i like having order in my life but have learnt that it can't happen perfectly...so as long as things happen within boundaries, i'm ok!


and oh yes crj...your boy sure eats ALOT!! we are starting on 3 meals today and i am dreading the clean-up....the whole feeding area is one big mess (including me) after every meal!!!

stb, i was going to ask her the same question!!

Hi Crj,


My LO wakes up naturally by herself around the same time everyday 6.30 - 7am. Whether she sleeps earlier or later, it is always around this time. It is just her naptimes that are more unpredictable!


Your LO does eat alot, so I can imagine he must be very active!

Janey - today, our lunchtime nap fell to pieces - so I think no baby has perfect daytime naps! ha ha


STB and WM - we eat anywhere! We have a 'FreezerToGo' and bring with us the meal. If it needs to be heated we ask for a bowl and a teapot of hot water to warm the food. Or alternatively a quick zap in a microwave in Pacific Coffee (thanks to Mrs Miggins I think for that hint) (although I don't like this too much). We also have yogurt to add, so if it gets too hot, the yogurt counteracts that.

It really isn't too hard - just need to be somewhere for about 20 minutes for the meal. Seriously, he just sits there and opens his mouth, again and again. He does get distracted when we are out though, and tends to eat less as he wants to look around at everyone and everything.


Saying that, the first month or so of meals it was much harder as food is more liquid we weren't used to it (parents or baby) but now it is more a routine. It is also easier now he can sit in a high chair, although we have fed him in the pram many times.


Also, on weekends we try to work around his nap schedule, but feel it is more important to have family time so the nap schedule kind of goes out the window :)

haha crj,


our naps went haywire today too! 40 mins in the am, 1 hour after lunch and now he's asleep again!


what is freezertogo? i have not fed mine outside yet...no plans for this month at least, it's just WAY TOO MESSY! we have a avent insulated bag for bottles...supposedly can keep things cool or hot for 4 hours...will the food keep if i defrost it in the bag and then heat it up with a bowl of water when i am outside?


microwave: currently i use the microwave for heating food at home..is there a problen with it or you are just worried about the food being too hot? we bought a bottle warmer but i found that the food didn't warm up very well. with microwave, i do a standard 1 min and then stir until the heat is spread out evenly - hope that's ok?

Fridge to Go - http://www.fridge-to-go.com/

We have the simplest model (all they had in the shop!), but basically it is the same as your avent bag - so you don't need anything extra.


Our baby does not eat bananas, but if yours does - they are a great travel food as you can just mash it up on the go. If your baby is on finger food, that also makes easy travel food - cubes of avocado or 'soldiers' of toast.


We just make the food at home, put in small plastic container with lid, and off we go. Then of course, if we forgot yogurt, we have to pick some up as a meal without yogurt is just not a meal for our baby! Bring bib, extra onesie and a couple rags as well as a big muslin in case you feed in your pram, then you can put the muslin under baby to protect pram a bit from food.


Microwave - I just worry about uneven heating of food and hotspots. When I do it, I am careful and stir and test... but others might forget to test or put-- it in too long.


If you are still feeding very liquidy food, I don't blame you at all for not feeding outside. That is way too hard!

MRS MIGGINS

If I am not wrong there is an old thread where you gave great advice on feeding a baby out...

But I can't find the thread...

you talked about bananas and pacific coffee microwaves, etc...

Here it is:

Posted by hkchoichoi (95 days ago)

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CRJ -


I found it easier feeding Emilly out when she was eating thicker foods - as you've figured out. I know it isn't very environmentally friendly, but the pampers bibsters - L size with the front pouch will save you when you eat out. (I only use them when we go out - when we eat in, it's cloth.) A ton of stuff will fall into the pouch and that will prevent you from having to go all over the place. Sounds like your baby is soon on his way to thicker foods...experiment by adding a bit less breastmilk one day and watch to see how he does with the swallowing. The first two-three weeks is definitely a lot of practice for him, figuring out where the tongue goes and how to keep the food going down and all that nonsense.


I love Annabel Karmel's book also, but find that her recipes are a bit too fancy for a younger baby - I think after the baby is 14 months or so it's better. I prefered Super Baby Foods because I found it to be more straightforward and made introducing individual vegetables and foods much more easier. (not to mention the preparation and serving of foods easier on moms who work.) I also liked the emphasis in Ruth Yaron's book on the whole grain/legume combination for good protein and fiber intake. (her super baby porridge.) But, my GOODNES, the woman does babble on and you have to dig around to get what you want. (which is why I made my own summary of her "which foods to introduce when" which is the most helpful part of the book.)


My daughter used the Super Baby Foods and ate really strong tasting veggies like kale and broccoli and all the legumes. She gobbled it up until she was about 13 months, when my mother in law came and started giving her seasoned foods. (up until then all her food had no sugar or salt.) That ruined it - I would have preferred to have kept her with the non seasoned foods, but after she realized how other foods tasted with seasonings, there was no going back. I know that different cultures are very different about this. Koreans season their babies' foods as do the Indians. For some reason, I didn't want to expose this to my baby at such a young age. (no scientific reason, just a preference.)


I'm not sure if it's the fact that she ate so many strong tasting veggies and legumes while she was young, but now, at 2 years old, my daughter eats EVERYTHING. (with seasoning of course.) She enjoys her food, relishes it, and is famous at her school for eating the vegetables that other kids refuse to even taste. Her teachers have always commented to me about how much she enjoys her meals and tries everything.


My mother in law saw how well she ate and also was impressed. (not an easily impressed woman either.) She decided that what I did with my daughter at a young age was so worth it, that she wants to do it for my sister in laws infant. (she wasn't impressed when I was doing it originally and thought I was a bit crazy to be steaming, pureeing and straining my own foods.)


I LOVED feeding my baby - everyone who came and watched me feed her also loved it as well - because she always ate with such relish! Not to mention that she has NEVER ever been constipated in her life...to this day.


As for orange foods - my daughter ate so many of them her toes started turning a bit orange and around her nose was also orange. (carrots, squash, courgettes, sweet potatoes.) Some people have said that too much vitamin A is not good - and an indicator is if your child starts turning a bit orange. i've talked to my doc about this and her response was that VITAMIN A from food is not harmful but Vitamin A from pills are. i'm curious if anyone else has any comments on this issue.


There is this great japanese rice cracker - made with plain white rice and no other additives. Tastes like styrofoam to me. But my daughter loved them. They melt very easily and are designed for babies. I used to get mine at Great. Once your baby has decent head control and can be on all fours, these are fun for them to chew and spit out and get all over the floor.

(I am based in Unspecified)


Posted by Mrs Miggins (95 days ago)

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You do not necessarily have to wait until the food is thicker. It is a little difficult feeding on the go. I do not feed my baby food from jars, but often take out food that I have pre prepared. I have a cooler bag/ heat proof bag that I bought in BabiessRus. Take loads of baby wipes. I normally leave him in his pram to feed him and get the DH to clean it up afterwards. In this bag I throw in a disposable bib (I find pampers the best) and spoons. I defrost the food I am taking (I do not transport meat when I am out) which is mostly veggies/ fruit. As a back up I put in a tub of baby rice which if desperate I can add boiling water to. I try to take whole foods e.g. an avocado, a banana and I mash it up wherever I am. It is all about being organised. I choose my feeding destinations carefully, a restaurant, Pacific Coffee is a great one as they have self service microwaves out front.My boy loves bananas. I try to carry one around. If I get stuck I can always whip out the baby rice and mash up a banana and he's happy and we have a few more hours until he needs more food. I find the cool bag works really well. In fact I have often been caught out as I have taken out frozen veggies, anticipating it to defrost whilst I am out and about and open it hours later and it is still frozen. I have had a mad, screaming baby lots of times (cue baby rice & banana). That's why I now defrost it beforehand.

At first I was petrified about germs, food poisoning etc. but I have never had any problems.

Pls be careful about rice cakes. I have a friend whose baby nearly chocked on one. Personally I would not eat them myself (bcs they taste like cr@p) so I wouldn't give them to my baby.

(I am based in Hong Kong)


Posted by hkchoichoi (95 days ago)

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Mrs. Miggins -


it's not a rice cake - it's more a rice cracker. It definitely melts easier than a rice cake and much more easily than some of the other baby crackers and stuff out there. It does taste like nothing special - but more about helping your child practice holding things and eating something. When i'm really hungry, they still taste like nothing...hahahah.

just wondering since all our bubs are so close at age====Do they still wake up at nights?Mine at 8 months still wakes up and we all ended up not getting enough sleep.I have never tried a single day he sleeps through..he has 3 meals a day and should be full.i just dont know whats wrong.

crj,


re: freezer to go, yes i guess it functions like my avent bag except what you have seems bigger.

re: bananas - he eats them (it was brekkie today) so i think until he is much older, if i have to take him out during mealtimes, i can just feed that if i have to. he tried avocados in UK but i think i went overboard with it, he was slightly constipated after that. but my doc said ok to try again and for other meals, feed food that might reduce the effects of constipation to balance things out.


ellie55,

mine (6 months) has been sleeping from 7-7 (with 10.30pm dreamfeed) at about 3 months. but we worked quite hard at it - we moved him out of our room and were realistic that it wouldn't just happen in one night. since then, he sleeps through the night except for reasons like jet lag, when we were in UK, he woke up crying quite often. sometimes at home, we can hear him stirring but we don't go to him unless he really, really screams. we give him a chance to settle himself. perhaps you can try that if you haven't already - give it 5-10 mins before you go to baby at night (provided you know he is not crying due to some danger), if you always go to them asap, they will always expect that and will scream when mummy doesn't go to them.


how many times is he waking up at night and what is his bedtime like? do you give milk to him when he wakes up? is he in discomfort or he seems like he wants to play at night? i am no expert but based on some books i read, you might want to consider what he's doing during the day and your response to him when he wakes up at night that might cause the night wakings. good luck, i can understand how tired you must feel but fret not, i'm sure others mums will have advice for you too!

Cara - didn't see your post earlier - I am terrified about one nap a day... oh my god nothing will get done! ha ha


Fridge to Go - it would hold about 2 wide bottles or 4 narrow ones at a push, the one we have is not large.


Ellie

We have always had a strict morning and night routine, and while we do wake our baby up for a 10/11pm feed, I think he would rather sleep through (we have to wake him as he needs the calories).

I echo everything Wheelymate says...

Questions I would ask are:

Do you have a morning and evening ritual to mark the transition between day and night?

Is bedtime and wake up time the same every day?

Does your baby sleep in his own room?

Do you let him cry 5-10 minutes before going in?

Is he actually hungry or looking for comfort?

How much does he nap in the day? Is he not sleeping enough in the day and overtired or is he sleepint so much that he doesn't know day from night?


Ellie, don't you have two kids - you must be exhausted! Does your older sleep through now? What did you do to get them to sleep through at a young age?

My bubs is coming up to 9 months, has 4 formula feeds of 7fl oz and 2 solids with sips of water.


His feeding schedule is 7.30am (milk), 11.30am (solids - baby meal with protein mixed with rice/pasta/congee), 3.30pm (milk), 5.00pm (solids - fruits/vegs with rice cereal)7.30pm (milk) and 11.30pm (milk). He is teething and we give him teething biscuits.


Just want to know that if I want to introduce another solid, at what time can I fit this into. Was going to try breakfast but most of the time he naps after drinking his milk at 7.30am.


Also he is very active especially after the evening feed at 7.30pm. I envy those of you whose babies can sleep from 7 to 7 the next day - just a question, do you wake your babies up to feed milk inbetween? If ours managed to sleep after 7.30pm feed he often wakes up 2 hours later and we play with him until his 11.30pm feed. Afterwards he can sleep till the morning feed and at times we need to wake him up for his 7.30am feed. We do not want to cut his 11.30pm feed as his weight is on the lighter end.


How can I tell if he is hungry or not or wants more? I know that everytime we eat his mouth seems to water.

Can I ask, do most people still breast feed at 8 months? I thought the norm was about 3 - 4 months? I don't have kids, I'm just asking for reference when I do.

there is another thread on here which has a listing of moms and how long they breastfed. There is a large group of moms who breastfed over a year. It's easier around month 10-12 as the babies rely more on the food than breastmilk - and so the difference between 9 months or 12 months isn't such a big deal.

I feel pretty good if I make it over 6 months and am truly impressed by those who manage more than a year.