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I've changed Evan's schedule since the last time I posted about it way back in November. At the end of February Evan didn't have his dream feed since Matt and i were out and my sister was babysitting. He ended up sleeping a lot longer and I decided to just stop the dream feed completely. He also went to a 4 hour schedule which put his last feeding at 8:00 pm and then he went straight to bed. However, he started waking up early (6:30 am) every morning so we decided to move his last feeding (and bedtime) to an earlier time. So this is working for now and we'll probably stick with this schedule until he's old enough to go down to one nap a day (can't remember when that is).
7:30 - 8:00: Wake up, nurse, solids (1/4 cup of rice cereal mixed with fruit - usually apple sauce or bananas).
8:30 - 9:00: Nap (he will take a longer nap if I put him to bed about exactly an hour after he eats. I've tried extending his morning wake time several times and it never works.)
11:30 - 12:00: Wake up, nurse, solids (3 cubes of veggies, rice cereal mixed with fruit).
1:00 - 1:30: Nap
3:30 - 4:00: Wake up, nurse, solids (3 cubes of veggies, additional fruit if he still seems hungry).
6:30 - 7:00: Nurse, immediately to bed (we have a bedtime routine of nursing, family prayer time, read a book, sing a song, rock for a couple of minutes, and then he goes down in his crib).
Today is actually the first time I've given him rice cereal for his midday meal. He doesn't always eat much at his last meal (when he just nurses) and I think it's because I overfeed him at the 4:00 feeding. So now I'm going to try the cereal at the first 2 solid feedings so he won't eat as much so close to bedtime.
It's sad to put him to bed so early (I miss him so much after a couple of hours!), but it's really better for him and us. We all get more sleep and are happier people in the morning! Matt is still able to spend time with him in the evenings after he comes home from work (that was my biggest concern). It isn't enough time, but at least he gets an hour to an hour and a half with him on the weekday evenings. Plus, he sometimes comes home for lunch and is able to see Evan for about an hour then too.
So this schedule makes it look like he always takes 2.5 to 3 hour naps. I wish! lol Some days he does take naps that long, but usually it's an hour and a half in the morning and then 1.5 - 2.5 hours in the afternoon. Sometimes he still does a 45 minute nap like he used to, but thankfully since cutting out the third late afternoon nap he's been sleeping longer for the other two. If he wakes early I just let him whine in his crib (or talk to himself or play, depending on his mood). Sometimes I put him in his swing and see if he'll fall back to sleep or at least lay there quietly). Sometimes I let him play on the floor for awhile. It just depends on his mood and my mood. But I try not to feed him too much earlier unless he's acting hungry or really cranky.
I Shall Be Near to You
9 years ago
Just wanted to clarify, are Evan's awake times 1 hr, 1.5 hrs, and then 3 hrs? I didn't think there was usually such a big jump between awake times? Hailey does typically 2-2.25 hrs of awake time, and therefore still needs that late afternoon catnap. I can't wait till she doesn't need that any more.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time, she fights sleeping for that late afternoon catnap but she's really cranky like she needs to sleep. Got any suggestions?
I wish the babywise thing worked when you have two within two years of each other.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa - Yep, that's right about his wake times! At this age he should be able to stay up longer than an hour and a half, but try telling him that! It took awhile to cut out that late afternoon nap. I just stopped putting him down unless he was REALLY cranky (and even then he wouldn't fall asleep every time). Eventually he got used to it though. I try not to do too much with him after about 5:30. We just take it easy and lay on the floor playing or I hold him and read or sing to him. Sometimes I put him in his carrier and walk around the house doing some chores since that's the only time of day he'll let me hold him so much. If he gets too overstimulated he gets cranky. Every once in awhile he still takes that nap, but it's pretty rare.
ReplyDeleteValeta - I know! I can only imagine how hard it would be with 2. I will try it when the time comes, but I don't expect it to work as well.