How to put baby on schedule

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Infants

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amother

Mon, Mar 25 2024, 12:09 pm

I hear people talk about this but I don't get it. My baby doesn't care when I think he should eat or sleep. We had a kind of routine based around his cues, but it kept changing as he grew, and now we had a few weeks of no schedule at all due to a series of not feeling well, family simcha, travel, and purim.

So this seems like a perfect time for a schedule reset and also I need to make some routine for my sanity. But I have no idea how and I need a step by step how to.

Baby is 7.5 months old, excitedly learning how to do all the things (can now crawl fast, put anything in mouth, stand holding onto things, and say lots of consonants - all of which he couldn't do a couple of weeks ago so I think that development is contributing to being messed up. He plays hard and then crashes hard.)

Right now he's been sleeping since like 3am with some nursing breaks. Time to wake up. Bh I work in a school that is off for shushan purim but if he stays up until 3am again I will be in sorry shape tomorrow.

amother

PlumPink

Mon, Mar 25 2024, 12:11 pm

You can Google sample sleep schedule for [whatever age]

Adjust to fit your needs, but pay attention to wake windows and nap lengths

amother

Sage

Mon, Mar 25 2024, 12:16 pm

I would say the biggest thing is to have an established wake up time.
I couldn’t get my baby on a schedule until I went back to work and she had to be up at a certain time every morning. After that you can just follow wake windows for naps and then establish a bedtime that’s 10-12 hours before whatever the wake up time is

amother

Mon, Mar 25 2024, 12:17 pm

I'm not asking what a schedule should look like, I'm asking how to get the baby on board. Since he was a newborn this baby does not take my orders regarding timing. When he wants to eat, he can't not eat. When he doesn't want to eat, he won't eat. When he's ready to sleep, he is miserable until sleeping. When he's not ready to sleep, no amount of encouragement will get him to sleep. When he's ready to wake up he's full of energy, when he's not ready to wake up he cries until I let him go back to sleep.

So it's very nice to read that babies should be awake for this long and eat this often but I don't understand at all how to get there.

amother

PlumPink

Mon, Mar 25 2024, 12:18 pm

Main thing is consistent wake time, wake from naps until he catches on to the schedule.

Yes you need to be flexible but will time you'll get there.

amother

Mon, Mar 25 2024, 12:22 pm

I also have a hard time with changing wake time because if the baby kept me up until 3am how am I supposed to wake up at 7 😩

cupcake123

Mon, Mar 25 2024, 12:28 pm

That sounds really rough. Sounds like he sleeping now for his night sleep

amother

Mon, Mar 25 2024, 12:34 pm

cupcake123 wrote:

That sounds really rough. Sounds like he sleeping now for his night sleep

Yes definitely. In fact it's long for a night sleep, he almost never sleeps through the "night" (when he does, it's always half morning). Granted the last couple of days were hard and intense. But now when I try to wake him up he gives me a cute sleepy little smile and goes back to sleep.

amother

NeonOrange

Mon, Mar 25 2024, 12:37 pm

amother OP wrote:

I also have a hard time with changing wake time because if the baby kept me up until 3am how am I supposed to wake up at 7 😩

Ugh so hard but you just need to make yourself! It’s like back to newborn stage with no sleep. At least give it a full week try. If it works out it will be worth it in the end. Get baby up. As tempting as it is. Do stimulating things like going outside, doing hand games, etc to keep baby awake. Need to establish that it’s morning and no going back to sleep.

amother

PlumPink

Mon, Mar 25 2024, 12:43 pm

When you wake baby, make sure to expose him to sunlight as much as possible during the day

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