routine for 3-4 mnth old

ShakleeMom

Sun, Dec 07 2008, 12:36 am

With all my kids I try to stick to the 3-6-9-12 schedule. By 6 weeks, they all skipped 2 night feedings, giving me a break from the 12 am till 9 the next morning. This newest addition is right on track. She sleeps from the 12 am feeding till 5:30, and then gives me 4 more hours. That’s how they slowly increase it. consistency is the key. If you stick to a strict schedule during the day, they can have enough to sleep through the night.

ss321

Sun, Dec 07 2008, 12:46 am

gold21 wrote:

What time does Baby generally go in for the night? 10 pm? 1 am? 7 pm?
How often does he get up to eat at night? When is he up for the day? How many times does he nap? Thanks a lot!!

so Im not the strictest "scheduler" - am not w/ this baby and wasnt w/ my first either. Whether thats good or bad IDK. My baby is 5 months.
In general, he goes to sleep around 9 and we try to get him to sleep till 7- 10 full uninterrupted hours if possible. I felt this was important and my pediatrician is a big advocate of this as well. If he cries for >10 min (10 acc to my DH, its more like 3 or 4 if Im the one who hears him first, I cant stand hearing him cry), we go soothe him, hold him, rock him, but he really doesnt eat much at night anymore (starting at around 4 months).

Wakes up between 530 and 730, usually around 630, and is up till like 10 or so, very active, plays with his toys etc. then sleeps for 3 hrs (appx), gets up for an hour or two, takes his second nap which usually lasts 2 hrs, putting us at around 6 or so, and is up till bedtime. so that means 2 naps per day. He doesnt eat at night, usually, but drinks alot during the day (and "eats" too - applesauce, pear sauce-first x today, banannas, and rice cereal).

Mama Bear

Sun, Dec 07 2008, 8:01 am

wow ss321 your baby sounds like a 7 or 8 month old!!! My 5 month old - wakes at 7:15 am'ish and by 8:45 am he is already beside himself with fatigue!!! He has his first nap from 9 - 9:30 and his second nap at around 11 - that's the nap I usually take with him and try to get him to sleep a little longer. He always wakes up after 1/'2 hour no matter what, so it's up to me to nurse or rock him back to sleep. His 3rd nap is usually around 3-4 oclock and I'm lucky if it lasts longer than 1/2 hour; with Shimie home I cant usually rock him back to sleep since he keeps running into the bedroom. He MUST have 3 naps a day or he literally collapses in my arms from exhaustion. Shimie had long predictable 2-3 hour naps like your baby; I guess that's an advantage of bottlefeeding. As for nights, he is down for the night about 7:30 pm and FORGET about 'sleeping through the night'; he wakes every 2 hours or so for a feeding, but I nurse him in bed so we both sleep through the feeding.

During the day he alternates between the swing, bouncer, bumbo chair, floor, crib, it's hard to find something for a 5 month old to be occupied with since they cant sit yet and have outgrown the infant seat...

As for solids, I just started him on applesauce and want to start oatmeal cereal this week. He loves food and grabs the spoon out of my hand when I try to feed him!

How to get a non-scheduled baby on a schedule? Start putting him to nap consistently 2 hours after his previous nap. that's a start.

sky

Sun, Dec 07 2008, 8:40 am

I think all babies are different. At that age they were getting up every 3 hours. Sometimes I found that feeding them every 1 1/2 from about 5 - 10 pm got them to skip one feeding. But it didn't always work and it took up a lot of time.
This is going to sound strange but I found at this age the more the babies slept the more they slept. Meaning if I put them to sleep whenever they were tired during the day they slept better at night. I never let them get over tired. but this stops working at about 4 - 5 months.

Leah254

Sun, Dec 07 2008, 9:06 am

Zus wrote:

My baby wakes for the day around 7 am. She eats, then plays, and then naps for about 20-40 minutes, sometimes a bit longer. Rinse, repeat. The whole cycle is 2-3 hours long.
She goes down for the night at 7.30 pm-ish and sleeps through the night.

Zus how old is your baby?

DD is almost 4 months here schedule is usually

7:00 wake up and eat, play then nap
10:30 eat and same as above
2:00 eat and same as above
5:30 eat
play until 7:30
takes a 30 minute cat nap
8:30 bath
9:00 eat
goes to sleep usually gets up around 3:00 and then 7:00

we keep her on a pretty strict schedule for her and us. that way we usually know what she needs, if she's hungry tired just wants attentionetc. Also we messed her up when we took her to israel so we're just getting back on track.

ss321

Sun, Dec 07 2008, 9:44 am

Mama Bear wrote:

wow ss321 your baby sounds like a 7 or 8 month old!!

really? last DS was pretty similar at this age...
IDK in the morning he is just SO awake!! Right now he is very busy in his jumper, this is after spending an hour kicking on his mat....He keeps himself very busy in the morning talking and moving, kicking, observing, IDK. Its cute...
In general during the day he doesnt require s/o to rock him to sleep because he tires himself out from "playing." At night sometimes I have to....
I agree, bottlefeeding during the day keeps them sleeping longer, and he sure loves his bottles.
I tried for the acog-recommended 6 month minimum, but I wasnt nursing full time and my milk dried up Sad

. Im not a major nursing lover anyway, and he is so much happier w/ bottles so Im not complaining...

I used to feed him every x he woke up at night, but stopped at around 4 months like we did with our older son, and the first few nights were absolute torture for me, but he got used to it, and I am a firm believer in the importance of him getting a full nights sleep.

DS1 is in playgroup during the day down the block, so that makes it easier when the baby wakes up- no one to run around and wake him up!!!
At night, DH is usually home when its the baby's bedtime, so that is obviously a major help-we each take one kid that way our older son doesnt distrurb the baby....

Its so funny that ur son loves applesauce so much-our babies r around the same age yet I only feed him once per day bc he is so not interested-he would much rather drink his bottle!!

BTW what is a bumbo chair, ive never heard of it...

ss321

Sun, Dec 07 2008, 4:56 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

shimie is out of the house til 3:20 pm, so the last nap of the day is a bit difficult as I said. And no way can I sleep train a 4 month old for the night. Babies that young are still hungry in the middle of the night!!!

IDK, I guess each baby is different. In the beginning (first few months), both my kids were hungry in the middle of the night. But then it was just like- they were eating b/c they wanted to suck, not nec. cuz they were hungry. That is around the x when I pull out the 2 am feeding. Sure its hard on me at first (to hear him cry), but is it hard on him? he cried for about 5 min the first couple nites, then maybe maybe 30 secs of krechtzing but not real cries and would fall right asleep , paid off in the long run...
might not work for every kid, but like I said before, I am a firm believer in babies getting a full uninterrupted night of sleep (which is easier for me given that both my kids are in seperate bedrooms. If we still lived inour 2 bedroom apt, this wouldve been totally impossible).

Mama Bear

Sun, Dec 07 2008, 5:11 pm

how do y ou know that he wants to suck and not eat?

Donno, I LOVE those middle of the night feedings. the baby is all warm and yummy and cuddly. and he ends up staying latched on to me half a night in my bed. I wake up startled 2 hours later and he's still there. I love it. I couldnt do it with Shimie and have no idea if I'll ever have the zchus to do it again, so I'm just cherishing it.

Even my bottlefed Shimon Moshe still woke every 3 hours on the dot for a bottle the whole first year and I always gave it to him. unfortunately at age 3 he still wakes for a (water or diluted juice) bottle multiple times a night - I never sleep trained hiim....

imokay

Sun, Dec 07 2008, 7:33 pm

I wish I cud predict my 3 month old's "actions"!
every time I think we're on a schedule, he switches it on me and I fall back to square one!
but I almost always give him a bath at 8:30pm and a feeding afterwards. usually, bh he'll fall aslepp soon afterwards. but the night is always different. sometimes he's so good- sleeping till 2 or 3 and then till 6 or 7. that I cud handle. but sometimes, he wakes every 2 hours and I dont know what to do 4 him and he ends up sleeping in my bed nursing most of the night. the daytime is so unpredictable.

but I'm waiting 4 him 2 show some signs of consistency that I cud enforce. but from what I am reading, r u saying that I need to be the one to set the schedule and insist he follow it if I want to have a scheduled baby?