Getting baby on a schedule

[ttrumbo]

How and when did you do it?

[DebbieJ]

Never. I fed him on demand, let him sleep when he was tired. He eventually fell into his own rhythm.

How old is your baby? Are you breastfeeding?

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
2 year check up: 25 lbs with clothes on and 35 inches!
BFARed for 20 months and 6 days
(Breastfeeding After Reduction is possible! www.bfar.org)

http://www.bfar.org/members/fora/style_avatars/Ribbons/18months-bfar.jpg

[stillplayswithbarbies]

She ate when she was hungry and slept when she was tired. Eventually that evolved to a natural rhythm of being awake during daylight and asleep during dark, but I don't recall when. Same thing with eating. She came to the table with us for meals (if she was awake) and eventually evolved into the normal human pattern of three meals a day at predictable times with snacks in between.

I just felt like it wasn't up to me to tell her when she was hungry or tired. Her own body knows that best.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

She ate when she was hungry and slept when she was tired. Eventually that evolved to a natural rhythm of being awake during daylight and asleep during dark, but I don't recall when. Same thing with eating. She came to the table with us for meals (if she was awake) and eventually evolved into the normal human pattern of three meals a day at predictable times with snacks in between.

I just felt like it wasn't up to me to tell her when she was hungry or tired. Her own body knows that best.

[Rachels]

My babies got themselves on their own schedules when they were ready. I fed them when they were hungry and they slept when they needed to sleep and we snuggled a lot in the meantime (still do). Even adults aren't so predictable, kwim? Sometimes I have lots of energy and sometimes I want to take a nap. Sometimes I'm not very hungry even if it's mealtime and other times I'm ravenous. Babies are the same. They'll tell you what they need and when.

-Rachel
Mama to Abigail Rose
5/18/02
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amethyst_36m.gif
Nursed for three years!

and Ethan James
10/19/05
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/bf.jpg


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya

[Rachels]

My babies got themselves on their own schedules when they were ready. I fed them when they were hungry and they slept when they needed to sleep and we snuggled a lot in the meantime (still do). Even adults aren't so predictable, kwim? Sometimes I have lots of energy and sometimes I want to take a nap. Sometimes I'm not very hungry even if it's mealtime and other times I'm ravenous. Babies are the same. They'll tell you what they need and when.

-Rachel
Mama to Abigail Rose
5/18/02
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amethyst_36m.gif
Nursed for three years!

and Ethan James
10/19/05
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/bf.jpg


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya

[pb&j]

The short answer is never. The more lengthy answer is that there are certain windows of time when I expect him to be tired or hungry, and we stick with the same routines at naptime and bedtime. I used a lot of the techniques in Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I don't make my son nap at noon, but 9 days out of ten, he's sleepy then, and if I put him down, even if he protests, he'll be out like a light. We shoot to start our bedtime routine at 6:30, but if he's getting super-fussy at 6, or even a little before, I'll start his bath early. Basically, I used his natural cues to build a little structure into our lives, but I wouldn't really call it a schedule. I don't sleep or eat at the same times every day, and I don't expect him to.

ETA: He was about 6 weeks when I started paying more attention to his drowsy cues, etc. Within a week, he had an established afternoon nap, and an early bedtime.

-Ry,
mom to Emma, stillborn 11/04/04
and Max, 01/05/06

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/32812.gif
http://b1.lilypie.com/aKGqm5/.png[/img] ([img)

[pb&j]

The short answer is never. The more lengthy answer is that there are certain windows of time when I expect him to be tired or hungry, and we stick with the same routines at naptime and bedtime. I used a lot of the techniques in Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I don't make my son nap at noon, but 9 days out of ten, he's sleepy then, and if I put him down, even if he protests, he'll be out like a light. We shoot to start our bedtime routine at 6:30, but if he's getting super-fussy at 6, or even a little before, I'll start his bath early. Basically, I used his natural cues to build a little structure into our lives, but I wouldn't really call it a schedule. I don't sleep or eat at the same times every day, and I don't expect him to.

ETA: He was about 6 weeks when I started paying more attention to his drowsy cues, etc. Within a week, he had an established afternoon nap, and an early bedtime.

-Ry,
mom to Emma, stillborn 11/04/04
and Max, 01/05/06

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/32812.gif
http://b1.lilypie.com/aKGqm5/.png[/img] ([img)

[kijip]

Toby was on a schedule much of his own making. It was clear after a few weeks that he slept at X times, wanted to cuddle/play at X times and wanted to eat at certain times. So we followed that schedule, amending it as he grew. While we did follow his cues, we did anticipate his needs according to his schedule. It worked pretty well. Being consistent was key for us.

[KrisM]

That's about what we did. But, we didn't have any type of repeatable schedule until about 9 months old. He'd get up and be ready for a nap about 1.5 hours later, sleep for a while, eat at some point, etc. for the first 9 months.

[janeybwild]

I'll be the dissenting voice :) nothing wrong with working toward conistency IMO. I don't think a schedule has to be rigid, and therefore a bad thing. Obviously, your baby will lead you. At 6 months, we looked long and hard at our typical day, and then worked to be consistent about Dana's nap and feeding schedules. Not rigid, but aware. She was settling nicely into 2 naps a day, although feeding on demand which seemed to settle into about 8 feedings a day. At 9 months I weaned her, and her "schedule" continues today albeit at 6 bottles at day, 2 naps, no night wakings. Good luck

[AngelaS]

We started waking baby to eat every three hours (during the day) as soon as we came home from the hospital. All of my girls quickly fell into great routines.

[KBecks]

Alek's first whole year is a blur... this is what I remember....

We generally went with the flow. In the beginnig I kept a log of feedings and diaper changes and I think I tried to do both every 3 hours.

Anyway, when Alek was a little older I would look at the clock for feedings, but not worry much if we were a little off schedule.

Around 7-8-9 months we started to work on a bedtime routine and that was the start of our schedule. He used to go to bed around 9-10, but then we gradually adjusted to bedtime between 7:30 - 8 p.m.

Around the same time I started to pay attention to meals and snacks, but my general thing is to feed him when he's hungry, I can't tell you when we eat, but we will eat around 8-9, around noon-1 and around 5-6, plus snacks in between whenever I remember -- oh, he probably needs a snack!

ETA: How could I forget naps! They fell into place sometime after we worked on the bedtime routine. I just paid attention to when he got sleepy for several days, and then started to anticipate those times. For a long time he was napping at 9 and 2, but now he naps around 10-11 and 3-4. I generally watch for the sleepy signs, which happen usually after 4 awake hours -- and varies if we have a lot of active play going on.

Take care,

[lisams]

My DD started naturally eating and sleeping at predictable intervals around 5 months. Before that there wasn't much of a schedule, we just went with the flow. For me I think implementing a schedule would have been stressful. I never tried to make one, it just all worked out.

A word of warning though, schedules change often as the baby's need does. Through growth spurts, sickness, teething, developmental leaps, etc. their eating and need for sleep will flucuate. I remember every time we got in a nice routine something would change it. That's why it was less stressful for me to try and enforce a schedule, I tried to be relaxed and go with it.

[jillc]

Ditto. :)

[maestramommy]

Like pps we kept a log on her eating, eliminating and sleeping habits, although logging sleep came later, probably after we established a bedtime. But for the first 4 months she fed on demand and slept when she got tired. These days we're back to feeding on demand but she has pretty much set her own schedule. For naps we follow a schedule of intervals (how long since she last woke?) rather than absolute times. These too have fallen into "schedules." We are now on her lead dropping a nap. It's been a rocky transition so I can't yet say how it will turn out.

[mamalou]

Getting on an eat, play, sleep schedule was great for me. I certainly couldn't tell a hunger cry from a tired cry in those early months.

When the baby woke up, she ate as long as she wanted. Then she was awake for about 5-10 minutes as a newborn. At the first sign of fuss, she slept as long as she wanted. When she woke up, she ate as long as she wanted. The play window gets longer in a very slow and natural manner.

Not having any schedule was too stressful for me.

[brittone2]

We fed on demand and DS slept when tired. We had more of a routine/rhythm to our day, but it wasn't so much by what time things happened, more of an order to how we did things usually.

DS really never had his days/nights confused so that really helped. He was a pretty good sleeper early on and I usually woke him at night to nurse in the early weeks.

He eventually fell into a predictable pattern for the most part. For example, we didn't necessarily have a time that he napped, but he was clearly tired 2 hours or so after he got up in the morning when he was a young infant. So he'd nap about 2 hours after he woke up, etc. etc.
He's still that way at 2. He doesn't have a set bedtime, but he'll consistently be ready for bed about 4 hours after he gets up from his late afternoon nap. That might be 8:30pm or as late as 10 pm. Nap time depends on when he got up in the morning. No set schedule, but it is predictable at the same time.

That worked well for us. We weren't stuck to the time on the clock, but just sort of knew that he'd give us certain cues after a certain amount of time, and we went with that.

I agree w/ the PP that said right around the time his schedule would be really nice, predictable, and wonderful, he'd have a growth spurt or things would just change. He boycotted all naps for a while (other than 20 minute cat naps) and I thought I was going to lose my mind ;) Sure enough, before long he'd fall into a nice schedule again, and then it would change after a while. It was hard sometimes...but I think it would have been far more stressful if I was a by-the-clock person to roll with it.