I feel pretty hypocritical.
I mentioned how this wasn't going to be a journal kind of blog & that we should all have some privacy.
Then I shared some pretty in depth stories about the last several months.
I was playing catch up, so now we're here.
This is my little Emma love & ever since June 10th, this is what my days look like.
If you're not a momma or momma-to-be you will probably not find this post helpful.
I decided pretty early on that I wanted to have Em on some kind of schedule. I know that I function better under a routine & thought that she might do the same. Several people had recommended BabyWise to me so I looked into it. I looked online at some sample schedules from other moms and ended up going with a schedule that a GREAT friend of mine sent me. There are so many new mommies around me so I wanted to share what has been a total lifesaver for me & Emma.
If you don't agree with scheduling, that's fine! Some people do waaay better without one. Scheduling made my life easier & Emma happier but every momma & babe are different so please don't think that I am forcing this idea.
First, I need to thank my awesome friend, Heather, who set me up with this outline & has happily answered all of my MANY questions throughout this whole process. Thanks Heather!! You da bomb.
I have changed my schedule recently to something different than Heather did which is the beauty of it all! You can really do whatever you want. But for the most part I've followed in her footsteps.
Emma was schedule free from birth to four weeks. She was a wonderful baby that pretty much came into a routine on her own. She ate about every two hours, except for those awesome cluster feeds (which helped my supply so I'm thankful now!) & slept so so good at night. I would always have to wake her up every 3-4 hours during the night & I could tell that she'd rather be getting her sleep. But there is definitely a time where a babe needs to eat at night & you getting a full night's sleep is way less important than your little's needs.
At four weeks I started to schedule.
The only real differences I had to make were keeping her awake during feedings so that she would get nice & full, & keeping her awake for some playtime after each feeding.
I extended her feedings to every three hours. Which worked great on some days & not so great on others. I would never let her starve which a lot of people think babies do on a schedule. If she was hungry in between feedings for those first couple of weeks I would feed her enough to hold her over until the big feeding & then make sure that she was awake & getting enough during her scheduled feeding. This only happened a couple of times before she got the hang of staying awake & getting full during a feeding.
I've heard from some mommas that keeping their babe awake during feedings was super hard. Switch sides often, do a little lotion massage, whatever it takes to keep them awake!
From four to twelve weeks this was her schedule.
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| Gotta balance out sleeping on her own & sleeping with me. Momma, don't deny yourself this! |
7am - wake up, eat
after each feeding we'd have awake/playtime (tummy time)
8am - lay down for nap
10am - wake up, eat
awake/playtime
11am - lay down for nap
1pm - wake up, eat
awake/playtime
2pm - nap
4pm - wake up, eat
awake/playtime
5pm - nap
7pm - wake up, eat
bath time/bedtime routine
8pm - lay down for bed
10pm - dreamfeed
I would let Em fall asleep during this dream feed if she wanted to & put her right to bed after she finished. Once she got the hang of staying awake during her day feedings she started to stay awake during the dream feed & sleep longer at night.
Sometime around 2am I would wake her up to feed her, and again around 5am she would usually wake up on her own.I would feed her, lay her back down, then the schedule would start all over again at 7am.
After her doctor told us, around 7 weeks, that we could stop waking her up and let her wake up on her own she only woke up once a night to eat then go right back to sleep until 7am. Check with your babes doctor before letting them sleep through. You may just have a sleepy babe that still needs night feedings.
She started sleeping all the way through the night consistently around 4 months when her schedule changed.
She took to the schedule really well & I never really felt sleep deprived with her, even before the schedule, but especially after. I was sleeping great & so was she. I know this is just because she is so awesome ;) but I think the schedule helped too.
The two hour naps that she was taking were AWESOME. I could shower, clean or even NAP! It was a game changer for sure. I felt like I could still have a life & do the other things that I enjoyed & TRULY enjoy the time with my new babe.
One of the biggest controversies of scheduling is letting your baby cry it out. This is difficult for any momma (& daddy too) but thankfully we only had to let Em cry it out a few times before she got comfortable falling asleep on her own.
We gave her a paci around three weeks, after she had established a good latch with breastfeeding. We started doing naps in the crib at around three weeks and then she solely slept in her crib from four weeks on. We would let her cry for 10 minutes & if she hadn't stopped (which only happened a few times) we would go in, give her the paci, rub her belly & head so that she knew she was okay & leave the room. If the crying continued we would give her 5 minutes, repeat the process & if she still hadn't stopped, one of us would pick her up and soothe her. We have only ever had to pick her up maybe 3 times early in the scheduling & usually I would feed her at that time.
I KNOW that we got super lucky. We have never had to deal with hours of crying it out. We've never let her go longer that 15 minutes because she would usually fall asleep within the first 10. BLESSED. If this doesn't work for you, I would recommend repeating the process until he or she does fall asleep. I know it can be exhausting but what they learn will save you so much exhaustion later on! AND DON'T STARVE YOUR BABE! If your instincts tell you that they're hungry, feed them. If you're sticking to the schedule & making sure they're getting good, awake, full feedings then they will stop their snacking all together soon enough!
Emma went through a few growth spurts that I would HAVE to feed her more often. I know her temperament is super laid back so when she would fuss between feedings it was because she was hungry, & I would feed her. After realizing she was going through growth spurts I would let her nurse a lot longer, offering both sides several times after she would come off on her own. This got rid of the snacking during growth spurts too.
The most important thing is to go with your motherly intuition. A schedule isn't meant for you to go against the grain of a natural cycle. If any part of it feels wrong, change it! It's meant to make your life easier. It's important to not let the schedule control you and make you crazy. As I mentioned, Emma fell into a routine on her own & I just stretched and timed it so that I could know what to expect, & so could she.
I started pumping pretty soon after my milk came in. I saved that milk in our freezer and when she was a little over 3 weeks Lyman would feed her a bottle at 10pm while I pumped for the next 10pm feeding. Giving her a bottle got her nice & full at night. Any extra that I pumped I would freeze. Very thankful for a great supply.
Just in case any of you are interested in doing a schedule I'm going to provide the schedules that we have gone through up to the point that we're at right now.
Twelve to about eighteen weeks:
The only real difference in this schedule is that I took away the 10pm feeding. Some people do this earlier but I waited until I was completely comfortable with it. There is no set time that you HAVE to do anything. It's your baby after all. Emma was probably ready to lose the feeding before I was, so once I took it away she slept even better at night.
7am - wake up, eat
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| Did God really give me the happiest baby ever? Yes. |
8:15ish 8:30am - lay down for nap
If she was happily awake I would let her stay up these extra minutes but I wanted to make sure she was at least getting an hour and a half nap so no later than 8:30. She usually got tired fussy around 8ish anyways.
10am - wake up, eat
awake/playtime
11:15ish 11:30am - lay down for nap
1pm - wake up, eat
awake/playtime
2:15ish 2:30pm - nap
4pm - wake up, eat
awake/playtime
5:30pm - nap
She extended this awake time almost every time to 5:30 so I tried to keep her up which I think helped her sleep better that night.
7:30pm - wake up, eat
Would feed her a little later than usual since she wasn't getting 10pm feeding.
bath time/bedtime routine
8:15ish 8:30pm - lay down for bed
Would sleep through the night from 8:30pm-7am MOST nights. (NOT ALWAYS, she's just a little babe.)
Lyman would feed her an 8oz bottle at 7:30. I would pump at 10pm for her bottle the next night but got lazy & didn't pump at 7ish like I should have.
Around eighteen weeks she started getting fussy throughout the day & not sleeping as well through the night so I made some minor changes to her schedule which made her awake times longer & naps a little shorter. Sleeps through the night better than ever, every night.
Eighteen weeks to present (20 weeks):
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| Ready to start real food soon! Howngry for some feetsies. |
I made this a little later for me. Sometimes I still get up at 7 and eat breakfast before she gets up. But let's face it, I usually sleep in until 7:30.
awake/playtime
9:00am - nap
awake a little longer than usual
10:30am - wake up, eat
awake/playtime
12:00pm - nap
1:30pm - wake up, eat
awake/playtime
3:00pm - nap
4:30pm - wake up, eat
awake/playtime
6:00pm - nap
Sometimes we skip this nap, I let her decide. She might catch the last 30 minutes of it or she might be ready to lay down earlier.
7:30pm - wake up, eat
bath time/bedtime routine
9:00pm - lay down for the night, sleeps through the night
I would still pump at 10pm but, like I said, I got lazy and didn't pump at 7ish pm which made my supply dip after a few weeks. I was no longer able to get enough at the 10pm pumping for her next nights bottle & I was using up my frozen supply pretty quick. I decided to go back to breastfeeding her at 7:30 & pumping at 10 which has boosted my supply back up & allowed me to continue adding to my frozen stash of liquid gold. She still sleeps through the night.
Thankfully, Em is awesome at letting me know what she needs. There are days where she's ready to lay down 30 minutes before her scheduled nap & I'll let her lay down early. I still fight for her sleep & make sure that she's getting just enough throughout the day to keep her happy & healthy.
After learning the hard way that scheduling was meant to make my life easier, not make me crazy, I really loved it! It has worked so well for us & I hope that the mommies reading this, schedule or no schedule, have as much peace & joy in momma-ing as I do!
If you are interested in scheduling & have ANY questions, PLEASE please ask! Hopefully I can pay all the help that I've received forward!
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