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| Cute consequence of no nap schedule |
The rest of the day? One big guessing game. We generally know when he's tired, but there's no rhyme or reason to when, and sometimes (like the picture from Nanny M illustrates) he just conks out with no warning at all. Which makes it hard to plan things on the weekend. I've always said I don't want to let having a child keep me from doing things I want to do, but I'm also aware that, at this age, I need to schedule my day and activities around him. But if he doesn't have a regular schedule, how do I do that?
Which leads me to right now, blogging when I should be on my way to dinner with some local SMCs because Finn is sound asleep in my lap. Since his other two naps today were each only 30 minutes, I hate to wake him up, and he won't stay asleep once I put him in his car seat. Part of me wants to go ahead and wake him up and go anyway. He almost always wakes up cheerful, even when his nap is interrupted - and I'm really hungry and don't want to cook dinner! But, there have been a few other days the past few weeks where he hasn't napped much, and those days led to nights of poor sleep, and I have too much going on next week to start the week out tired. Which means I'm not moving until he wakes up.
As I sit here (hungry) I wonder if I should get Nanny M to work on getting him on more of a schedule. I don't really see any cues from him during the day that he wants to be more regimented, but it would be easier for me. Any suggestions? Maybe once he starts solid food, and there's another "event" during the day to anchor his day, he'll just naturally fall into a nap schedule.
I'm ending this post with my new favorite video, taken last night:
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He has such a great laugh!! Hard to watch that video and not smile right back! Glad to see he is doing so well. :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like he was having a blast and Mom was too!!!! He looks like he is so happy right now. It would be hard to fuss with him about much of anything.
ReplyDeleteOMG, his laugh is amazing! I found myself laughing right along with him. What was so funny, was it you or the camera? Or something else? So adorable!
ReplyDeleteSorry I can't help with the schedule issue, as I'm still an SMC-to-be!
All is right in the world when you hear a baby laugh. :)
ReplyDeleteNo advice. I have been wondering the same thing with Elsie. You guys are ahead of us... At least you have a set evening schedule. Elsie will go to sleep anytime between 8 and 11. Part of me is thinking about being lazy and letting daycare do the heavylifting of getting her on a schedule when she starts in January.
ReplyDeleteLet us know if you find anything!!
Finn is adorable. You might want to ask Finn's nanny to track his feeding/sleep schedule for a few days, and compared it to yours.. see if both of you can agree on one schedule that will work for everyone. Be flexible.
ReplyDeleteEveryone will have their own unsolicited advice, but I was given this book http://www.saveoursleep.com.au/ and even though I dont have my miracle as yet I would like to use her system... very interesting... and yes... Huge smiles right back at him :-) he is so gorgeous.
ReplyDeletexxxmel
I've found that Elena didn't have any sort of predictable scheule until solids...I feed her breakfast, lunch & dinner at the same time every day without variation then BF on demand between that...she naps pretty consistently between each meal & goes down for the night about 8 or 8:30...mind you, there's no predicting if she'll sleep thru the night or not, that's always a crap shoot, lol!
ReplyDeleteLove Finn sleeping in his jumper!! So adorable!
That's such a cute video and contagious laugh! I bought my daughter the same rainforest jumperoo when she was nearly 7 months old, she loved it so much. But she was barely able to reach the floor at 7 months - Finn is a big boy!
ReplyDeleteAs for schedules, I know not all babies work this way, but have you tried just eating/napping at set times and/or at set intervals? My daughter naturally got tired about 3 hours after her last nap at that age, so I put her down for a nap then. And she wanted to eat at fairly regular intervals as well (every 2-3 hours). She was a very fussy baby, but most of the time I knew if she wanted to eat or sleep by looking at the clock and determining how long it had been since her last nap/meal.
I guess she sort of set her own schedule, but I'm wondering if just going ahead and eating/napping at set times even if he isn't showing cues that that's what he wants would work or help... I do think babies thrive on routine, and part of routine is knowing when to expect certain things to happen. But of course not all babies are going to adapt to such a schedule that easily.
- Tashia
That laugh just makes me happy!!!
ReplyDeleteOK, so I just watched your video & man, I wish I knew how to post videos because I now have an adorable one of Elena laughing at Finn laughing!!
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ReplyDeleteShannon!
ReplyDeleteThe first thing Tate asked tonight at dinner was 'Watch baby? Watch baby?' He was referring to Finn :) I let him watch Finn this morning, and he had an absolute blast!! I don't let him watch tv, so I think Finn is his personal Elmo now :)
As far as nap schedules at this age, Tate was a 30-45 (45 if I was really lucky) minute cat napper. So, I just put him down according to the appropriate wake time for his age. I think the max recommended wake time for a 4/5 month old is 1h30m to 1h45m with a definite max of 2h. This includes time to eat etc.
So if Finn wakes at 6 he should be back in the crib going to sleep or actually asleep no later than 745, then you continue the cycle.
If he has a consistent morning wake time it will make your day much more obvious. Tate did. So he took 3 naps at this age. If he slept longer I just adjusted as I was told to. Also I finally caught on that if he was showing signs of being tired that I had missed the window of putting him down really easily. Once they start yawning, losing interest etc you've supposedly missed the golden opportunity of putting them down with ease. Gosh once I simply started paying attention to how long he had been awake he went down in a flash (85% of the time...he did put up some fights, but it was soooo much better). I became a slave to the clock, but it worked wonders and I could plan my days most of the time.
I agree with Tashia that most babies thrive on routine, but like she said that may not work for your Finn. But if you need a schedule then try starting with not maxing out his wake time. He will also eventually fall into an more obvious pattern when he drops that late afternoon nap.
Happy Monday!
Oh my goodness, that laugh!!! he's so delicious!!! what a happy guy!!!
ReplyDeletei'm with Jennifer in that i'm pretty strict about not keeping Calliope up too long. i think I got that mostly from the Baby Whisperer, also a bit from Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (the latter is way long and complicated, the former is very simple if kind of annoying and mannered at times). i DO wait for the yawn... actually, for two yawns. the first one i let pass as a fluke, and with the second, i pretty much pounce on her with the Miracle Blanket and pacifier. the book also made me realize that a lot of times when she fussed, she was tired... i offered the breast and she took it as comforting, but it wasn't what she needed... she wasn't actually hungry. so it didn't help for long.
i'm probably going to try Twelve Hours by Twelve Weeks next week, once we are recovered from the two month vaccines. it seems totally improbable that it will work... except that my friend did it successfully (and easily! within about three days) and so did two of her friends.
that said... i think feeding on demand is fine and good. but yes, i think it's easy to not give our kids enough rest. and not only will your life get more predictable if he sleeps more, I THINK, he will also be even more fun to be around.
i don't know if that really answers your question or not! i think a lot of babies get more predictable once they start crawling. calliope definitely takes longer naps now that i put her down sooner. sleep definitely begets sleep. the opposite of logic!
Awww, sweet baby laughter.
ReplyDeleteEven though the sound isn't working on my computer--he's adorable face and sweet smile got the point across. Ugh, he is so cute!!!!
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