What should EASY look like for 7 month old?

[rhi2005]

Ive started solids with my little girl but routine is allover the place. She gets up at 7am and goes to bed at 7pm. The rest of the day is allover. What should it look like and how much awake time should I give her? x

[~Emma~]

Hi, There are sample routines in the FAQ section.  x

[rhi2005]

Thankyou. I just cant seem to get a good routine at the mo. x

[huntersmummyinoz]

sample routines
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=10386.0

average activity time
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=84884.0

solids are usually offered an hour after a milk feed, building up to 3 meals a day.

feel free to post your routine if you would like us to take a look

[rhi2005]

This is what im aiming towards. Just started today. Dont know if she will be able to stay awake from 3.30 until bedtime though.

7.00 - awake
7.20 - bottle
8.30 - solids
9.30 - nap
11.00 - awake
11.15 - bottle
12.15 - solids
2.00 - nap
3.30 - awake and bottle
6.30 - bath, feed then bed

[huntersmummyinoz]

routine looks good. once you add a third 'meal', prob put it around 430/5ish.

if you dont think she'll last that long before bedtime, try and keep A time really low key. extra books, extra long bath and long baby massage used to help my LO go the distance.

let us know how you get on.

[rhi2005]

Well this is how today went:

7am - awake
7.20 - bottle (7oz)
8.30 - apple and pear (half a jar)
9.30 - nap
11.00 - awake and bottle (6oz)
12.10 - cauliflower cheese (half a jar)
went to play group
1.30 - started yawning and looked very tired but didnt get her home to bed until 2pm
3.30 - awake and bottle (7oz)
6.30 - bath, bottle and bed (would only take 2oz as very tired so think may I may need to adjust the routine)

[Mashi]

Just peeking in here to see what a 7 mo routine looked like! I think yours looks good!  If you are trying to stretch her to bedtime, can you extend one of those naps by another 30 minutes - either the morning or the afternoon, and then that would push things a little bit more to make that stretch to bedtime a bit shorter?

[rhi2005]

The only thing that worries me then is her 4 hourly feeds. For example if I leave her asleep till 11.30am it will put her feeds off for the rest of the day. i.e 11.30,3.30, 7.30.

[Mashi]

Yes I understand. I was worried about that when my DS moved to longer sleeps and longer "A" time (ie/ 2.5 hours of A time, pushing to 3 soon) and asked on the EASY and the Feeding boards about what to do about 4 hour feeds, and I was told that feeds aren't 4 hourly anymore. No one ever really told me how often to space out the feeds, but I don't go by 4 hourly anymore at 6 months. I keep them as close as I can, but I think of them more as a breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime feeds. In our case, that's 630ish when he wakes up, then sometime between 1045 and 1130 depending on nap, then sometime between 300 and 400 dep on naps, and then one right before bed, regardless of how close that is to the last one.

Don't know if that's "right" but as I said, that's what I was told on the EASY boards.  Not saying you have to do this, or that you should of course, just making a suggestion on how to get to the bedtime stretch!  I don't think that 30 minutes at this age, esp when she has solids, will make a big prob with the bottles -- but, you know your LO best!!

[rhi2005]

I suppose it makes sense not to feed 4 hourly now that she is older. The thing is that I find before 4 hours she wont feed properly so I try to space them out best I can. She was fed at 3.45 today and tried to feed her before bed at 6.45 but she would only take 2oz so I think she was maybe full off that previous bottle. Any suggestions on how I can space the feeds out to accomodate naps.

[charmie]

I was also wondering if you are waking up your lo after 1.5hrs.  At this age ideally she should have two 2hr naps, since there is no catnap, and that way the last a time is not that long.  As your baby grows your easy changes.  She can stay longer than 4hrs between feeds.

I would try for something like this;

E 7
S 9.30-11.30

E 11.30
S 2-4

E 4

E 6.30
S 7

df 10/11

You go more by the naps than the feeds.


If you can't make longer naps happen, you can do an early bedtime. 4hrs before bedtime is far too long for a 7mo old.


xxx
charm

[rhi2005]

This seems fine but if she has a feed at 4pm then she wont be interested in her bedtime feed 2.5 hours later which is a concern.

[charmie]

You still offer it, if she doesn't take much, don't worry.  She'll make up for it during df.


xxx
charm

[Mashi]

Yes, I find the same as charmie says -- he often doesn't take much at bedtime but makes up for it at the dream feed.  I just think of the last bottle as a 'bedtime snack' and thus only needs to be a snack. Just enough to top up his tummy so he goes to bed full. Sometimes he takes 7 ounces, sometimes only 3 ounces.