Would love help with 6 month old EASY routine!

[Momof2-1pink1blue]

Hello! I'm new here! My son, who is 3 now was an EASY baby, and an easy EASY baby at that! He followed routines fabulously, but of course since he was my first, I had all the time in the world to devote to keeping him on track.

My daughter is just over 6 months old, and I'm having a terrible time reading her sleepy signs and keeping her on any type of predictable schedule. We just started solids, which seems to be throwing things off even further.  I will admit I have not been keeping specific track of her awake/nap times, but have been following the E, A, S, loosely.

After reading through a lot of sample routines on this forum last night, I tried to write out what would work as a routine for us. The tricky part in all of this is that on Mon, Wed, Fri, I have to drop off and pick up my son from preschool, and am trying to schedule my daughters naps accordingly.

The last few days have not been going well, which is what prompted me to sign up here and try to get back on track(more about this below the schedule)

So, here is what I have come up with so far:

E: 7:00am bottle 4-5oz
A: 8:15am solids
S: 9:30? - see below.

E: 11:00am bottle
A: 11:50-12:10 drop DS off at school
    12:15pm solids
S: ~1:00-1:30 ?

2:20 - 2:40 pick up DS from school

E: 3:00pm
A:
S: ~4:00?

E: solids 5:30pm
A: Bath 6:15ish
    Bottle 6:45
S: 7:00pm

She still wakes twice a night around midnight, and again at 4am, she'll eat 4 oz each time.


So, as you can see, the schedule needs some work! Yesterday, she only took ONE nap the whole day, and it was terrible, but sadly we are on that path again today... She seemed tired shortly after 9am. We still swaddle her, so I wrapped her up, held her for a few minutes, sang a song, and lay her down awake. She cried so I tried again, got her up for a while, repeated, etc. At 10:10am I gave in and gave her a bottle while swaddled, she had only 2oz, but then pooped, so I changed her and lay her down awake, and she drifted off to sleep without a problem. She poops many times a day so although I'm sure that's part of what was keeping her awake, it's not like she was constipated or uncomfortable...

Sorry this post is all over the place! I'm trying to include everything that may be important!


Thanks in advance, I'd appreciate any advice you have! The last few days have not been good, and I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed!

Thank you!
Lori.

E:

[Yazzie]

((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))...I always consider a mum trying to implement EASY while having another child is a true champ...!

A few things before looking @ the routine, can your dd self soothe to sleep?..if not,did you try sh/pat to help her go to sleep or do you pick up each time?..this is a good link about how to implement it:
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64275.0

You do seem to gave a good wind down going, but could it be too long for her, getting her OS & more difficult to go to sleep, some lo(s) like it short & simple, so that may be something to consider.

Another thing, could you be needing to up her calories, maybe filling her up during the day, would help her STTN or @ least wake less?...You might also want to consider teething, which could 'cause NWs as well.

Theoretically, 2.5hrs A time is suitable for your dd's age, but some lo(s) need more or less, I'd try to put her down within 15~20 mins of seeing those tired signs & see how things go, but have to ask, yesterday, when she went to sleep @ 10.10, did she wake up @ 11.00?

[Momof2-1pink1blue]

Hello, and thanks for your reply! I agree, it's much harder to keep on EASY with another child at home, which is why initially I was going to take a less structured approach(my husband got tired of writing everything down with my son, which we did for over a year, LOL!)

I started writing down DD's routine yesterday, and it ended up something like this:

Nap1
10:15-11:38 asleep (this is about average)

11:40 bottle (2oz)
1:20 bottle(3oz)
(I'm sure I gave her solids in here somewhere but I forgot to write it down and already don't remember!)

Nap 2:
1:44 PU/PD
1:51 PU/PD
1:55-2:35 asleep

Nap 3:
4:07 PU/PD
4:15 PU/PD
4:23 PU/PD
4:44 PU/PD
No nap.

5:30pm solids
~5:50bath
6:20 bottle (only took 1.5oz)
6:36 bed

NF @ 12:00am (4oz)  2:20am (4oz) 6:00am(~2.5oz)

up for the day @ 7:15

So, it was a mess, really! Today I want to stick more closely to 4 hours between bottles, but she's always been a 'snacker'. I'd LOVE to up her calories during the day, but she's rarely taken even 5oz of formula at a time. She seems to quite like her solids, but I'm not entirely sure if I should be filling her with solids at the sacrifice of formula at this age?  She's small - only 14 pounds at 6 months, but my son is also small (28 pounds at 3+ years) so I don't expect DD to be a big eater as she's following the same patterns as DS! As far as night feeding, it's when she eats the best, and she drinks her bottle and goes right to sleep, so I'm not bothered too much at continuing the night feeds for now.. Also, she's got a milk protein intolerance, so she's on Nutramigen (I BF'd until 4ish months, but we had thrush that wouldn't go away, so I sadly made the switch to formula.)

Self Soothing - This is a hit and miss - if she's 'ready' to sleep, I can lay her down awake and she'll drift off without a peep, but if she's not ready she will cry and cry...  shush/pat doesn't seem to work in this case so I PU/PD, but I hold her till I see some sign of drowsy in her eyes, or at least a minute or so, even if she has quieted(she stops crying the second I pick her up). I will for sure check out that link though - I may need a new approach altogether!

Teething - No teeth yet, her two bottom fronts seem a little swollen in the gums, but sometimes I think I'm even imagining that! DS got his first tooth at 8 months, so it's certainly a possibility, but I'm not convinced yet!

So far today things have gone pretty well, though not 'on schedule' the way I would have expected:

Up at 7:15am
 Finished Bottle: ~2.5oz
8:30am - solids (1/2 an avocado)

Nap 1:
9:50- ...still sleeping(!about 30min so far) laid down awake, drifted happily to sleep, yay!!

Maybe she's just a 2 nap baby now???

Thanks again for your input! I actually feel so much better just writing everything down - it helps eliminate the guessing game, for sure!

[*Liz*]

How are you getting on?

I suspect you LO is trying to drop the CN really - and that her A time is between 2.5hrs and 3 hrs.

I think if she self soothes a lot of the time it could very well be that the times she doesn't is because she is UT or OT.

I would aim for 2.5hrs of A time for now and see if that helps you avoid PU/PD.

[Momof2-1pink1blue]

Well, things have not been good lately! Camryn is sick, and stuffed up to the point that she needs to be almost vertical to sleep! So, I have been doing a lot of holding her till she falls asleep, and then gently lying her down  propped up on pillows...Even through all of this though, it does seem apparent that she prefers two naps only. So, once we get over this sickness, I'll take a few days to figure out when she is sleepy. I have a feeling that two naps are going to make things VERY hard when my son has preschool, though!

[*Liz*]

Ahhhh - poor LO  - really hope they feel better soon.

You are totally right to do what you have to do while she is unwell.

Let me know when you are ready to start again - you *could* consider set nap times to get round the preschool issue. Some 6 mth olds will adapt quite well as long as they are not too prone to getting OT.

[Yazzie]

Hey there hun, glad Liz jumped on, ds is down with a cold & to make things worse so am I, that stuffed nose thing is terrible, you might watch out 'cause she maybe needing less A times as she goes through the cold, hope she feels better soon...

[Momof2-1pink1blue]

Thanks everyone! I appreciate all the advice and support! She's starting to breathe a bit better  so I'm hoping we'll be back on track by Monday!