Hi there,
My husband had surgery over the holidays and between taking care of him, my 4-year old and my 9-month old I am so exhausted I can't think straight to figure out where and how to start fixing this. Here is our current schedule:
7 - wake & eat breakfast
9:30 - bottle
10:30 - 12 - morning nap
12:30 - lunch
2:00 - bottle
2:30 - afternoon nap
4:00 - dinner
5:00 - sometimes a catnap, otherwise a very cranky baby!
6 - bath
6:30 - bottle & bed
Between 10-11pm he wakes and we give him a bottle
Between 3-4am he wakes and we give him a bottle
Notes:
- I give him food before bottle because I find he doesn't eat as good the other way round. He is a very good eater, with the exception of breakfast...he eats very little breakfast. I'm assuming that is because he is still a but full from the 3am bottle.
- We have tried not giving him the 3am bottle and it's a disaster, he continues to wake until we get up @ 6-7am
-If he goes to bed any later than 6:30pm, he is very restless and wakes often between 7-11pm
- He will most times go to sleep in his crib, by himself. Sometimes instantly, sometimes it takes a while. I think this is because when my husband was recovering, I would rock or hold him to sleep so he wouldn't cry or fuss and wake my husband. I am trying to be consistent by putting him in his crib awake every time now.
- he is a good napper, usually going down for at least 1.5 -2 hrs
- while my husband was recovering, I will admit that some nights I was so exhausted that I would just bring him into bed with me. I don't do it as much now, but I am still very tired and it does happen every few nights for part of the night.
- Here is the part I am having trouble with...he is always tired, rubbing his eyes and being fussy, even right after his naps and at mealtimes. I know this is probably because he's not getting a solid 11-12hrs at night. I also know that his A time should be longer (right now he is taking a nap after only 2hrs of being awake and is sometimes even still taking a catnap @5pm-ish because he is tired and miserable). I don't know how to stretch his A time when he is already so tired! I suspect that is one of the reasons we are having such a hard time right now.
I think that is it, please let me know if I've missed anything.
Any help would be so greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Justina