Hiya,
I'm mum to a 5 month old girl, Chloe. We have ended up with some sort of routine but the end of the day routine isn't right at all and I don't know how to fix it! I keep reading different bits of the forum but I just can't get my head around how to do it.
We've recently changed her formula as well as she was on SMA and was having terrible constipation. She's been on Aptamil since last Thursday and naps have gone a bit haywire since then as well.
This is a usual day -
Wake up - between 6:15 and 7am
She's then happy to play in her cot for 30-45 minutes which I don't want to move away from if possible
E - 7:30
A - 8:00
S - 9:30 (usually 30-45 mins)
E - 10:30
A - 11:00
S - 12-12:30 (can range from 45 mins to 2 hours depending on what's going on)
E - 13:30
A - 14:00
S - 15:00 (again, can range from 45 mins to 1.5 hours, or not happen at all and then she'll fall asleep straight after her next feed)
E - 16:30
A - 17:00
S - 18:00 (this is usually a good nap and we have to wake her up for the next feed)
E - 19:30
A - we may do a story as sometimes she will then be awake for 2 hours, sometimes only awake for half an hour
S - ranges from 20:00 to 21:30
Dream feed between 22:30 and 23:00
In her feeds she tends to take between 6 and 7oz, and her dream feed can be anything from 4-5oz.
My problem is that we seem to have two dream feeds most nights - the one at 19:30 and then at 23:00. I don't know where to build in the bath/story routine. We don't bath her every day, but I want to start doing that, but wanted to get the routine right in my head before we start so I don't confuse her. Should her 18:00 nap just be a catnap that I wake her from? Then do we do bath, bottle and story and put her down at 20:00 for the night?
With her naps - she usually only has her late afternoon/early evening nap in her cot and the rest are on her playmat downstairs or on the sofa (or in her pram if we're out). She's really started to fight the tiredness and you can tell she's shattered but just keeps making the odd noise to keep herself awake. The last week I've had to hold her or keep my hand on her tummy to get her to sleep in the day, or resort to going for a walk as I know she'll sleep in her pushchair. At night she will go down awake and then make a bit of noise before she sleeps, so I know she can settle okay. She really is getting herself worked up in the day though.
Any help is really appreciated, thank you.