A routine change for my super-busy boy

[michaeljacknnugg]

The problem with, say, a 10.30 nap is the feed. By rights you'd be expecting one around ten, but then he'd doze off on the boob!

I'm open to giving a snack and maybe a cup of formula, but is the milk really necessary at eight months?

[michaeljacknnugg]

Think I just answered my own question there - I went to try to put him down after a 4hr A and he was desperate for a feed. So a top up is needed somewhere.

[Scottishmummy]

I'm pretty sure milk is recommended as main nutrition source until 12mo. I still feed DD 4x in the day (7,11ish,3ish&6.30).

Hope you get good naps today. I'm also trying to work out best routine for DD and struggling!

[*Liz*]

I wouldn't worry if one nap is a feed before, assuming others are independent at other points.

I do milk before nap and bedtime actually  . Obviously a bottle, but he falls asleep independently afterwards.

[michaeljacknnugg]

Hmmm.

What's your current routine, SM? How do the feeds fit in?

[michaeljacknnugg]

Thinking out loud here:
6am - Wake and feed
7.30/8 breakfast
10am - winddown in bedroom, feed and book. Eventually replace this with cup of formula and book. Take less formula each week if he still goes to sleep with the cup (we were always planning to combo feed, to allow me to go out with my big boy)
Hope he wakes at 11.30! Push this nap further out if possible.
12- lunch
Nap either on way home from school, or just after we get home
5 - dinner
6.30-7 bed. He feeds to sleep at present, might do something to change things up once we have a new routine going.
1

[Scottishmummy]

Our routine is in flux, keep getting EW so just started trying to push nap later.

Anyway today we had this

Wu 5,45, get up at 6
6&7am milk (she'll only take 1 side at 6)
8am breakfast
Nap: 10-11.30
Milk 11.30
Lunch 12.30
Nap 2.25-3.05 ( I was aiming for a 3.30-4pm nap but she fell asleep early in the car)
Milk: 3.15
Tea: 5pm
Milk 6.30
BT 7pm

I have DS tomorrow so going to try for nap 1: 10-10.30 and nap 2:2-3.30pm but milk and meals around same times (afternoon milk a little later obviously, on waking from nap)

[michaeljacknnugg]

So, you don't feed for quite a long stretch in the morning, then?

I had a go at pushing him out further today. He was really fussy in the morning but we grabbed some strawberries from the front garden on the way home from school, and that turned into a (huge) second breakfast. He was really chirpy after that, no signs of tiredness whatsoever, so I aimed for 10.30.

Cue trying to eat me as I put him down....I tried anyway, left him a bit and it was clear he just needed feeding. Asleep within minutes and has just gone through a sleep cycle transition. ETA he did a long nap (for him, 1hr 20), but was shaking like a leaf as he fell asleep.

So he can do a long first nap....but without feeding? I do wonder if life would be much easier if I went 'sod this, I'm just going to enjoy him' and fed him to sleep for all naps.

[Scottishmummy]

How long does he take on a milk feed? If he's up at 6 could you nurse him at 10 & still have time for a short WD before putting him down at 10.30?

You've worked so hard to get him to SS I feel that it would be a shame to lose that hard work...& you said you want to stop BF at 12mo when you go back to work so it would be good to have him managing IS for naps before then so it's not an extra stress as end of Mat leave approaches xxx

[*Liz*]

My DD always short napped without a feed first. Never transitioned anything, not once. Fed before and she was perfect. DS2 doesn't need it in the same way, but I tend to now he is older as it squeezes some calcium in (he tends to refuse milk otherwise).

[michaeljacknnugg]

Ummmm......I'm a bit stumped. Experience over the last few weeks has shown that if I feed him at any time past around nine, he falls asleep. A lot have been short naps, so later and longer is an improvement, but self settling will be difficult to achieve.

I did take him off earlier than normal, and put him down slightly awake. Maybe that's where I start.

[michaeljacknnugg]

The day ended up like this:

Awake 5.50
Nap 10.30-11.50, fed either side of it
14.00 feed
15.0-15.15ish short nap in the car, he woke as I tried to transfer him but was happy enough
18.20 asleep

[Scottishmummy]

Ummmm......I'm a bit stumped. Experience over the last few weeks has shown that if I feed him at any time past around nine, he falls asleep.

This makes me wonder whether he might actually be tired around this time and need a first nap earlier than 10.30? Sorry I haven't reviewed your whole thread, have you tried an earlier, short CN e.g. around 9.30 then a longer nap after lunch?

[michaeljacknnugg]

Yes, we've been like this for a while:

6
9.20-9.50
13.30-14.50
6

But he's clearly not tired for the afternoon nap and fighting it, then OT for bedtime. Self settling has disappeared again, too.

When I pushed him through today he was quite happy, so maybe the tiredness is habitual? He's often fussy very early, like an hour or two after he wakes. And he has good nights, in general 11.5-13.5hrs.

[Scottishmummy]

We hit a similar issue and I kept first nap around 9.30 -9.40 but capped it at 20 mins so we still got 13.30 nap. It worked for 2 wks until we got EW (for 2 weeks) Now I'm pushing through to a longer first A and long first nap and wondering why I didn't just do that in the first place!

No answers sorry, just my own ramblings on our experience!