Hi there! I read the BW books about a month ago and was thrilled to find this message board as well!
I have a wonderful little girl, Nina, who is 12 1/2 weeks. Based on the quiz in Tracey's first book, I'd classify her as mostly Angel/Textbook, although she does get grumpy when she is tired sometimes and just wants to be left alone to sleep (she falls asleep well on own with minimal help).
Here is our rough schedule. Can you look at and offer any advice or insights? Things are going really well - just want to make sure there is nothing we should adjust while Nina is still young and not as set in her habits.
Also, I'm a bit confused about sleep signs. Nina is on a 4-hour schedule (our baby nurse started her that way and it's worked well for us, although she gets hungry after about 3 hours for her dinner bottle so we feed her early for that one). After about 1-1.25 hours of being awake she starts to yawn. Do I then immediately wind down and get her into crib or stroller for nap? Or should I just switch to a lower key activity until more sleep signs come out (like moving head to side, rubbing eyes, etc)? I find that if I put her down for nap too soon she does the 45-minute thing and wakes too early cranky but if I wait too long she has a hard time nodding off.
Anyway, here is our schedule on a good day:
Wake: 7:30
E: 7:45 (about 6-6.5 ounces at each bottle)
A: Until 9
S: 9:15-11:45
E: 11:45
A: Until 1
S: 1:15-3:45
E: 3:45
A: Until 5
S: Try to Catnap from 5:15-6:30 but usually only gets 30-45 minutes in
A: Modified A time to hold over for dinner - wash hair, sing songs, look at mobile - anything to distract if she can't sleep. She gets really cranky and over tired here - what can we do to ease this and make the catnap longer?
E: 6:45 or 7
A: Quiet Activity Time with Dad, talk, maybe read
S: Bedtime at about 7:45
Of course her wake time varies between 7-8 so the rest of the day often adjusts forward or back...
Because of her reflux we don't cluster feed. And the DF backfired on us, making her wake more often, so after she goes to bed we just let her goes until she wakes us - which is usually between 2-3:30, although last night she went until 4:15!
Sorry this is so long. But thanks!