Author Topic: How do I know how much awake time is appropriate for baby's age?  (Read 1302 times)

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Offline becky1969

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This is the thing I' m having most trouble with! First of all, I recognize that it taps into my MAIN weakness as a parent. I'm a "by the book" parent, so I'm very much a clock watcher. But this means that I forget that my LO changes and that I need to change with him! I KNOW this is my weakness, and I'm trying to correct it, but it means that I need some help from the wise women here!

How do I know how much awake time is appropriate for my baby? We've pretty much been putting him down for his naps at the same time the whole time, I'm realizing, and now he's 3 months old! We should probably start transitioning to a 3.5 or 4 hour EASY soon (we're still 3 hour). I've definitely noticed his first 2-3 bottles of the day are small and his last 3 bottles are big! That tells me that he's just not hungry enough for those first few bottles. But I DO watch his sleep cues, and when he starts not having fun any more with his A, that's when we start winding down, and it seems to be right at the hour mark each and every time. Should I be stretching that out?

Perhaps this is the wrong forum, but we've started sleeping thru the  night except we get crying at 4 am, 5:30 am, and he's waking for the day at 6 am (unless he's had a 3 am feed for some reason). Also his naps have all gone to hell. He used to have fabulous 1.5-2 hour naps - slept GREAT! and now I'm having to shush/pat him back to sleep several times. Reading a couple of the stickies in this forum make me wonder if it's because I'm not giving him enough A! Input please!
Owen, 12/28/05 7 lb 2 oz

Enjoying the toddler years!

Jo-FrasersMum

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Re: How do I know how much awake time is appropriate for baby's age?
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2006, 10:51:52 am »
Hi there

It sounds like you are doing a great job, watching for your baby's cues is the most important thing.  There are some sample routines posted by age at the top of the EASY forum, you can have a look there at what might be an average A time depending on your baby's age - but remember, they are all different and you know your LO best. 

If you are planning on moving to a 4 hr EASY, and yes, "most" babies do that at about 4 months - you might lie to try the gradual shift described in Tracy's book so your LO has time to adjust to the different pattern.

Good luck
Jo