"typical" A time

[LŠuren]

So today he was up at 0630
I think it is an improvement, because there were no cry outs after 20/40minutes & no night wakings.
Just up happy and squealling at 0630 

I will try early to bed again tonight

[KellyC]

That sounds good Lauren!

This morning Zander woke at 5.30am and really wouldn't settle and I could tell he was hungry so I gave him half of his first feed and put him back down - by 6.30am it was clear he was having none of that so I brought him into our bed to give him the rest of his feed.  I feed him lying down so we must have both fallen asleep because the next thing I remember we both woke up in bed at 8.45am!!  The weird thing is that he started to look tired at about 9.30am and is already having a nap at 10am - today will be a funny day I think!

Kelly x

[katriona]

Wow, that sounds like a good lie in, Kelly! We were up for an hour in the night, which was eventually resolved by some Tylenol -- I don't think the Orajel was able to help with his teething pain. It may also have been due to a late bedtime last night -- DH wanted us to go to some colleagues' for dinner, and even though Theron had woken at 3.15pm, we went. I put my foot down and insisted that we left at 6.40pm, but it was still 7.30pm before he finally was home and asleep, albeit with a sneaky 10 minute nap in the car on the way home.

DH was all "so sorry that we have to be rude and eat and run." We were there for almost 2 hours! These people have had seven kids between them. I think they can remember what it was like.  And this was with him saying to me before we left "don't worry, we'll follow Theron's cues and leave as soon as we have to."

He was fussing a little from 5am onwards, but we both woke up for good at 6.45am. He was just about able to make 2 hours this morning before going down again. We'll see what the day brings...

Hope it goes well/better for you gals!

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

Gage slept until 7:15 am and had 2.5 hrs total nap time.

[KellyC]

That's great Alice!  What does your new routine look like?

[Kate A]

we slept in until 6:45  but had a two hour nap this morning.  For us, I have figured that we need to head to wind down at 2 hours, in bed at 2 hrs 10 minutes  and then she plays in crib for 10 minutes and is asleep.  I don't know if it's because she's over tired, but i think we'll try this for a while.

[LŠuren]

Ok this was Calums routine today;
W0630
E0745
A (total A time 3.25hr)
S0940 - 1100  (put into his cot @0915 for wind-down)
E1215
A (total A time 3.5hr)
S1430 - 1520 (50min in buggy)
E1615
A inc. bath (total A time 3.5hr)
E1830
S1850 - went out like a light 

Total 'A' time 10.25 
Naps 2hrs 
No wake up after 20 / 40mins after being in bed 

Lauren 

P.S - I hope I am not posting here tomorrow to say he woke at 5am or something 

[Kate A]

Lauren - are all your feeds during the day spaced 4.5 hours except the last one?

For your A times, are you all staying home?  AFter wake up in the morning, what do you all do?  I find we don't get dressed for the day until after the first nap, this makes for a lazy day.  Do you guys get up and dressed and go out or just lay low for the first morning A time?

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

Hello again ladies! Sounds like things are going well for most of you. I would love to go out for the first A time as Gage is becoming more whiny, but I just bring myself to go out without a shower. I think this it is best for everyone  Anyway, I try to get out as much as possible nearly every A time for a walk around the block or lake or window shopping etc. Does anyone else's babe whine? Oh Gage is driving me CRAZY with it I just dont know what to do.

Today we had 1hr 45 min of nap time, which is not by MY choice.

7:15 wake
9:42 sleep

10:20 wake
2:15 sleep

3:20 wake
7:00 sleep

I hope he is not overtired tonight. I should have given him a catnap, but it gets to be so late in the day. IYKWIM

[Kate A]

Eloise is starting to whine in the evening and it is starting to drive me crazy too.  We are looking for toys to occupy. Any suggestions?

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

I know, we are looking for toys too. RIght now we are using the all time favorite johny jump up, activity center, leeap frog learning toy, bubbles (if all else fails this works like a  charm!), roll small 4 square ball back and forth (while Gage sits up), bouncer with hangingg things (not so fond of anymore), and little odds and ends. I try everything to entertain, but I think he should be able to play alone for a little bit. how long can eloise (love the name, it so feminine) play be herself?

[LŠuren]

Kate/Alice - Calum was whinging last week, this was what lead me to beleive he was overtired becasue it REALLY wasn't like him (but whinging can be due to other things too.......


Well last night we woke at 0430  and was awake for 1hr, he was then woken up by the shower at 0615. So I have been in tears already this morning , not just due to that but that just topped it off as far as I was concerned.

Kate - I usually try and stay in the first 'A' time, if we go out for the day it is easier for me to go when he wakes from his 1st nap and feed when I am out. Yes, he does 4.5hr and still CF's to an extend in the evening we have alwayds done it - that is his hungriest time.

Lauren 

[KellyC]

Sorry you're feeling down today Lauren, I hope things get better for you soon.

Our first A time consists of Zander sitting in his walker whilst I have my breakfast and do the hoovering (I have to do this every morning as there is dog hair everywhere!).  Then he plays on the floor for a while (because it's nice and clean by now!) whilst I make his breakfast.  Then he has his breakfast and then plays on his own in his cot whilst I get showered and dressed and then it's time for his nap.  During his nap I do the clothes washing and load and unload the dishwasher and then come on here for a while before he wakes up 40 minutes later!!  When he wakes up today I'll get him dressed and give him a bf before we go to our Boogie Babies class - this finishes at 12 so we'll hurry home for him to have his lunch and then it's time for his nap - hopefully a long one this time and I do a little more housework.  I've been cr@p at housework since Zander was born so I've given myself one task to do each day during his pm nap and once that's done I can have some guilt free time on the computer.  Another bf and maybe a snack when he wakes up and then in the afternoon we either play at home or visit my parents or go for a short walk, then it's time for his dinner, bath and book, bf and bed - then time to cook our dinner and have a well deserved glass of wine 

Last night was the best in ages!  He went to bed at 6.20pm and woke this morning at 6.10am with no wake ups.  In fact, he was so quiet I was worried something was wrong    When I went in this morning he wasn't crying (can't remember the last time he didn't wake up crying either!) he was just led on his tummy and smiled when he saw me.  He was so hungry, he had his mouth open like a baby bird from the moment I got him out of his bed until the moment I latched him on.  Yesterday we only had about 1hr15 of naps which isn't something we'll be trying to replicate to get another good night's sleep but I am going with the short am nap and long pm nap today to see where that gets us.

Zander whines when he's tired - sometimes he yawns and/or rubs his eyes but he always whines.  I find it so frustrating that I'm the only one who seems to notice so I'm sure if I wasn't here he wouldn't get put to bed when he was tired.

[Kate A]

sorry lauren - I hate it when the day starts out that way.

I'm glad i'm not alone in waiting to get the day started after first nap.

Gage's mom - thanks, I love her name too She plays really well by herself.  In the morning I go in and bf, then we used to have this great mobile but we had to take it down becuase she could reach it , so now I put her back in her crib and put on some music and lay some toys in her crib for her to play with.  This usually means she's trying to pull herself up on the sides of her crib.  I go downstairs and make coffee, get breakfast and set up the house for her play.  I grab her from the crib and we play downstairs on the floor.  Sometimes in her saucer but most of the time she's crawling around.  Then about 10 minutes before bed I turn on a baby einstein to get her relaxed.  We only watch about 10 minutes.  Then we read and to bed.  She is actually very good about playing by herself, she always has been.

Lauren - I understand about housework.  I had to make a schedule for myself with one task each day.  And I promised myself that everynight before  bed I would have a clean sink.  No dishes left there.  It makes for a peaceful morning.  Today is laundry day.  I don't do DH's laundry so it's just me and eloise. (he's picky about what get's washed and dried.  Fine by me, I never have to do his laundry

i did the same as yesterday so hopefully that will bring about a good am nap.  I did give me a 20 minute catnap yesterday and she had no wakeup's until 11:30.  This is an improvment from the every 40 minutes     She has a cold now too, so no pushing the sleep.  We are nursing twice now to get the fluids in and get rid of it.

good luck with the sleep tonight

[katriona]

hi ladies,

we had a pretty good night. theron was crying when we put him to bed at 6.30pm, but i think this is more because mommy had perfume and make-up on, so he knew something was up (my FIL was babysitting; DH and i had our first date in 7 months!!). i trusted FIL, so was happy to leave him even upset. FIL apparently gave him some cuddles, told him it was time for sleep, laid him in the crib, prayed over him (he's a pastor), and theron quietened down and went to sleep! wow. i wonder if i can convince FIL to stay longer than a week 

we'd given theron a tylenol suppository for his cutting teeth which probably helped to. he was crying at 5.15am, so i went in and fed him -- 20 minutes on one side. he was hungry! -- then back to bed, and he slept till 7am. i think it was daddy getting ready for work that woke him so early this time 

looking at my log yesterday, we had three naps totalling 2 hours 20 mins, 2 hours of A time before the first nap, and 3 between the last nap and bedtime. for some reason after the first 1.5 hour nap, it was a real struggle to even get that second A time to 1.5 hours. i'd been hoping he could pull a long one after such good rest! oh well. i'm sure the mystery will resolve itself with time.

our first A time is generally indoors. we get up, b/f and change diapers. then we walk around the house opening up all the curtains and looking out the windows to see what's happening in the world. then i put theron in his walker in the front room while i pump some milk for his breakfast. i walk him into the kitchen (saying "exterminate, exterminate" because he reminds me of a little dalek in his walker!) and get our breakfast ready, then we eat together. he eats in his bouncy seat because we haven't yet got a high chair for him  after breakfast i snap on the bouncy seat's toys, and we hang out in the kitchen while i clean up from the day before ( ) and put the dishwasher on. then we sit out on the porch with a sippy cup of water for him, and watch everyone going up and down our hill. he loves to watch the cars, and people walking their dogs. about half an hour before i think his nap will need to be, we go into the bathroom, and i take a shower while he lies on his changing mat playing with his toes (i know this will have to change once he starts moving around more!). then it's theron's bathtime, and by the end of that he's pretty much ready for his naptime routine, and it's into his crib, and he's out within 10 minutes.

wish i could say that i used naptime to catch up on that housework, but the computer is always calling... actually kelly, you inspired me to throw on a load of laundry this morning as i walked back in from the porch! i don't mind doing it, it's folding it and putting it away that i hate... as a result we have baskets of clean laundry all over the house lol 

hope your day gets better lauren. good sleep luck to all you gals!

katy