Author Topic: Need a routine!  (Read 1140 times)

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Offline Mom2katiebug

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Need a routine!
« on: May 23, 2006, 20:00:44 pm »
I've been trying to figure this out on my own, but my little brain is just struggling!  Could be sleep deprivation, I don't know.  But, my family needs more of a routine.  Katie is 7MO and goes to daycare.  She doesn't sleep well at daycare (doesn't want to miss a thing!) so that will be a bit of a wrinkle.  Everything I come up with might work for the weekdays, but I don't think I can start my weekends that early. 

6am  DH and I wake and get ready for work. Hopefully DD stays asleep but most of the time she wakes during the 6am hour.
7am Breakfast bottle get ready for the day  (will take 1-4 oz)
7:30am Leave for daycare
8am Arrive/Drop off at daycare

11am Bottle (6-7oz)
noon  Solids (not much, but she's doing better)

Between 10-11 or so, she'll take a nap that lasts 20-45 minutes. 
Between 1-3 or so, she'll take another nap that lasts 20-45 minutes

3pm Bottle (5-7oz)
4pm Solids

4:30pm Pickup from daycare and fall asleep on the drive home (10-15 minute nap).  We've been letting her stay alseep in the car and since she's so overtired, we let her sleep until she wakes.  Can be 30minutes to 2 hours if DH picks her up early.

She's usually so tired that she's in bed during between 6-6:30pm and sometimes we can't do bath, etc.  We get flexible on her "bedtime" bottle sometimes it helps her settle so we'll give it to her in her crib (no FTS though).  Sometimes we'll let her fall asleep and then do a DF if we think she'll eat better.  Sometime we split the bottle and do both.

10pm-ish DF Bottle (6-7oz)

1am-4am Overnight feed (6-7oz)

QUESTIONS:
1.  So, I'm wondering what to do with the "drive-home nap" - guessing we need to wake her from it.  But even when it's a long one and she wakes at say 4 or 4:30pm, she's still ready for sleep at 6pm.  Trying to do anything with daycare naps is almost impossible (see my rants on other posts). 

2.  Would like to do breakfast solids with her, but does that mean a bottle at 6am and solids at 7am?  I really didn't want to get in a 6am wakeup pattern (although we're sort of already there).  Can I do a different routine on the weekends?  I think I know the answer to that already.

3.  Any other suggestions?  Will she naturally drop the DF and overnight feeds or should we "encourage" her?  It's not really an issue for us right now, but don't want to make things difficult later on.  Should we stretch bottles to 5 hours and increase solids? 

Thanks so much for your input!!  You gals are the best!
"Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you also have an obligation to be one."  - Eleanor Roosevelt

Offline Mom2katiebug

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Re: Need a routine!
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2006, 21:29:23 pm »
No, she's not very hungry at her 7am bottle and if she eats her ON bottle late (like 4am), I won't give it to her cuz she won't eat at all.  When I cut it out cold turkey, she ate her 7am bottle well, but we had many more night wakings.  Kept trying for about a week before we caved back in and did the ON feed again.  Cut the night wakings down dramatically. 
"Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you also have an obligation to be one."  - Eleanor Roosevelt

Offline HeatherC

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Re: Need a routine!
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2006, 17:05:55 pm »
Casey, has the daycare tried putting her down for her first nap sooner, say 9?  I think 2-2.25 hrs of A time would be just about right at her age, especially if she's overtired, but if she's even waking before 7 it's more than that. 
I also would suggest you find a way to stop the night feedings.  I remember a post from a mom that added more water and less formula each night to make the bottle less appealing, and she only had to do it for like 2 nights.  Otherwise, you'll need to set yourself in for some nights of pu/pd (if she's crying) or just resettling her until she goes back to sleep.
As for solids and bottles, I always did Kelsey's together, and actually did solids first then bottle.  She never had a problem really, but if I ever noticed she didn't drink her full bottle, I'd cut back on the solids for a few meals until she started drinking her whole bottle again.
Kelsey, Feb. 4, 2005
Landon, Jan. 2, 2007