After LOTS of thinking, planning and praying, we have a new schedule for Hannah. The last 2 months have been exhausting and filled with many tears (for Hannah and me). I just couldn't decide what to do in order to "fix" her sleep problems. We tried all different things and nothing worked. Finally, after much hesitation on my part, we decided it was time to give Babywise a try. I have read the first book in the series (and am working on the second right now) and really love the idea of BW, but I was so hesitant to start it. The main reason was because of how much trial and error it takes in the beginning to determine baby's "optimal waketime". I just didn't think I could figure that out on my own. I am VERY type-A and like things to be laid out for me, in black and white. With BW I have to do a lot of discerning on my part and that makes me a bit anxious. But after consulting a Babywise website that I LOVE (http://www.babywisemom.com/), I found a general schedule that I could start with and tweak as needed. So on Friday morning, we jumped right in! Here is what our new "ideal" schedule looks like....
8am - Wake Hannah (if she isn't already awake), nurse, feed solids, change diaper, independent playtime (right now she is in her pack n' play with toys for 12 minutes...more on that in another post)
9am - Short story, song, and put down for a nap (1-2 hours, depending on what we are doing that day)
10 or 11am - Wake Hannah, playtime and/or errands
12pm - Nurse, Feed solids, playtime
1pm - Story, Song, Put down for a nap (2 hours, hopefully!)
3pm - Wake Hannah, playtime
4pm - Nurse, Feed Solids, Playtime (I try to do independent playtime again, but not always)
5pm - Story, Song, Put down for a short nap (1 hour at the most)
6pm - Wake Hannah, playtime
7:30pm - Bedtime routine (bath, pjs, nurse, bible story, prayers, bed)
8pm - In bed (this is where the crying begins....she HATES going to bed!)
Things are definitely not perfect and we are still working out the kinks, but I do think that this schedule will work well for Hannah. I am happy that her first two feedings line up with breakfast and lunch and eventually will work on moving her 3rd feeding back a bit to make it line up with dinner time. Then, eventually we will drop that last nursing and be down to just 3 meals a day. For naps, she is taking 3 for now, but will soon drop that third cat nap and just do a morning nap and an afternoon nap. Then at 1 year we will move to just one nap (an afternoon one).
Today is 4 of this new schedule, so I am not judging anything yet...but there is silence in my house right now and that means a sleeping baby! ;-) There is a light at the end of this tunnel!!
Thanks so much for all the advice and encouragement the last few days. It was greatly appreciated!!!
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Sounds very similar to the schedule we've been on the past few weeks but with solids at the last feeding instead of the afternoon one (have been debating switching that though and will probably do so soon as the afternoon one gets pushed back later). I hope it works for you!!
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