Ask Josie - Establishing a Sleep Routine?

Welcome to my new series where I answer reader questions...

Q: We are trying to establish a sleep routine for our 5 month old daughter. I'm sorry to say that she had not been on a routine prior to this. The consequence was erratic feeding and sleeping, very short naps, very short wakeful periods, constant night-waking -- and a very fussy little one.

We have read all the books you can imagine (Weissbluth, Ferber, Hogg, etc.) and after much trial and error, we're currently using Tracy Hogg's, The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems, plan to put her on a 4-hour EASY routine. (Pages 36-49 for a baby who has never been on a routine before.)

Hogg is clear that you need to hold your baby pretty strictly to clock times during the retraining period. She doesn't explicitly state this, but she seems to imply that it can take as much as a couple of weeks for a baby's internal clock to get used to the routine. Does this sound right to you?

On day 5 of holding her to this routine, I am having some concerns.

1) It is usually quite hard to keep her awake between naps. Sometimes she'll be giving tired cues as much as an hour before her next scheduled naps.

(2) There is no mention of what to do if she takes a good 1.5 hour nap (rather than the prescribed 2 hours). Say she naps from 9:00-10:30. Well, her next scheduled nap isn't until 1:00, which means she has 2.5 hours (rather than 2 hours) of wakefulness to get through. Does that seem right? Should she be able to handle that at her age once her body adjusts to the routine?

We have had some success in the past couple of days using Hogg's "pick up/put down" method to try to get her to sleep longer. Of course, when this fails, then she has to be awake for epic lengths of time on a tiny amount of sleep to get to the next nap.

Yesterday was a bad day for naps, but we're sticking to our guns and hoping she'll adjust. Any words of wisdom you have would be greatly appreciated. We so hope we are doing the right thing. It is just crushing to see her so tired all the time...

A: First off, congratulations on trying to get your baby on a routine! Getting this predictable routine in place now will pay off immensely later on.

I know it's really tough to establish a routine for the first time. I think the key is not to thrash around. Read up, decide on a course of action, and stick with it consistently for 1-2 weeks. If it isn't working by then, that's a clue that this is not the right routine for your baby, and you should try something else. The key is to not get impatient after 3 days and switch to something else. It sounds like you are being very patient. That's great!

5 months is a tough age because that is right around the transition form the 3 hour to 4 hour schedule. Some babies are ready earlier than others.

It sounds to me like the 4 hour routine might be too long for her. If she is consistently tired earlier, then that might be a clue that she needs a shorter cycle. You could try moving back to a 3.5 hour routine and see if that works better for her.

Once she is on a consistent routine - any routine - then it will be easier to slide her into the 4 hour routine later.

Sometimes, babies who sleep through the night very early on, need to eat more frequently during the day in order to get in all their calories. So, they can sometimes stick with a 3 hour schedule longer than babies who wake up at night to feed.

As far as tying to get her to sleep longer naps. This is tough. When my babies slept for at least an hour and then woke up, I found that it was difficult to get them to go back to sleep. If they slept for less than an hour, they were not fully rested, and I could usually get them to sleep longer by going in and soothing.

I have had limited success with the pick-up-put-down method. It worked a few times for HB, but didn't work at all for AB. I found that with AB, it worked better to soothe him in his crib, but not to pick him up. Pick-up-put-down seemed to make him even more angry, and so it was not conducive to getting him to go to sleep!

I hope this information helps!

Readers, what do you think? How long do you stick with a new routine before deciding it isn't working?

If you have questions you would like to ask, please email me: josie (at) organizedmommyblog.com

Related posts:
Essential Organized Mommy - Posts for New Moms
Baby Sleep Routines for 0-1yr

Holding Down the Fort While Mommy is Away

Photo by lrargerich

This is a guest post by Organized Mommy's husband, Mike (a.k.a. Disorganized Hubby).

Here's the tale of how I took care of the 9-month old and 2.9 year old for 6 nights while Josie was on a business trip. It certainly felt heroic, even though stay-at-home moms do it day in and day out.

Actually, it wasn't that difficult, mostly because Josie has created a truly ridiculous amount of structure to make life easy. I'll walk you through the routine and highlight the organized pieces.

The story comes in three acts: morning, evening, bedtime.

Act 1: Morning

Scene 1: 6am: Baby Wakes

Baby wakes up, crying and hungry. Grab the prepared pre-measured funnel of formula and the pre-filled water bottle from the dresser. Dump in, mix, and into the baby's room within 1 minute. (why a funnel? because I'm pretty groggy in the morning and have managed to dump half the formula outside of the bottle on several occasions without realizing it. No fear, the baby realizes that he's drinking mostly water and lets you know. Loudly. So now we use a funnel.)

Baby's fed. Change diaper on the diaper station (first grab toy from shelf above station to distract him).

Scene 2: 6:30 am, Toddler wakes. Straw cup of milk for her (no spills!), put baby in playroom with toys (in line of sight from kitchen), pack lunch for toddler (reserved portion from dinner last
night, TJ's applesauce cup, TJ's cheese stick, juice in 2nd straw cup). Hint: if your toddler is suddenly obsessed with color matching, do NOT say "the cup lid and cup body do not have to match". Otherwise your carefully optimized schedule will take a 5-minute hit for teary toddler soothing and then having to find and wash the matched lid anyway. So now I match the lid colors when taking the cups from the dishwasher.

What's organized about this?

1. Packing leftovers the night before into the little lunch Tupperware is a huge timesaver. Also, it's a quick like/dislike screen; if she enjoyed dinner last night, she'll like lunch.

2. There are 4 options for 'fruit cup': plain applesauce, berry applesauce, mango fruit cup, mixed fruit cup. They're all next to each other in the pantry and it's easy to cycle between them to add
variety (and reduce tears).

3. We cut our juice 3:1 with water. This is not to save money, but to reduce the amount of sweets that HB consumes. As a nice side-effect, it reduced the amount of juice that we consume by a factor of 3, eliminating a large, bulky, and frequent purchase. Oh and for variety, TJ's juices are fantastic: mango, cherry, black raspberry, peach; you name it, they have it, and the variety keeps HB entertained. Plus she can choose her juice colors: red juice, purple juice, or yellow juice.

Scene 3: The dreaded daily dressup, Toddler's room

Transition sequence: grab baby in one arm, shepherd toddler up the stairs. Try to prevent her from carrying ALL of the playroom contents into her room.

HB's outside clothes are all in one drawer, easily reachable by her. Yes, she has far more clothes than can fit in one drawer, but the week's contents are prepped ahead of time. Even better, Josie arranges little packs of matching pants/shirt/sweater, to prevent further outbreaks of what she calls "Daddy Dressed-me Days". I figure that there aren't any fashionistas at daycare, but for some reason Josie thinks that it's important for HB's clothes to at least match. In any
case, the little packs make it really easy to grab a set and give them to HB. These days, she picks her outfits by herself anyway.

Now the scene really wouldn't be complete without the baby crawling around the room and trying to pull open every drawer, and half-dressed HB running around singing the "I'm all naked" song.

What's organized about this? Mostly the weekly clothes cache, and the matched outfit packs, but also that we have some baby toys parked in HB's room so that the baby can play with those while we attend to HB. Oh, and the changing station is on top of the clothes drawer so that
it's easy to peel off the jammies and put on the outfit in one fell swoop. These days it's more challenging because HB wants to dress herself, but it used to be a good trick.

Scene 4: How to get ready for work yourself.

Get resigned to chilly showers. Got to keep the bathroom door open to keep an eye on the little monster and the tiny monster. Park the infant in a exersaucer (aka the Jail) right next to the bathroom door. Stick your head out of the shower and make eye contact every minute or so. Even then, his tolerance for being in jail is about 5 minutes, so get showered quickly.

Tune in next week for Acts 2 and 3: Evening and Bedtime

What to Do When Your Baby Has a Cold

Aagh! AB just caught his first cold of the season. The poor little guy is so miserable!

When I'm sick, I head straight for the drugs! I get such bad post-nasal drip that I literally can't sleep without NyQuil. However, we can't do the same for our kids. I hope everyone knows by now that you should not use cold medications for children (MommyDocs). They don't work in children and worse, they are dangerous. If you have any children's cold medicine (like cough supressant, or nasal decongestant) lying around (have you been living under a rock?), you should go and get rid of it right now.

Here's what we are doing to keep AB comfortable:
For sleeping:
* Saline Spray - one spray in each nostril right before going to bed
* Snot Sucker - wait a few seconds after the saline spray and suck up all the snot. Most babies (AB included) HATE this! But it will really help them sleep better.
* Use a humidifier in their rooms. We have the Kaz PersonalMist Humidifier in all our bedrooms. The reservoir only holds enough water for one night - which is a good thing - because water doesn't stagnate and grow nasty mold. It also doesn't have a filter which is just another word for "mold growing medium". Just rinse out with some soapy water every few days to keep it clean.
* Use the Vicks Soothing Vapors Plug-Ins. To my surprise, it really does reduce the congestion and he seems to sleep much better.

Overall:
* Make sure they get extra sleep. Put them down 30 min to 1 hour early for bed. You may notice them getting tired earlier anyway. Extra rest will help them fight off the cold faster.
* Give them extra fluids to keep them well hydrated.
* Put lotion on their faces. AB rubs the snot all over his face which causes his skin to get chapped much faster than usual.

Note 1/17/09: There is a new warning about Vics Vapor rub being unsafe in children under age 2 (safemama). This is for the Vics Vapor rub that is directly applied to the body. I am not sure if this also applies to the plug-in vaporizers. Please consult your physician before administering any medication (prescription or over the counter) to your baby.

Related articles:
Tips for avoiding catching colds (Parent Hacks)

Baby Feeding Gear - 3 Essentials

AB is now 6 months old! And boy is he *huge* (past the 97th percentile on height and weight)! At around 4 months, he hit a growth spurt that has just continued unabated for 2 months now. At some point, he just wasn't getting enough calories from breast milk and he started waking up in the middle of the night to eat. So, we started him on solid foods a bit early to get more calories in him during the day.

I reviewed my earlier post on baby food in the first year, thinking that I might revise it, but found it to be pretty much complete. But, what I haven't written about is gear!

There are three essential items that you need in order to feed a baby (drum roll please)...
* a highchair
* a bib
* a spoon

Really - that's it! It doesn't get any simpler.

In highchair-land, I like to keep it really simple. We use the Safety 1st Booster Seat attached to a regular dining room chair. I dislike big bulky special purpose items (like formal high chairs, changing tables, and cribs) that you only use for a short amount of time and then have to get rid of or store in your attic. The thing I love about this booster seat is that it fits in my dishwasher. Every couple of weeks, I just disassemble it and load it up in the dishwasher and, voila, it's clean! This model has been around and essentially unchanged for years, so you are likely to be able to find it on Craig's list. They hold up really well, so there is no need to buy it new.

You do not need to get fancy with bibs either. I like the bib to be easy to clean, and to have a catch pocket that stays open. Many bibs have catch pockets that are sewn flat against the main bib making them essentially useless for catching anything and impossible to completely clean. I love the Built NY Tidy Bib. It's made of wetsuit material which is easy to clean. I just wash it off with a sponge on a per-use basis and toss in the washer once a week (inside a mesh laundry bag so that the Velcro will not catch on other items). The catch pocket is created with Velcro closures allowing the bib to open completely flat for cleaning. Other people really like the Baby Bjorn Bib. I decided against it for my own use because it's a bit bulky to pack in the diaper bag. But it's a good option if you don't mind the bulk.

Spoons - use any baby-sized spoon you want. It really doesn't matter as long as it's small enough to fit in their mouth. But, for feeding on the go, I absolutely *love* the Boon Spoon! The food goes into the spoon handle and is dispensed out onto the spoon as you squeeze. It's brilliant! You can feed the baby with one hand anywhere you are without fumbling with a food jar and spoon separately. There is a little lid that snaps onto the spoon for traveling and storage. Because the food is dispensed onto the spoon directly, there are fewer drips down the baby's chin. It also solves the problem of the famished baby getting frustrated that you can't spoon the food out of the baby jar fast enough. With the Boon Spoon, you can squirt the food out as fast as your little guy can eat it. (Did I mention AB's 2-month long continuous growth spurt? This little guy is *hungry*!)

Tips on pumping milk for working moms

Ugh. Pumping sucks! It has to be one of the least enjoyable parts of being a new mom. But, to me, the inconvenience of pumping at work is totally worth the benefits my baby gets from drinking breast milk. Here are some tricks I've come up with to make the process easier.

* If you can afford it, get an extra breast pump and keep one at work. It is so nice to not have to lug a pump to and from work everyday. I have two Medela Pump-in-Styles.

* I carry just the freezer bag to and from work every day. The freezer bag holds the ice pack, two bottles with two pump assemblies attached, and the bags of expressed milk. I keep the cones in a separate zip lock bag. After pumping, I use the Medela Breastpump Accessory Wipes to wipe the cones, whereas the bottles and assemblies are returned to the freezer bag. Not washing the pump assemblies between pumpings saves lots of time, yet it is still sanitary since they are kept cold between pumpings. I bring them home at the end of the day where they get washed and sterilized.

* I have three sets of cones, pump assemblies and bottles. My nanny does the bottle washing and sterilizing. Three sets is enough so that I can wait until she cleans them so that I don't have to ever wash them myself. Not that I'm against washing bottles myself, but it is one thing you can have your nanny do to save yourself time. If you take your kid to daycare, consider having 5 sets so that you can save all the washing and sterilizing for the weekend.

* I have the baby on a set schedule and I pump at the same time as he would be eating. This keeps my milk supply as consistent as possible, and makes weekend feedings easier since my milk supply is in sync with the baby.

* After pumping, I pour the milk into milk bags for storage. When pouring the milk, I know how much my baby takes at a feeding, and I store only that amount per bag. So, for instance, if my baby is eating 5oz per feed, and I pump 6 oz, I will pour 5 oz into one bag, and 1oz into another bag. Then, I can use that extra 1oz as a supplement for a time when I only pump 4oz. I think you end up with much less wasted milk this way, and are less likely to stress about times when you pump less than your baby eats. I like the Lansinoh milk bags because they are easy to write on and pour from, and have a double zip lock for leak-proof-ness. I keep a pen in my pump bag to label the bags immediately so that I don't forget.

* I use a larger size pump cone. I find it more comfortable and I get more milk that way. If you find pumping really uncomfortable, consider trying a larger size cone.

* I keep a burp cloth in my pump bag. I place it on my lap when I am pumping so that drips of milk don't mess up my outfit.

* I keep a water bottle in my office and make sure to drink one full bottle (12oz) of water every time I pump. Before I pump, I go to the restroom to wash my hands and fill up my water bottle. Then I drink the bottle of water as I pump. Keep a bottle of hand-sanitizer in your office for washing your hands on those times when you are really pressed for time.

* I use the Easy Expression Hands Free Bustier Nursing Bra so that I can type and catch up on email during my pumping sessions. Other people like to look at a picture of their baby and relax during their pumping sessions.

* I schedule my pumping time into my outlook calendar with a 15 min reminder. That way, I can finish up what I am doing, wrap up any meeting I am in, and make sure to pump on time. This also ensures that people don't try to schedule meetings with me when I am scheduled to pump so that I am sure to have this time free. Instead of labeling the pumping time with anything so obvious, I label it as "Xcorp conference call" where Xcorp is a made-up company name. I work in a very male-dominated field, and I think a lot of the guys I work with would be embarrassed if they knew I was pumping. A friend of mine works in a female-dominated field, and puts a cow magnet on her office door when she is pumping. I think it is so great that her colleagues are supportive of her pumping to the extent that it can be handled in such a light-hearted way, but it's just not the case where I work.

* My lactation consultant gave me some golden advice that has saved me tons of time. You only need to pump for 2 minutes past when your letdown has finished. If you are going to have another letdown, it will happen during that 2 min. I used to pump for a set amount of time. Most of that time was spent at the end with only little drops of milk coming out. It turns out that this not only is unnecessary, but puts extra wear and tear on your nipples.

* Breast pumps are good for only about 500 hours of operation. Then, the motor begins to wear out and no longer provides optimal suction. 500 hours is typically no more than 2 babies-worth. So, if you are on your third kid, you will want to get a new pump.

* Some insurance companies cover breast pumps. Check if yours does before purchasing it on your own. This can save you lots of $. You will just need either your OBGYN or your Pediatrician to write you a prescription.

Related Posts:
Essential Organized Mommy - Posts for New Moms

Baby Food in the First Year

Babies start eating solid food around 6 months (as early as 4 months if recommended by your pediatrician). The best book to have on this topic is "Super Baby Food". I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it is a treasure trove of advice on which foods are safe at what ages, how much food a baby needs at what age, and how to create a healthy balanced diet for your baby. On the other hand, this book is guaranteed to make you feel inadequate as a mom. Suggestions, like mixing brewers yeast and desiccated liver into your home-made whole-grain baby cereal, are beyond the amount of effort I can (or would) put into my baby's meals.

I have no romantic ideals about what a super mom I would be if just spend all day growing, steaming, and pureeing organic vegetables to be lovingly fed to my baby. If you could buy healthy organic baby food at the store for a reasonably low price, I would be all over that! While there are a number of organic baby food options available now, they are often pretty expensive. Also, they only come in individual serving sizes that consume an inordinate amount of packaging and waste for the environment. I try to tread the balance of saving the environment, saving my bank account, convenience, and feeding my baby the best food I can.

Using the methods below takes no more than 15 minutes of food prep every week. To me, that is an excellent trade-off for serving slightly healthier, cheaper, and more environmentally-friendly food to HB.

Here's what worked for us:

I followed the super baby food book in terms of:
* what foods to introduce and when
* feeding a balanced diet (how many servings of what fruits/veggies/protein/etc per day/week)
* I skipped the "super baby food supplements" (brewer's yeast, desiccated liver, etc) that seemed like too much effort.
* I also never made my own super baby porridge that is so highly recommended in this book. I just used organic whole grain instant baby cereal from the grocery store.

I bought Gerber Organics or Earth's Best organic baby foods

I supplemented where possible with pureed adult food to reduce costs and environmental waste:
* Applesauce - there is no reason to pay $2 for 5 oz of baby applesauce when you can buy a 25oz jar of organic apple sauce for the same price! Make sure it's organic, and that there is no sugar added. The ingredients should read "organic apples, water (and possibly Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C))". At Trader Joes, I've also found organic pear, peach, and mango sauce.
* Bananas - are you kidding me? How easy is it to mush up a banana? Bananas also travel well in the diaper bag.
* Avocado - an oft-overlooked baby food. Has lots of fats for the brain and lots of vitamins. It's been said that if you had to choose one food to live off of on a dessert island, it would be avocados. Easy to mush up as you scoop it out.
* Baby yogurts - Buy a large tub of plain whole milk yogurt, and mix with any fruit puree or banana.
* Tofu - soft tofu easily mashes into any food for an added protein boost. Hard tofu cut into little blocks makes a great finger food.
* Hard-boiled eggs - I loved the super baby food book suggestion of having one egg yolk every other day. It's a great source of cholesterol (great for baby brain development), protein, and vitamins. You can cook 4 eggs on the weekend to last you the whole week. Prep time: 15 min. Note that babies can have only the yolks until age 1. After age 1, we switched to scrambled eggs with a little whole milk and cheese mixed in.
* Lentils - a great source of protein, iron, and other vitamins. They are difficult to find in baby food format. I buy a can of organic kidney beans or garbanzo beans at the store. I puree one can in the blender with some added water. Pour into ice-cube trays, and freeze. One can makes 1 tray of cubes. You can keep them in the freezer for some time (see super baby food book on exact storage times). To serve, defrost one or two cubes in the microwave and stir in some instant baby cereal to make a thick consistency. I like to call the version made with garbanzo beans "baby hummus", and the version with kidney beans "red beans and rice (cereal)". I freeze two cans of beans at a time which lasts about two weeks. Prep time: 10 min.
* Other vegetables - you can buy organic canned veggies and puree them yourself using the ice-cube tray method (above). You can do the same with frozen veggies (puree after cooking). It's all a matter of how much money you want to save vs. how much prep time you are willing to put in. I try to save the prepared baby foods for when we are out of the house, and try to use the home-pureed ones when we are eating at home. For things that are hard to find in canned version, like squash and sweet potatoes, I just use the prepared baby food versions. I once tried steaming and pureeing my own sweet potatoes, and it turned out to be way too much effort.
* Baby "meals" - as your baby gets older, the baby foods become more sophisticated ("Chicken dinner", etc.). To make my own "chicken dinner", I use the ice-cube tray method to puree and freeze a can of organic chicken soup. To serve, defrost 1-2 cubes in the microwave, and mix with instant baby cereal. You have to be a little careful about reading the labels. Make sure that all the ingredients are on your baby's list of approved foods. Most organic chicken soups have a really simple ingredient list. So, I am always able to find one or two brands that work. You can do the same with split pea soup and other canned organic soups, and also with organic spaghetti O’s (skip the pureeing, just fill the ice-cube trays and freeze).
* Chicken broth - once your baby is approved for chicken, you can start using chicken broth in lieu of water for mixing baby cereals and thinning down other foods. This adds flavor, fats, and protein. Make sure to get the full-fat version, since most organic broths are also "low-fat".

Snacks - Here's a list of healthy snacks that we like
* flat earth fruit and veggie crisps
* snap-pea crisps (nearly 100% snap peas, avl. at Trader Joes).
* freeze dried fruit (bananas, apples, etc)
* Fruit cups. Try to find ones packed in 100% juice. Dole fruit cups are widely available, but even the "light" versions contain corn syrup. Trader Joes sells jars of peaches, pears, and mangoes packed in juice. But, you have to chop up the fruit yourself. I have yet to find pre-chopped individual-serving-size fruit cups that are not packed in syrup. So, we use the Trader Joes fruit at home, and save the Dole fruit cups for when we are out.
* Annie’s mac n' cheese single-size servings. Mix in a small handful of shredded cheese to make it cheesier and some frozen veggies for an added healthy kick.
* Annie’s cheddar bunnies
* small pieces of cheese, and cheese sticks
* whole grain crackers and cereals
* smoothies - in a blender, mix yogurt, frozen fruit, a banana (optional), and some fruit juice. Serve with a spoon, or in a cup with a straw.

I am a strong believer in not feeding sugar (in the form of added sugar or corn syrup) to your baby. HB didn't have any sugar until her 1st birthday when she had birthday cake. From age 1-2, we limited sugar to occasional treats (maybe 1 cookie a week, and occasional trip to the ice cream store), and the fruit cups packed in light syrup when we are traveling. We even dilute her fruit juice 3:1 with water to make it less sweet (even 100% juice contains a large amount of natural sugar). There is no benefit in giving your kids sugar. If they aren't used to eating sugar, they really don't miss it. Aside from an occasional treat, I don't think that sugar should be a regular part of any kid's diet. I don't go overboard in forbidding sugar (like if the kids at playgroup or daycare bring in cookies or cupcakes, she eats them), but we make sure that it's not a part of her regular diet.

Baby Sleep Routines for 0-1yr

"Is your baby a good sleeper?" is always one of the questions asked of new moms. A "yes" reply gets a "you're so lucky!" response, a "no" reply elicits a knowing welcome-to-parenthood half-smile.

It's so hard to know how much sleep, and on what schedule will work for your baby. The main problem, IMHO, is that the how much sleep and on what schedule changes so quickly in the first year. Just as you get the baby into a good pattern, something changes and it's time to move on to a new pattern.

The best book I've come across on the subject is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" (HSH) (see my reference books posting). It gives great research results on how much sleep a baby should be getting for a given age, but is so wishy-washy about how to accomplish it. The Baby Whisperer (BW) talks about schedules, but the clues to what schedule is right for what age baby are not so forthcoming.

Here's my run down on the progression of sleep schedules based on the advice in the two books and what ended up working for HB.

Routine 1:

2.5 - 3hr cycle

When: from newborn

Follow the EASY routine in the BW. Eat-Activity-Sleep-You-Time. Feed the baby upon waking. Feeding takes 30-45 min. Awake for a total of 1 to 1.5 hours. Watch for second yawn. Then, 15-20 min to fall asleep, and sleep for 1.5 to 2 hours. For a total cycle of anywhere between 2.5 to 3 hours. If the baby sleeps for less than 1 hour, try to get him to go back to sleep. Otherwise, let him wake up and begin the routine again with a feeding.

Nighttime:

Night time starts around 7pm and goes to around 5:30-7am. Follow the same routine, except skip the activity/awake time. When they wake up, feed them, diaper change if needed, and put them back to bed. Keep the lights low and keep the interaction to a minimum. Don't talk or make eye contact, and keep things really sedate. This gives them the clue that it's not time to wake up and play. They should stay half-asleep and groggy through the whole endeavor and go back to sleep almost immediately upon going back into their crib.

Things to watch out for:

If they seem to be hungry more often than every 2.5 hours, then they just need to suck. Use a pacifier.

If they seem sleepy after they feed, and it's during the day, wake them up! It's just an oxytocin overload from the breast milk. Make sure they get their awake activity period during every daytime cycle.

If during the day they sleep longer than 2 hours, wake them up. Keep the whole cycle to less than 3.25 hours during the day for the first few weeks when you are trying to establish the schedule. You want them to sleep their long stretches at night, not during the day.

Routine 2:

Skip one night feed

When: around 4-6 weeks (BW says when baby weighs more than 10 lbs and consumes 25-30oz during the daytime or 6-8 breast feedings per day). Make sure the day and night routines from Routine 1 are well-established before moving onto this Routine.

Same as Routine 1, but during the night, baby can skip one night feed. See BW pg. 185 on how to accomplish this transition. Basically, use pacifier or pick-up-put-down method to comfort them when they wake up for the feed. After a few nights, they will not wake up anymore.

Routine 3:

Longer Stretches of Night Sleep

When: around 6 weeks

To get longer stretches of sleep at night, use cluster and dream feeds. See BW p. 185. Our typical schedule: Cluster feed at 6pm and 8pm. Dream feed at 10:30 or 11:00pm.

Routine 4:

Skip cluster feed
When: baby starts taking less and less milk during dream feed

At some point, the baby will be getting enough calories during the day that she will not need the cluster feeding. You will notice that she takes less and less at each dream feed. Stop cluster feeding. Before she goes to bed, just keep on the 3-hour routine. Continue the dream feed.

Note: for Routines 2, 3, and 4.
You can move at any time to a set schedule, rather than a rotating routine. We switched over to a set schedule about two weeks before I returned to work. It's still the EASY cycle, but you feed at the same time every day. For us it was 7, 10, 1, 4, and 7. At work, I pumped at exactly the same time as the baby was eating, and it seemed to keep my milk supply very consistent. It also made the night routine happen at the same time every night, which added a lot of predictability to our evenings. Our policy was 15 minutes of wiggle room. That is, we would move the feeding no more than + or - 15 minutes off the schedule depending on how the baby was doing that day. If the baby is waking up at random times at night, try switching to a set schedule during the day. This will add a lot more predictability.

Routine 5:

4-hour schedule with dream feed
When: 3-4 months

This is where you need to read the Baby Whisperer's second book. At some point around 3-4 months, the baby will go through a growth spurt and her sleep habits will start to go haywire. She will start to sleep shorter more erratic periods and want to be fed at odd times. This is your clue that she needs to move to the 4-hour schedule. The 4-hour schedule is WONDERFUL!! Skipping one feed at night means a whole 8 hours of sleep for Mom! During the day, you have more time to be out and about without worrying about the logistics of feeding the baby.

Move baby from the 3-hr to 4-hour schedule by slipping the schedule by 15 minutes every day. So, Day 1 is a 3.25 hour schedule. Day 2 is a 3.5 hour schedule. Day 3 is a 3.75 hour schedule, and Day 4 you are on the 4-hour schedule.

Keep the dream feed at night. Dream feed at any time before 11pm (after which point, the BW says you would be cutting into the night sleep pattern).

Routine 6:

Skip evening catnap, move bedtime earlier
When: when baby seems to erratically take evening catnap, or evening catnap cuts into night sleep and baby isn't going down for the night until after 8pm. Or when baby seems to want to start their day routine too early (like 4:30 or 5am).

Babies should be going to bed around 7pm. Later than 8pm is not right. Earlier bedtime will actually result in a later wake-up time. Sleep begets sleep. See HSH.

Routine 7:
Skip dream feed
When: 7-8 months

You will notice baby taking less and less at the dream feed. Once they get down to only a few ounces at each dream feed, it's your clue that it's safe to stop it. Use pacifier to wean them off this one. Transition should take 3-4 days.

Note: during growth spurts, the baby may wake up in the middle of the night wanting to eat. How do you tell the difference between habitual waking, and waking for hunger? BW says that if the baby is waking up at the same time every night, it's habitual. Use pacifier or pick-up-put-down method to wean them off (see BW second book). If the baby is waking at different times every night, they are waking out of hunger. Feed them. Try to get more calories in during the day (i.e. by starting solids if you haven't already, or if on solids, squeezing in a few more snacks during the day).

Most nights, HB sleeps from 7pm to 6 or 6:30 am. She greets us with a huge grin in the morning -- a good indication that she is well-rested!

If you have any questions about sleep routines, feel free to send me an email (josie(at)organizedmommyblog.com). I would love to hear from you!

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