Getting Baby on a Schedule

i dont know how big of a help i will be but. i made sure that my daughter, sydney, knew what day and night were. i did that so sydney knew that at night when it is dark, she is supposed to be sleeping. we have this routine every night before we go to bed. she gets a bath. and then i read her a book while she lays in her crib with a warm bottle. after i read, i turn on her mobile and turn off the lights. she might stay up for a few minutes but she knows she is to go to sleep.
hope that helps some what.

R.
hendersonville, tn

Be sure to let her cry it out now before it is too late. I was the human pacifier for number one (He may be in your daughters class at EHE-McCraw)until he was two. The second one I let him cry it out at 7 1/2 months. The first night he cried for two hours. I checked on him every twenty minutes to make sure he didn't hurt himself but mainly watched the monitor. The next night he cried for ten minutes and after that, I would lay him down, he would protest until I left the room and then he would talk himself to sleep. Piece of cake compared to number one son!

At the age your baby is, she may be transitioning into an afternoon nap schedule and this may be a source of frustration when your used to the two naps a day. If she doesn't fall asleep in the first half hour of the mid-morning nap try again at one and then two. It may be that you will just have to give her mid morning naps on occasion that she is teething or fussy. She may be ready for just a 1:00 nap and back to bed around 7:30pm. Always let baby sleep as long as she wants. Try not to wake her early from her naps and she will be less fussy.

Sincerely,
A. Rupert
____@____.com

Hi,
Basically the schedule will be "scheduled" anyway you want it. If you want her to eat every 4 hours, just start trying to do that. As far as sleeping, if she's not sleeping all night, maybe you need to cut her naps shorter. I started putting my son to bed at 9:30 every night and eventually he caught on. Just make sure whatever you decide to do, just do it consistantly and that will make all the difference:-)

Babaywise is a Godsend!! It is a book on how to get your baby on a schedule. It is recommended that you start at 1 or 2 months of age, but works for any age infant. The basics are never let them fall asleep with a bottle or rocking them. The cycle is sleeptime, feeding then playtime. In that order always. It starts out in 3 hour intervals then drops the late night feedings, one by one. Your baby should be on solida by now so just incorporate the solids and bottles together at breakfast, lunch and dinner. There should be bottle in between too. Hope that helps, but get the book!!!

Since you are a stay at home mom, there is no harm in letting your 8 month old make her own schedule. Just have fun!

Hi W.,
I dont know about other mothers, but I kept my kids on my schedule when they were little. so that way when it was time to rest, we all rested. When I got up, my kids got up with me, they ate breakfast, while I straightened the kitchen they sat in the living room and played, I would lay them down for a nap, and while they napped I napped too. from nap time, I would play with them or took them somewhere to tire them out, that way when it was time for bedtime they were good and tired, and we all slept at the same time.
So my suggestion is to put them on your schedule, because no matter whats going on, you need rest also, and its easier for you to rest when you know your kids are resting too! good luck!

My 5 month old just put herself on a shedule (and it's great!). Take a few days and write down when she wakes up in the morning, every time she naps and every time she nurses. You might be suprised that she is on a loose schedule. With that information start to structure a schedule around that. For mine it was a wake up, eat, play, nap cycle, but yours may be taking less naps now. Litterally within 2 days of me trying to put her on this schedule, she modified it to fit her by a half hour here or there and adjusted wonderfully! She now puts herself down for her naps and in the evening and sleeps at night for 9.5 hours before needing another feeding! Just make sure that you have a set night time routine so she knows that it's time for the long sleep! For example, I nurse her at 7:30 pm, then my husband gives her a baby massage, puts on her pjs and reads her two stories. After that we lay her in her crib, turn on her glow worm (it plays a short song then its light go off) and we kiss her goodnight. She sometimes whines for a few minutes, but then she's out! Schedules are a wonderful blessing and worth the effort! However, they can be a pain when you have to go out and mess them up! Good luck!!!