Sleep Schedule - Bellevue, OH

Hello J.. I was never one to set a schedule with my babies. I HATED that the hospital nurses would wake me up to wake up my sleeping baby to eat. I thought How Absured lol. I say, let the baby sleep if she is sleeping, when she is hungry she will wake up. It seems to me that she might have her days and nights mixed up. She is sleeping in the morning instead of at night. If that is the case, you just need to wake her up in the morning at (for example) 8 am. Keep her awake as much as possible during the day..lots of diaper changes (even if you leave the same diaper on, the removal of clothes and diaper are suppose to help wake the baby up). If she is eating and fallin right back to sleep (or falling asleep while eating) seems like she isn't really hungry, and eating does tend to make babies sleepy: so I would try to get her to be awake prior to eating and changing her diaper after she eats (expect for when she is screaming to eat :) so she will wake back up. I wouldn't be conserned now with an 'easier transition' for going back to work since you don't have a job lined up or know what type of hours you would be working. Seems you can't really predict what time she would have to get up when or if you go back to work.
For a few days, while getting her days and nights back on schedule, I would avoid running errands b.c the lull of the car generally puts baby's to sleep. Let her sleep at night, keep her awake during the day as much as possible, decide when you want her to nap and let her nap at those times. That is the best advice I have.
Also, I don't think 3 months is too young for baby cereal, and I don't think it will hurt her, my now 5yo had to have (under medical advice) cereal in her bottle at the age of 1 week. 3-4 months is when I always started spoon feeding and cup drinking. Also, with weather changes babies tend to require more sleep. Congrats on having a new baby, remember the 'sleep all the time' stage ends quickly and you will miss it :)

I can't give advice from my own experience as I BFE and on demand, so I'm not real familiar with "scheduling" ... however, I would definitely NOT wake her up, especially at 6. I agree with the others - I also would not be feeding her cereal at 3 mo. I'm sure if you try letting her sleep a little later she may develop a more consistent schedule for you. :-D
Have fun !!!

I'm sorry... I don't know how to best go about transitioning her schedule, but I know you need to. How awful for you that she goes to bed so late! Her whole sleep time needs to be scooted back. I think the only way you can do it is to stimulate her more in the morning so she can't sleep as much (only until her schedule transitions and then you should let her sleep as much as she needs.) Also, why are you giving cereal bottles? Have you discussed this with the pediatrician? I'm not sure that a 3 month old needs cereal unless she was having vomiting issues. Otherwise you're just replacing her calories with less nutricious food...

First I would say that at 3 months babies are still very unpredictable and a day to day to the clock schedule is not possible yet. Stop waking her at 6am. Your goal would be to get her to bed earlier in the evening so that when you go back to work you are not up half the night. My kids were on this 'schedule' at 3 months..
Wake around 7-7.30 (if they didn't wake up I would wake them)
Nap 2 hours after they woke so around 9am for 1-2 hours.
Once up I would play, take her out, naything stimulating.
Nap again 2-3 hours after the time they woke up from morning nap for 1-2 hours.
Once up play etc
Bath around 6pm, milk and bed by 7-7.30pm.
My son is 3 and daughter 16 months and alhtough the naps change, bedtime does not.
Also I would question why you are giving your 3 month old cereal already? She is still very young and would only need milk.
Good luck.

I have a 10 week old son who is on a pretty good schedule (knock on wood). He just started sleeping through the night about one week ago. This is what we do...

7:00-7:30 he usually wakes up on his own, I never wake him up.
7:30-8:00 he usually plays for a few minutes to wake up fully and I drink some coffee.
8:00-8:30 he will drink 6-8 oz of formula.
8:30-9:00 he will play after eating.
9:00-10:00 he will take a nap in his swing.
10:00-11:00 he will play or sleep on and off.
11:00-11:30 he will eat 6oz of formula.
11:30-12:30 he will play.
12:30-2:30 he will nap in his swing.
2:30-3:00 he will play.
3:00-3:30 he will eat 6oz of formula.
3:30-4:30 he will play.
4:30-5:30 he will nap.
5:30-6:30 he will play and see dad.
6:30-7:00 he will eat 6oz of formula.
7:00-7:30 is bath time, followed by book time and then bed.

I have found that the more he sleeps during the day the more he will sleep at night. If he doesn't take a good morning and afternoon nap he will be hard to put down. I watch his cues and let him sleep whenever he wants during the day. I always let him play after eating so he does not associate eating with sleeping. We have a strict bedtime routine and I lay him down awake so he can put himself to sleep. I would never wake him up to eat; your daughter will let you know when she is hungry.

His routine can vary day-to-day but the above is a good sample of what works for us. Make sure your daughter is sleeping during the day and put her to bed a lot earlier. I have not really tried cereal with my son but I know that I took cereal when I was one week old and several moms I work with started it very early with their kids. Lay her down awake and let her soothe herself to sleep; it may take several tries. Good luck!

Hi J.,

Hopefully you got enough responses to trust the mama's on the cereal thing. There are lots of opinions out there regarding sleep schedules or routines. I am not much of a scheduled person...however I did follow the advice in a book by Marc Weissbluth called "healhty sleep, happy child" and it was the best thing I ever did. I know 9 other moms who turned to this book after their little ones developed some challenging habits and ALL of them have had wonderful success. It basically advocates an EARLY bedtime...like 7:00 or 7:30. One thing that I found to be very true for my daughter was that their little sleep clocks change dramatically around 3-4 months and random naps in the stroller or car are no longer restful as they start to develop a need for more REM sleep. I would highly recommend picking up the book...if you don't have time to read it then follow the advice of the mom who offered the example of waking them up around 7:30 am and putting them to bed around 7:30 pm with age appropriate naps in between. It will be very helpful when you go back to work for both of you to get a good night's sleep. I know that you'll get tons of opinions and advice, so good luck sorting it out! :)

I am a stay at home mom too.
I always let them sleep until they wake up. But, now my oldest is in school.
If it gets to be 9am then I get them up.
If I need to leave for something early, then I get them up at whatever time I need to.
At least when they are only 3 months they can pretty much nap anywhere, anytime, especially since they are still in a baby rear facing seat. Hopefully you have the kind that just snaps on the base in your vehicle and you dont' actually have to remove her each time you get out somewhere, just the seat.
With my first one I didn't have a seat that would fit on the stroller, and so I would have to take her out of the baby seat and then put her in the stroller and that often woke her up.
With my second one, I said I am having a stroller with the baby seat that snaps on top of it, and that was THE BEST THING I EVER DID. She could nap much better and longer, because i didn't have to disturb her as much.

If you let the baby sleep later in the morning, that may very well solve your problem.

Hi!

Congrats on your 3mo old. I have one too!!! :) Here's my schedule that may help you out...
7am - awaken and feed bottle
8:15-10:30 - nap
10:30a - awaken and feed bottle
12:00-2:30 - nap
2:30 - awaken and feed bottle
4-6:30p - nap
6:30p - awaken and feed bottle
8:00-9:00p - nap
9:00p - bottle and some rice cereal
10:00p - down for the night (sleeps until 7am)

*** you need to keep your baby on a feed, wake, nap schedule...and in that order. It will help organize your day. Also, pick up the book Babywise - it is very helpful.

good luck,
L.

There are a lot of different viewpoints on this subject. We read Preparation for Parenting by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo and followed their advice regarding a sleep schedule with our kids. The hospital had them on a 3-hour feeding schedule, which is exactly what the Ezzos recommend, so we just continued with that. The 3-hour routine started with feeding, then awake time(except for at night), then sleep time. We did have to let them learn to cry it out at first, but that didn't last long and they are both great sleepers. My daughter slept through the night at 6 weeks and my son at 4 months. I think by your daughter's age, the schedule can be more like 3 1/2 hours during the day. You should be able to adjust her sleeping schedule by really working to keep her awake more in the morning and establishing a regular bedtime that you stick to. Just be prepared to listen to her cry until she gets used to sleeping when you sleep. You can find out more about this method at the Growing Families International website: www.gfi.org. We didn't necessarily agree with or do everything they teach, but some of the advice was very helpful. Good luck!

J.,
My son didn't really have an obvious schedule until about 4 months old. This was something he developed on his own and I went along with it. Before then, he had patterns but they seemed to change as soon as I got used to them. I am not sure what you have tried, but I have a couple of possible suggestions.
I would not wake her in the morning until she woke up. Maybe she wouldn't sleep so late if she had uninterrupted sleep.
Also, have you tried to move her night time routine to earlier in the evening. If you gave her cereal at 5, bath at 7, then a cereal bottle to follow, would she go down earlier?
What do you do to put her to bed? Do you wait until she falls asleep in your arms before laying her down? I am not a huge "cry it out" fan but I used a similar theory when tring to get my son set on a bed time. I gave him a bath, read him a book, nursed him and immediately layed him in his crib. I started this around 6:30 or 7 and now he goes to sleep no later than 8 on his own. If he fussed a little, I let him lay there. I only picked him up if he got extremely aggrevated and screamed. Then I would soothe him until he calmed down and put him back in his crib. There were times I did this for an hour or so but he eventually went to sleep. Also, once he was in his room for bedtime, I did not take him out of his room. Maybe if you start this with her around 9 she will go to sleep between 10 and 11. It may take awhile but she will get the idea.
Finally, does she like a pacifier, blanket, or stuffed animal? Do you have any music or crib accessories (like an aquarium that plays music and lights up)? I find my son goes to sleep much easier when he has his suffed lamb. I also us an aquarium that plays music to aid him in sleeping.
I do think she is a bit young still. I think between 4-6 months is when you can really work on a schedule with them. However, you are doing a good job with sticking to a routine. I definitly think that will help you rather than hurt you. Good luck and let us know how things go.

A couple things jumped out at me right away. Why are you waking her up at 6:00? Why not just let her sleep until she wakes up on her own? (My rule for my kids is generally to let them sleep. If they're hungry, they'll wake up.) Also, why are you giving her cereal? Generally babies tummies can't handle it until 6 months old. My oldest had reflux and so we mixed a little bit of cereal in with his bottles around 5 months.

Sounds to me like maybe you are missing her tired cues and waiting too long to put her down. As SOON as you think she might be tired, I think you should lay her down. Babies (and even my older boys) seem to get a second wind or burst of energy if we wait too long to put them to bed or down for a nap.

I think it's really important for a parent to let the child lead the way at this point. In my opinion, babies should sleep when they want and wake when they want. It just seems to be an inconvenience for some parents. To me, I'd let her make her own schedule, and go with it.

Also, a 3 month old's digestive system is still very immature and I don't think feeding solids is a good idea. It's best to wait until 6 months. And, feeding cereal does not make a baby sleep longer at night.

You can force an adjustment in her schedule but get ready for a few weeks of torturing yourself!!
Do not get her up at 6 a.m. and feed her. Get her up at 7:30 instead or let her wake up on her own. Start the day with a little cereal and the bottle. Play a little before she goes down for the morning nap. Get her up if necessary for lunch, play a little and down for a nap no later than 2 and up by no later than 4. Dinner time is established so no problem there. Then keep her as active as possible, bath, etc. until her bedtime routine which means she should be down by 9. If she is awake fine, a night light, some soft music, but in her bed. If she fuses go in and comfort her, change her diaper whatever, but do not get her up and cuddle and rock her, put her back in her bed.
It isn't easy, but you should probably establish this now so when you go back to work you can get a half way decent night's sleep.

First, do you really mean that you wake her at 6:00 or do you mean she wakes up and you feed her? There's nothing wrong with feeding her if she wakes up, but there's no reason to wake her if she's sleeping.
Second, stop giver her cereal. Hopefully you haven't caused any damage, but children shouldn't start solids until 6 months. You are putting her at risk of life-long food allergies. Plus, babies' digestive systems aren't ready for solids, they should be strictly breastfed until 6 months.
Third, you are waiting too long to put her down. Get a book like "Healthy Sleep Habbits, Happy Child" and learn about sleep cues. Babies should go to bed between 6:30 and 8:00pm.
Forth, the cereal bottle is obviously hurting her tummy (since she isn't ready for solids) and that is why she wants to cuddle and won't go to sleep for so long. Her body can't digest it and so it just sits there and causes discomfort.
There is a plethera of information out there on why you should never start solids early and your doctor should have been telling you the same thing. Your poor little baby is telling you to stop by staying up and being clingy! If you believe no one else, at least take the advice of the 3 biggest medical associations in the world, the AAP, the WHO, and UNICEF, babies need to be EXCLUSIVELY breast- or bottle-fed until 6 months.

You will see her turn around in no time! Good Luck:)

I am a huge fan of the "Good Night Sleep Tight: The Sleep Lady's Guide" book. It really helped me understand normal expectations by age for each month, as well as outlined what I should be working on to help ease her into a good sleep routine both at night as well as for naps. I would highly recommend you get this to help you as you are figuring this out.

My guess would be that you might be missing her "sleep window" (term from the book) at night, perhaps waiting too long to put her down and then she gets her second wind and stays up later. Hopefully you can start to tweak her sleeping time earlier at night and that will work the rest out, but I'd definitely recommend the book to help you. My daughter is 13 months old now and I still refer to it often just to see what we should be getting ready for next, even though my daughter has developed into a great sleeper.

Sounds like the cereal is upsetting her stomach, and that is why she doesn't fall asleep after the 9pm feeding. At three months, I put my kids to bed 8-10pm, sometimes they woke up a few hours later, sometimes it was several hours, but they nursed and went straight back to bed. I stuck to a pretty strict schedule, feeding every 3 hours, except at night. I would cut the cereal and put her in her crib earlier, whenever is convinient for you, eventually she will adapt. It's also pretty frustrating to stick to a schedule at 3 months, because she'll probably change schedules every few months until she's over a year.

First of all, people have been giving 3 mo. old babies cereal for ages, our mothers did it and we aren't all dead! My ped. recommended cereal from a spooon at 3 mos. because my babies could hold up their heads and were interested. It could be that the cereal provides enough of a carb boost to her system to really wake her up in the evening. We always did cereal in the morning or at lunch time. You can let her set her schedule, but still bend it a little to suit you. Let her sleep in the am until she wakes, then feed her and play with her then for a while before she naps. If a bath seems to wake her up instead of make her sleepy, do a bath in the morning instead of at night. At that age my kids napped from around 5-7 then woke up for awhile. I would feed them again and we would play or cuddle for a bit, then to bed again sometime between 10 & 11. The schedule that you work out will be as unique as your daughter is. Just like every baby is different so is every family, and you just go with what works best for you.

I would definitely not wake her up to eat at 6 am unless you are trying to get her on that kind of wake-up schedule for when you return to work. I would also stop feeding her cereal. All she needs right now is breast milk or formula. I found that my girls got into a better napping routine between 3 and 6 months, so give it some time. I would stimulate her more during the day to keep her from napping too much if she is not sleeping well at night. I also might try putting her down earlier whether she seems sleepy or not. Sometimes, they are tired but just can't sleep if they are overstimulated. Try a nice, relaxing bedtime routine (bath/massage, milk, story, and bed with dim lights and no TV or other loud noises going on. It might help her ease into sleep better and earlier. Good luck!

First of all, she's way too young for cereal. You're really not suppose to start solids till they are 6 months old. Their little bellies just can't digest it properly right now. The cereal doesn't make them sleep longer or better at night. Also,I wouldn't wake her in the mornings unless you have to. If you don't have anywhere to go, just let her sleep. You could try to keep her awake a little more in the am after her first bottle. Letting her wake up on her own may just solve some of your problem. I hate to say it, but once you get a good schedule in place, she'll probably change it. I know my dd seemed to hate schedules. I'd get a fantastic schedule in place, then she'd refuse to nap! UGH!!!! It does get better though.

Trust yourself. I think you are right about not waking her in the morning. She may not take the same length of naps in the afternoon but should still take a couple of short ones.

Hi J.,
First off, I would not wake her. She will wake up when shes hungry. I have a 6 month old and just a month ago started giving her cereal. In my opinion your starting her off way to soon. Her stomach is not able to handle that yet. I think that trying to get her on a schedule is important for the both of you. Personally I just let my daughter sleep until she wakes, and be careful about the cereal. My peditrican said feeding them to much food can send them into shock and to much water a an early age can cause seizures. I hope this helps. Thanks N.

I would cut out the cereal. Obviously it is not helping her sleep. I would nurse her more frequently in the evening. This seems to be a pattern with my 3 mo old. We nurse more often in the evening and she often sleeps from 9-9:30 to 6am. Sometimes she wakes around 2am and goes back to sleep after nursing. It is like she is storing it up for the long night. I hope this helps. Let us know. Good luck!