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Babies: 0 - 3 Months
What is your 2-3 month old's schedule? (long)
Hi ladies! Does your 2-3 month old have a consistent schedule? If so, what is it? I'm curious to see what other 2-3 month olds are doing and what works for others.
I've been following my LOs lead since birth for everything, eating and sleeping. I was hoping that by now a natural schedule would've emerged but it hasn't. At this point I'm thinking I need to implement one--for her sake and mine. Problem is, she still only eats 2-3 oz at a time so she eats pretty frequently. My other issue is that she is a REALLY fussy baby. Her mood, feeding, and sleeping is so different day to day but for the most part she seems to take frequent shorter naps, sometimes just cat naps. She will be up and content anywhere from 30 min to an hour and then she gets tired--and when she gets tired she starts to cry, sometimes scream, and fights the nap. This is what happens EVERY time. She cannot go to sleep without having a fit first. It can last anywhere from just 2 minutes to 45 minutes. I'm worried about trying to implement a schedule where I need to try and keep her awake, because that's when she gets really upset! Her nights are another story...always down to business, just eats and then sleeps (no crying fits) but on some nights we are up every 2 hours and others we can get a longer 4-5 hour stretch and first and then 2-3 hours after that.
Thanks in advance for sharing your schedules!
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Re: What is your 2-3 month old's schedule? (long)
We're having nap issues also. I try to get her to nap once in the morning, and twice in the afternoons. I don't worry so much about what time but more about following her cues - like if she's happy but is yawning then I'll start winding her down.
Maybe you can try implementing a nap routine, where you do the same things/create the same environment before every nap.
It's not 100% consistent but we're getting closer. We wake up between 7:30 and 8:00 most mornings, eat, play and then she takes a nap between 9:00 or 9:30. She naps anywhere from an hour to two hours.
When she wakes up around 11ish, she eats, plays and is up until about 1:00. Then she takes another 2 hour nap and wakes around 3:00.
Again, she eats, plays, etc.
She has active time with daddy when he gets home from work so I can cook dinner, etc. Then we do bath time, play and feed her. By 7:00 she is in bed. She usually wakes around 8:00 to feed and be changed one last time before going down for the night. Then she will wake up between 3:30 am and 4:45 am, feed, change and back to bed until we get up for the next day.
This is the schedule that she's created. I just really had to watch for clues as to when she was getting tired so that I got her down to nap before she gets to the too tired to sleep stage.
Good luck!
I always just follwed DS's schedule. It's not always the same but for the most part:
7:30 am - wake up,eat,play 9:30 nap 11:30 - eat/ play 1:30: nap 4:30: eat/play 5:30: nap - between 5:30 and 7:30 it's always iffy. But I have started giving him a bath at 7:30. He would always get really fussy around this time and the bath relaxes him enough to where he can take his last bottle around 8/8:30. He is then down by 9pm. He gets up for his middle of the night feeding between 5 and 5:30 and then he is up at 7:30.
My son is 9 weeks old. For the last 3 weeks he has been in the same routine. It took a few days to create but we realized he is ready to go to bed for the night at 7:30 or will get really fussy. When I go back to work in 2 weeks he will need to get up at 7am so I always start the day at 7 and end it at 7:30. His schedule looks like this every day (he plays before he eats because he has relfux and will puke everywhere if I put him down to play right after he eats):
7-wake, eat
8-nap
9-wake up, play
10-eat,nap
11:30-wake up, play
1-eat, nap
2:30-wake up, play
4-eat and nap til 5:30
5:30-wake up and play...starts getting cranky around 6:15. If it is bath night we will start bath at 6:30 then massage and last bottle at 7. If not bath night he will calm down with pacifier from 6:15 til 7 then massage and last bottle.
He is asleep for the night at 7:30 and sleeps til 3:30 or 4:30 then eats quick and back to bed til I wake him at 7am.
He too fights naps but I know his sleepy/overstimulated cues now and get him to relax by giving pacifier and shhh'ing sound before he starts crying. I have been putting him down when drowsy after getting him to relax so he falls asleep on his own. He might let out a couple short cries when falling asleep but nothing major. He was a really fussy baby til he was 6 weeks and then it was like someone took away the monster baby and dropped off this cute, smiley guy!
First of all, don't stress! Your LO will develop a habit eventually. I understand your concern since I also wanted to get DS on a schedule before starting daycare. He fell into his own schedule and it only recently started to firm up. Here it is:
7/7:30 - awake, breakfast (5oz bottle of expressed BM)
9/9:30 - 11:00/11:30 - nap
11:30/12:00 - lunch (5oz bottle of BM)
* from 12:00 - 3:00/3:30 he plays and catnaps. He's not much of an afternoon napper
3:30/4:00 - another 5 oz bottle of BM
7:00 bathtime, cuddle, dim lights, rocking...
7:30/8:00 last feeding, I BF here and let him eat until he's full, usually 15 - 20 minutes each side. He sleeps through the night so I don't worry about the afternoon naps.
FWIW a few weeks ago I tried to "force" DS on a schedule because I was worried about him going to daycare without one. I found it was much worse when I tried to make him nap or make him eat. I got stressed out when he wasn't doing what I wanted him to do and he felt that and got even fussier. LO will find a schedule that works, I promise! Try not to stress out too much.
DS is on a three hour schedule. He's pretty predictable except for his wake time. We try to get him to sleep until 6:00 am, but sometimes he wakes up early and we have to adjust his schedule a little.
6 am: Eat and play
7:15: Starts to get fussy, down for a nap
9 am: Eat and play
10:30: Gets fussy, down for a nap (falls asleep around 11)
12 pm: Eat and play
1:30: Gets fussy, down for a nap (falls asleep around 2)
etc.
Every three hours is about the same. I usually wake him up at 8:30 pm, we do a bath and bottle with a little play time. Then he's down for the night around 9:30 pm.
Some babies need to cry to go to sleep. I would definately start trying to feed her more at each feeding and then you'll be able to space the feedings out. Have you read Babywise? I highly suggest it.
8am up for the day/1st feeding
10am 2nd feeding/short nap (around 30 min)
11ish play on floor mat/read/etc.
12pm 3rd feeding
12:30-3pm nap
3pm 4th feeding
4ish out for a walk
5pm 5th feeding/play time with Daddy
7pm 6th feeding/short nap/more play time
9pm bath, then 7th feeding
10pm bed (DS wakes at 4am to nurse)
Thanks everyone this is helpful! I wish my LO was more predictable--you guys are so lucky!
She is just so different day to day. Your LO's seem so much more consistent. Mine will catnap some days, have days where she takes all long naps, days where it's catnapping plus longer naps...it's just all over the place. I do watch out for her tired cues and try to calm her and help her sleep once I see she is tired.
I do try to feed her more and she won't take any more! It's really frustrating. She can go for long stretches without eating and I always hope that means she will eat more for her next feeding and she never does. It's 3 oz max but usually 2 oz. It's really weird to me especially since other babies her age seem to be taking in MUCH more. She gains weight though, and is a little on the higher side for weight for length. The pedi wasn't concerned because she is gaining weight.
I have not read Babywise, I will check it out, thanks for the tip!
DS is only predictable because we worked on our schedule. If you get a good routine going and keep it consistent, then she will adapt. I like Babywise as well. It is what I used to get DS on his schedule and helped him STTN.