January 2011 Moms
mlamping
member
schedules - do not have one
mlamping
member
My dd is not really on a schedule during the day. She does most days, take a nap in the morning and one in the afternoon, but not at the same time. I feed her when when she is hungry, not on a given schedule or set times. She in not on solids yet unit 6 months. She does go to bed around 630-7pm nightly. She wakes up twice a night. Should I have a schedule? I am not sure if I can make her wait to eat. I also have tried putting her down on a given time to nap and it does not work, she naps when she wants. Am I doing this wrong?
Do you have set schedules?
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Re: schedules - do not have one
I never really had a schedule for either child. Even my toddler doesnt have one, even though people believe you have to have a schedule with an older LO. I like that we have more flexibility that way. For example, my DS usually sleeps from 11-1, but story time at the library is at 11. Those days, I just put him down for a nap later. He's really flexible and doesnt get miserabe from the time change at all whereas if you did that with a child who does have a set schedule they would be cranky and miserable.
Of course, we dont let him stay up all hours of the night-if he's not ready to go to bed at 8pm we still make him lie down until he falls asleep. I dont think strict schedules are the way to go IMO, unless your child absolutely needs it.
In terms of your DD, she will STTN eventually. Have you tried reducing the amount of food you offer at night feedings? Gradually drop the bottles down and see if you can get her to drop a feeding or 2.
We're on a flexible schedule...it's more routine than schedule I guess. If our routine gets thrown off, she does get cranky. I think if it works for you and your lifestyle, and your baby is happy and healthy, go for it. (-:
I would start trying to get her to sleep through the night though...different people have different opinions, but IMO 5-6 months is a good time to do sleep training. It only took a couple nights of a little crying for my LO to get past it.
i don't think you're doing anything wrong. Feeding your LO when she's hungry and letting her sleep when she's tired sounds pretty common sense to me.
We do have a routine, and I try to offer bottles at the same time for lunch and dinner everyday, even if he's not acting hungry yet. Otherwise it depends on how long he sleeps in, and when he wants to fall asleep for naps. Like PP said, more of a routine, this always comes before that, but not a set schedule for sure.
This! She definitely has a routine, but the timing changes by an hour or two, depending on her! The past few days I tried to schedule her and she didn't take it very well. Not eating as much, harder to put down at night. Not worth it for us. She does have a reg bed time.
We will be doing sleep training soon. She sleeps GREAT, but wakes up 3x's a night yelling for her soother. As soon as it's in, she's fine. I don't have to do anything else. So that tells me, I need to get a little tougher. ;o)
We don't have a schedule either. He has a general routine/pattern to the day, but no set times. I'm so not a schedule type person. I would stress myself out way too much if we tried to do a schedule and watch the clock.
DS seems to be a happy baby, so I'm not too worried. If he was fussy, I might be more motivated to try a schedule, but I think in the long run, it will be nice to not be so tied down to a strict schedule. We'll have more flexibility to do things different for a special occasion or something and DS won't totally melt down.
ETA: He does have a relatively set bedtime of 7:30-8pm. However, if we're out, we don't necessarily make it an absolute must that we get home by this time.
We don't have schedules for either of our kids. I can be a hypochondriac at times, so having a schedule would cause me to streess about doing things "on time". Instead, we have routines, and I make sure both kids are in the bed between 8 and 8:30. I don't "require" them to be sleep at a set time though. I follow their cues instead. It has been working for the past 3 years, so I think it's just fine. both of my kids are very happy so I don't think not having a schedule is hurting them at all.
We do everything by LO's cues: naps, nursing, bedtime, diaper changes, etc. (though when we are tired, he goes down next to us regardless if he is tired or not and we encourage him to sleep). It works very well for our lifestyle and parenting philosophies to go by LO rather that the clock. He is happy and thriving.
More Green For Less Green
No schedule here either. Last week I tried to do a bit of sleep training with naps at 9am and 1pm (per Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child). It stressed me out, stressed LO out, and now this week we are back to napping about every 2 hours (for only 20 minutes most times but hey! it's something).
I like schedule and structure. I am from corporate American now a SAHM and feel my day at home should run like my days at work but it ain't happin'! So, I am trying to take deep breaths and just go with it! I'm getting used to it...and my LO takes after my DH rather than me and he prefers it this way too.
I can never predict when a feeding will be, when a nap will be...it's hard to do other "stuff" inside or outside the house but it is what it is for now.
we also follow LO's cues, for everything- feedings, naps, sleep, etc. she's a happy girl & STTN since about 3 months.