Changing up the routine?

Am getting clear signs from Baby that it’s time to change up on his routine. At present he is still more or less following his routine at six months, with a few solids chucked in here or there. But at nearly eight months he has begun being really fussy with his milk feeds again and I’m wasting loads. His solid intake is ok but not amazing so it’s not that the little lad doesn’t need the milk. But I think maybe he doesn’t need it quite so frequently.

Here’s our current routine food wise:
8am Milk 8oz
12n Milk 8oz (fussy, rarely has much)
1pm Lunch
4pm Milk 5oz (fussy)
6pm Milk 5oz (very fussy)
7pm Tea
8pm Milk 8oz (bit fussy)

The fussy bottles take an age to give him, need to be offered repeatedly, and are almost never finished.

So I think Baby is definitely telling us he’s ready for a change. I am a big Baby Whisperer fan but by this stage her routine advice is pretty flexible. So I shall just tweak and see what happens.

I think I’m going to try:

8am Milk 8oz
11.30am Lunch
1pm Milk 8oz
4.30pm Snack
5.30pm Milk 5oz
7pm Tea
8pm Milk 8oz

This will drop 5oz milk but he’s dropping at least that anyway so I am not too worried. If he has a smaller amount of milk at his 1pm feed I’ll probably switch to a bigger 5.30pm feed just in case.

This approach does load most of the calories into the afternoon. But this has always been his way. In the mornings he is mostly tired and sleeps a lot if he can. Baby is only awake in the mornings for an hour or so before his first nap so I’m not ready to slip breakfast into the mix quite yet.

Six months old :-)

This time six months ago I was in labour. And look what I got to show for it? My lovely baby boy. How time flies!

Things have changed a lot recently. Purely on formula. Rolling and turning. Sleeping through the night 🙂 All good stuff.

And more fun to come. I’ve purposely held back from weaning till I had to and so we start in earnest this week. He’s had a few bits to grab and bite but I don’t think he’s swallowed anything yet.

For posterity here is his routine at six months old. No solids in this. It’s not exact as we go by his signals but so long as we are at home he’s pretty predictable now.

As a snacky feeder he doesn’t often drink all his milk in one go. So below I’ve given the times I offer a new bottle but he doesn’t necessarily drink it all up then. Often he’ll have half then and the remainder an hour or so later.

8am: Wake, 8oz milk
10am: Sleep, usually at least two hours and sometimes up to three
12n / on waking: 8oz milk
2pm: Sleep, usually 1.5 to two hours
4pm / on waking: 5oz milk
6pm: 5oz milk
8pm: Bath, 8oz milk
9pm: In bed asleep

You can see how he tanks up on milk before bed. How lucky we are with his sleep. It can occasionally be tricky to get him to doze off but once out he does sleep well. Perfect baby I think!

Late pregnancy niggles

Late pregnancy isn’t a fun time. Am uncomfortable and apprehensive about what’s to come. Looking forward to meeting our baby but a bit scared and nervous about the birth. Am also feeling my SPD quite badly now, it’s enough to make most moving around fairly unpleasant.

Last time around, once Bub had arrived, I looked back on late pregnancy quite fondly. I think this was mainly down to sleep deprivation, rather than anything wonderful about this stage itself. I just remembered it as a time I could sleep in and pop out for meals at the drop of a hat.

But I’m keen to capture a more accurate picture of my daily routine right now, without the rose tinted view I’ll no doubt later adopt once I’m getting zero sleep. So here’s my current ‘typical’ late pregnancy day:

• Go for a wee
• Try to get comfy lying on my left side on the sofa
• Switch to other side, realise not comfy either
• Get climbed on by my toddler who has taken to continually trying to sit on my head
• Get up off sofa, curse my pelvic pain
• Sit on birth ball for a bit, till toddler turfs me off for his own go
• Eat something, get heartburn, have a Rennie
• Chase toddler around house trying to get him to eat, wee, put on clothes etc whilst he easily defies me by staying deftly out of reach
• Go for a wee
• Repeat throughout day…

Due date is Thursday. Bub was ten days overdue and at the moment I’ve no idea whether the birth is going to be tomorrow or two weeks from now. My due date was shifted forward following my scans so it could be still quite a long time to go. Am trying to focus on the positive (like sleep!!) and take each day as it comes.

Routine for a three year old

Preparing for the birth of our little one has also involved planning for the care of Bub whilst I’m in labour. I’m hoping for a home birth and I know lots of mums happily birth with their kids around but I don’t think this would work for me. So Bub is off to stay with his Aunty. It’s rather odd not knowing exactly when it’ll be, or over what time period, so we’ve had to plan for it being potentially over two days including an unprecedented night away from us.

I’ve packed Bub’s bag which has more in than my emergency hospital bag. I’ve also done a note outlining his usual routine and sleeping habits. I thought I’d share for posterity and in case anyone is interested in the day to day routine of a just-three year old.

It should be noted that Bub has an unusual schedule. He gets up late and goes to bed late which suits his night owl daddy and means I get to see lots of him when I get home from work. It’s also pretty variable – sometimes he’s up for 8am, other times not till 11am. We generally play it by ear assuming he takes the sleep he needs. Ditto his food. Sometimes he is massively hungry and eats almost adult portions, other times next to nothing. Again we try to stay relaxed about this and let him decide his needs.

Bub approx routine

9-10am Wake up, have beaker warm milk and maybe a biscuit. Don’t wake him, follow his lead.

Get dressed

10.30am-ish Breakfast (usually cereal)

2.00pm-ish Lunch

7.00pm-ish Tea

8.00pm Bath time

8.45pm Beaker warm milk, story and bedtime

Drinks (water or very diluted squash or juice) available all day. Snacks (preferably fruit) if desired mid-morning and afternoon.

Bub wears pants in the day and a nappy over night. He wears a poppered vest, pyjamas and sleeping bag over his night nappy. No duvet. If the room might get cold keep his socks on and put a blanket over him when asleep. He has a single flat pillow. He needs a bed guard to stop him rolling out of bed, or put the mattress on the floor. He has a small nightlight (gro-egg), this needs to be out of reach for safety. The room will ideally have quite thick curtains to stop him waking too early.

Bub uses a potty and also likes to use the toilet. He tends to get a reward of a haribo sweet after each use but if he doesn’t request one don’t give it as we are keen to phase this out.

Routine for a seventeen month old

Before Bub was born I scoffed at the idea of a routine. I hated doing anything regular and repetitive, right down to doing the same commute more than two days running.

So imagine my bemusement to find myself with a pretty standard routine for Bub. We started this to try to help improve his daytime naps and I do think it has helped. Our routine has always been led by and followed Bub, rather than being parent led. But having found something that seems to suit him we stick to it pretty religiously. It has evolved as he’s got older though.

So here, for your viewing pleasure, is Bub’s current routine (aged almost 17 months.)

9am Wake, have 6oz bottle

10am Breakfast

12.45pm Nap, usually at least two hours, sometimes over three

3.30pm Wake, lunch

6.45pm Tea

8pm Bath

9pm Have 7oz bottle, story, bed

It’s a bit of an odd routine in some ways. Because of his lengthy nap he has lunch very late. We know at some point we may need to slip lunch to before his nap. But for now he seems totally fine to go such a long time between breakfast and lunch.

His mega naps are a total godsend. All those months of desperation at his reluctance to sleep when he was younger. I do think the routine helps here to encourage a longer sleep. But I know it won’t last forever. Even now he still has days when he just won’t settle, maybe getting 45 minutes nap and maybe less. But when it does work it’s great, giving us all time to get some r & r!

Final positive is his late starts. This is really down to very strict use of blackout curtains. Plus being very lucky that he doesn’t have to go to nursery so we can schedule his whole day later. This also means I get plenty of time to spend with him when I get home from work. Plus at the weekend I get a relative lie in!

So how does this compare to your little one? When might we start to lose the super-naps? And what can we do to put this day off as long as possible?