H's Schedule

I'm writing this post so I can refer back to it for future babies...you can skip to the bottom if you'd like for cute pictures of Ryan and Hollis.

From birth until about 6 weeks Hollis was on a 3 hour schedule around the clock. I would wake her in the middle of the night and nurse/bottle feed her every 3 hours. At 6 weeks we decided to drop a night feeding and her feeding schedule looked something like this...9 AM, 12 PM, 3 PM, 6 PM, 9PM, 12 AM, 5 AM. For each night feeding (I considered 5 AM a night feeding) I was having to wake Hollis...I'm talking tickling feet, wiping her face with a wet wipe etc.

At 8 weeks I decided to drop the 12 AM feeding and feed her at 5 AM. We did this for about a week and again, I was having to wake Hollis to feed at 5 AM. I hated it for a couple reason... 1) I do not like waking her out of a deep sleep and 2) she would go right back down for a "nap" until 9:00 AM! I would have to wake her at 9:00 to eat too! The late start to our day was just not working and clearly she need more sleep!

This week (Hollis' 10th week), we dropped the 5 AM feeding and just let her sleep. I set an alarm for 7 AM because my goal start time for the day was 7 AM. Sweet girl slept through the night (10 PM -7 AM) on our first attempt! I did NOT have to wake her, she woke up talking in the Pack-N-Play. Once Hollis started sleeping through the night, I shifted her feedings to a 3.5 hour schedule. Now our schedule looks like this:

7:00 AM- Feed
8:00-8:30 AM--- Down for nap
10:30 AM--- Feed
11:30-12:00 PM--- Down for nap
2:00 PM--- Feed
3:00-3:30 PM--- Down for nap
5:30--- Feed
6:00-6:30--- Down for nap
8:30 PM--- Wake for bath time with Daddy
9:00 PM---Last feeding for day
After feeding, we swaddle her and read her a book before laying her down for the night.

We are doing a eat-play-sleep cycle. So after each feeding we will do tummy time, put her on her activity mat or just chill together. At the first sign of tiredness I take her up and get her ready for a nap. Our nap time routine is the same as at night...we swaddle and read. I am loving this schedule! Hollis is getting more rest and seems to be so much happier!

This week we are working on getting her to nap in her crib (she's still in our room at night in the Pack-N-Play and probably will be until 4 months). Before this week she would nap in her swing and does great there, but that's not a realistic nap spot. I want to be able to put her down anywhere and nap. We are going to the beach at the end of the month so this is the perfect time to start bc we are NOT hauling that swing to the beach! ;) I plan on writing a post about this transition soon so I can remember what works for Hollis!