Eat, awake, sleep

Eat, awake, sleep refers to the pattern I have followed since Katie was a couple weeks old when referring to her daytime routine. It has helped make her day predictable and helped me fit in time to focus on my other kids and have some "me" time. I did NOT come up with this at all. Two books that I used as reference for this pattern are "On Becoming Babywise" by Gary Ezzo and "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg. I will be happy to share my thoughts on this subject but you can refer to the above books for much more detail and explanation.

Basically it is recommended that you implement this pattern when your baby is one week old. Before then, feed on demand focusing on keeping your baby awake during feedings. This is VERY important. At one week of age, begin by making sure your baby has a full feeding, also very important. If you have trouble keeping your baby awake during the feeding, I found that it helped to change Katie's diaper mid feed. The next step after eating is wake time. This can encompass any number of activities such as: bath time, floor time, tummy time, bouncy seat, swing, really anything. When Katie was young, her wake time was only 45 minutes. This time gradually increased as she got older and is now 2 1/2 hours at 11 months.

The last step in the pattern is sleep. Like Erika mentioned in her post about swaddling, setting a routine to let your baby know that it is time to sleep is very helpful. When Katie was 5 months old and younger our routine consisted of swaddling, picking her up and rocking her side to side to sing a song, and then I would lay her down, say goodnight and leave the room. Now I follow the same pattern minus the swaddling. The next part was hard to begin with and is not really an issue now. Jake and I chose to let Katie cry it out(CIO). In the beginning it was very difficult, but I knew it was best for our family that I teach Katie to sooth herself to sleep. I would cry right along with her most times in the beginning. I questioned our decision many many times. I'm glad I did not give up though. For the most part, Katie wouldn't cry longer than 15 minutes before falling asleep. For a while though, she would wake a few times during her nap and CIO all over again. The key was that I knew when I fed her and when to begin the pattern all over again.

Until 5 months of age, Katie's pattern would restart itself every 3 hours. If she ate at 7, I knew to get her up from her nap at 10. Even if she was sound asleep, I would wake her up to feed her. Then she would have her wake time and then I would lay her down at the appropriate time to finish out the pattern. Soon, she came to expect this pattern and even looked happy when I laid her down for her nap. Being swaddled and in her bed was a happy safe place for her. There are still times that she cries when I lay her down, but I know that if her belly is full and her diaper is clean when I lay her down that I am doing what she needs by letting her blow off some steam before she sleeps. I mentioned above that Katie was in a 3 hour pattern until she was 5 months old. At that time, I transitioned her to a 4 hour pattern and she still follows it now at 11 months.

Final thought. If you are not comfortable with CIO, the baby whisperer book has some great techniques to teach your baby to sooth itself to sleep without using CIO.

Weaning from Breastfeeding

Katie turned 11 months old this past weekend, so I am beginning to wean her so that she will finish up with breastfeeding right around her first birthday. I'm not intending to recommend this age to wean, this is just what I did with Brayden and what I am also choosing to do with Katie. In addition to the age, she is also showing signs of disinterest in breastfeeding. This happens especially in public.

This is my process. I chose to drop the feeding after Katie's afternoon nap first. I chose this for two reasons. First, it is a pretty busy time of day around here. Stephanie will just be getting home from school so there will be plenty of activity to distract her. Second, I still cluster her feedings a bit in the evening so her next feeding will be 3 hours from now instead of 4. I always feed her shortly after waking. I usually take her straight from her crib to the loveseat to nurse her. However, just so I know she isn't completely reliant on this occurring I usually choose a random feeding each day to delay the nursing for a bit after waking.

In place of her afternoon nursing session, I gave her a cup with a straw with 4 ounces of whole milk. I sat with her while she drank what she wanted and then put the cup away. I'm leaning towards a cup with a straw in place of a sippy cup for all liquids. I am also teaching her to drink from a regular cup with assistance. I hope this saves me the trouble of breaking her from a sippy cup in the future. I do give her some juice in a sippy cup, but I don't want her to become reliant on it.

On a side note, I know that it is not recommended to give your child milk until they are one. I began two weeks ago giving Katie small drinks of my milk at meals to ensure that she would have no digestive issues. I also know she can tolerate cheese, yogurt and ice cream. I believe it is safe to begin offering milk.

I will continue to replace her afternoon nursing session with milk for the next week. At that point I will choose another session to drop. I haven't thought far enough ahead to know which it will be. Currently she nurses roughly at: 7 Am, 11 Am, 3 PM, 6 PM, and 8 PM. She also usually wakes one or two times overnight.

I should also mention that I have changed her meal times in order to get her ready for a complete wean. Until 2 weeks ago, she had her meal directly following when she nursed. She would then sit with us for supper only. She would play independently during our other meals. A couple weeks ago I began delaying her breakfast and lunch until we were all sitting down to eat these meals. So, Katie would nurse at her regular time but then wait approximately an hour until her meal. Since she is eating what we eat anyway, it made my life much easier.

Last thought for the post. I thought I would mention Katie's nap time for those with younger children. At 11 months, Katie takes two naps. They are each around 1 1/2 hours. Her first nap is from 9:30 to 11 AM. Her second nap is from 1:30 to 3 PM.