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Putting bambino on a schedule: Day 1
Day 1 of putting bambino on a schedule went really well.
I hope day 2 goes just as well. (ETA: It did!)
Desperate for some sleep, I listened to Duchess of Fork‘s indirect advice and tried a loose schedule with bambino.
Here’s how the plan goes for daytime: I allot 45 minutes for eating and playing. If our feeding takes 20 minutes, bambino can play for 25. If it takes 30, he can play for 15. Either way, he is not to exceed 45-60 minute of awake time. Then I snuggle him to my chest, give him my finger (which he loves more than the pacifier), and pat his back until he falls asleep. I remove my finger first (slowly) and then stop patting before putting him down somewhere. I then put a blanket around his legs and back away. The putting to sleep process takes us around 30 minutes. He then sleeps anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Monday he got a few 30 minute naps and one longer 2 hour nap. This is the most he has slept during the day since his first two weeks.
He fights naptime but finally gives into it and sleeps. I can’t believe it! I will slowly increase the active awake time once he learns to fall asleep faster. I am still holding him until he is really asleep as neither of us are ready to try letting him put himself to sleep. When should we start trying that? As it is with my help it takes him 30 minutes or so.
The whole cycle takes between 2 and 3.5 hours. In other words, bambino eats every 2-3.5 hours, usually more toward the 2 hour mark than the 3.
Since I didn’t know what to do with a newborn I figure you probably don’t either. Here’s what we do for “playtime”:
- I put him in his Babysitter Balance (perfect for small spaces as it stores flat) and talk out what I’m doing. For example, I will unload the dishwasher and tell him exactly what I’m doing with each plate. This was the pediatrician’s idea.
- I lay him on his back on his SkipHop activity mat and let him swat at the hanging toys.
- We do tummy time either on my chest or on the activity mat.
- I put him in his awesome OrbitBaby stroller and go for a nice brisk walk. He eventually falls asleep which is a nice natural progression from awake time to sleep time.
- He either lays flat or on an incline on my knees and I pretend to dance with his hands and feet.
- He takes a bath. Bath time is the best because the warm water relaxes him and he sleeps longer and better.
- I read blogs out loud while he sits in my arms. This is more for my benefit as I love snuggle time.
I still haven’t read him an actual baby book. My husband hasn’t either. I am sure we will start doing that this month.
We also have to decide when the first feeding of the day should be. I think 7 AM sounds about right so that Trig can play with bambino after he eats and before his first nap. With a consistent start time we should eventually be able to predict when he will eat during the day making my life with breastfeeding easier. Right now it is hard to make it on time for anything because bambino’s eating schedule is so unpredictable.
So that’s how it is going so far. I hope that day 1 (ETA: and day 2) are not flukes and we can continue with this plan.
31 Responses to “Putting bambino on a schedule: Day 1”
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At our 2 month appt. last week our doctor told us to start letting Leo cry it out and put himself to sleep. She said at 2 months they’re old enough to start manipulating – before 2 months they are just figuring out the world.
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He really is such a beautiful baby. Glad to hear your loose schedule and naptimes are going well. I think it’s adorable that you’re reading blogs out loud to him. Just as good as reading him a book, I think.
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I am so glad things are getting better for you! He is absolutely adorable
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he is such a cutie! sounds like the schedule is working out so far!
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With our boys we waited until 4 months or so, though I think we could have done it sooner. I feel like you just know when it’s time, though (and it probably varies a bit from kid to kid). If it doesn’t seem like a necessary evil yet, then it’s probably too early.
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Love this- makes so much sense
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I just found your blog today, and let me tell you, I feel like i’m reading about my first weeks with my little boy. He was born August 6, 2011 at 1241PM, and he did the same exact things like your bambino, and we tried everything, the only thing that seemed to work for us was the swing. Just recently we finally got him to sleep on his own on the bassinet at night, we were co-sleeping. Daytime naps are harder since he likes to sleep on our chests or the swing. We still do some co-sleeping at night after he wakes up for his night feeding. Right now we have nightime routine, where I bathe him (he loves it), give him milk (either formula or breast), read him a book where he can see the pictures (patterns really gets his attention), and rock him in the dark with classical music playing. I don’t believe in the cry-it-out method, so this routine really works for us. If he still wakes up after I rock him, I recently tried playing white noise, and does the trick as well, for some reason he hates lullabies. But hang in there, you will get there, I just keep reminding myself to cherish this moments since he will grow up fast
)
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Sabrina- I LOOOVE reading this! Please keep this up! I love the explanations too (ex: what playtime consists of)! I wanna join for a walk soon!
xoxo
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We still do a loose routine like this during the day. I know that he needs to eat and sleep every 2.5 hours or so at this point (5m), and play it by ear. Glad it’s working for you! Oh, and I actually started reading books about this age to Robby, and he loved them. We’d lay on our backs together on a quilt and he’d stare at the pictures, and loved the sound of my voice. I miss that…He’s now too active and mobile, and his idea of reading is eating the board book.
I’m sure it’ll come back.
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He is so cute…looks so much like you!!
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The happiest baby on the block states that a baby is still actually a fetus until they are 4 months old so I would not try it until then. Once you get him on a schedule he will learn his routine and go to sleep on his own, that is what our 4 month does. We do the same thing everyday at the same time.
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i think you are smart to start trying to get a schedule going so early on. i had always read to wait until 4 months to let them learn to put themselves to sleep. for the first few months bf would always put our daughter to sleep and then i’d just lay her down and she’d sleep. she always really like the sound of running water- it seemed to calm her down so we bought a sound machine and put it on the rain setting. it really helped and she still uses it now at almost 2 (and now we have one too for our room b/c we liked it!) also, we tried to not hold her while she slept from day one. as soon as she ate, burped and started to get drowsy i would put her in her bouncy seat or her crib with her mobile on and let her stay there as long as she wasn’t crying. of course, we will be starting all over again with #2 in 3 weeks-so we’ll see if any of this works for him!
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Glad to hear it’s getting better! And thank you for the playtime advice! As a first time mom, it’s hard to know what that stuff really is! Great advice
Look at you, you’re already such an amazing mom. Hope you realize that!
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Sounds like it’s going really well! We don’t have Ella on a daytime schedule persay but definitely a nighttime one. Bedtime is 7:30 every night. Now she sleeps 10-12 hours a night which is awesome! We put her in her bassinet awake and she’s out in minutes. The key for us is having her swaddled, giving her pacifier and turning of the lights. We created a nighttime routine so she knows exactly when it’s bedtime. The first night we put her down awake she fussed for maybe 2 minutes, not even crying, just whining. One of us would put our hand on her chest to reassure her we were still there and she’s conk out. Now she doesn’t even need us to do that.
Daytime is more difficult for us to have a schedule with because she’s at daycare during the week and started right at the 2 month mark. I asked them to swaddle her (then she knows its sleepy time) and put her in bed at the first sign of tiredness. she usually takes two good naps each day, one morning and one night.
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Nice work Mama! It took me, um, 6 months to get Mia on a schedule!
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We used the scheduling info from the book BabyWise. It was amazing! We put our son on a schedule at 3 weeks and by 8 weeks he was sleeping through the night (8 – 12 hours), taking regular naps during the day (every 3 hours), and putting himself to sleep each time.
BabyWise really focuses on sleep training and teaching them how to put themselves to sleep. As much as I loved cuddling my little one, at some point I had to put him down and get some stuff done. Using BabyWise and knowing that when I put him down for his nap every 3 hours, I had almost an hour-and-a-half to myself was awesome! Even if I just napped myself.
Some parents think that the book is a little too strict, but you can just use the basic concepts to make it work for you. We were pretty strict about it, but we were at least getting some regular sleep so we felt ok about it.
I’m not sure how much of this is just having a kid that sleeps well, but my son is 2 1/2 and is an amazing sleeper. He sleeps 12 hours every night with one nap during the day and puts himself to sleep every night.
You’ve probably got info coming at you from every angle, but this book is at least worth checking out of the library or flipping through at the store.
Good luck! He is adorable and the most important thing is that you love him like crazy and are trying your best!
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Thanks for sharing! This is really helpful for those of us (me) pregnant with our firstborn
Hope he continues to work with the schedule.
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you are such a dedicated mom. whoa that sounds like such a lot of stuff to do.
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You have no idea how much this is helping me. I’m not concerned with a scheule as much right this second, but knowing what play time with a newborn is like is huge!
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I always found that a walk would put my Munchkin to sleep. Still does now at almost 2 years old. He also loves the bouncy seat thing and would sleep in it for hours. It was cool because when he would start stirring, he would rock himself back to sleep. I had one similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Adorable-Animals-Babys-Bouncer/dp/B0042D69UQ/ref=dp_cp_ob_ba_title_4
Good luck girl! It gets easier once you figure out the schedule. He is gorgeous!
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I am pregnant with my first and due in April. I have just begun researching baby stuff and I am curious about how you like the Babysitter Balance. Do you feel like you (and the bambino
are missing the vibrating action? Love hearing the updates – thanks for sharing!
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RhodeyGirl Reply:
October 26th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
@Liz, Hi! We love it, but it will be better when he’s heavy enough to bounce himself.
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You can add some moves from Itsy Bitsy Yoga now for a fun playtime activity. If you can’t find a local class, check out the DVD. There is a book but I find it easier to follow someone actually doing it.
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Ok I’m going to out myself as a total newborn idiot here and ask why you narrate unloading the dishwasher. How did your dr explain it to you? We’re TTC so I guess I should probably start learning about some of this.
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I’m so glad things are going better for you! Fingers crossed it’s not a fluke and the schedule keeps up.
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I have the perfect baby book for Raffi! We need to see you guys soon!
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I love that your posting all these details . . . I have a feeling I’ll be coming back to them! It sounds like overall things are going really well and you’re adjusting great!
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Good luck with the new schedule! We had a tough time getting into one ourselves. I promise it gets easier! I say around three months is when I finally got to sleep through the night and Ella got on a real schedule… by real schedule I mean her schedule. I don’t feed her or put her down at certain times each day. She tells me when she is hungry and tired. That just works for us
Isn’t being a mommy the best thing ever!! It is the most rewarding job we will ever have.
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I love reading your blogs, Sabrina. I’m 23 weeks along with my second but since my first is almost 6 I feel like I’m doing it for the first time. I can’t believe how much things have changed just since then! I have an off topic question…how do you like your Orbitbaby stroller/carseat? I’ve heard such great things about them except that you can’t fit the carseat in the front of a shopping cart.
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RhodeyGirlTests Reply:
October 28th, 2011 at 11:22 am
@Kristin, Hi! We LOVE the OrbitBaby! It does fit in the front of the cart, but there isn’t a lot of room for groceries! We have all of the accessories and are in love. The panniers are great for when I walk to the market, and the foot muff is great for this colder weather. We love that everything just makes sense and is easy to use.
Oh and the bassinet was perfect for the first 2-3 weeks- then our little guy outgrew it.
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Yes!!!!! I’m so happy for you! I really hope (and think) this schedule will do wonders for you. Babies like a routine…I’m sure you’ve heard that before, but they really do! On another note, I smiled when I read that you tell him exactly what you’re doing and read blogs aloud to him. I read the last half of the Hunger Games out loud to Julia. I wanted to finish reading it, and we all know that reading to babies is good for them. She can’t understand me whether it’s a kids’ book or an adult book, so I figured, why not?! You’re a great mom, Sabrina! I just wished we lived closer.
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