6 month Schedule

6 months in the game, I’m finally feeling more comfortable sharing some things that have helped me. (P.s. I have an 18 month old nephew and religiously watched him and how he was and the challenges my sister had with him and thought my little Coco Bean would have the same but it’s been much different and the same as well. Each baby is different. This has just worked for my little bean.)

Ok. First of all, I tried to get him into a sleeping routine and will feed him after his nap most of the time and on demand if he’s just really cranky. After reading books, listening to my mother-in-law (who is a nurse so she’s really hands on with her grandson to the point where I’m starting to think she thinks he is his mom, ha! ), and tons of blogs/babycenter posts, I’ve found a routine that helps my little baby feel comfortable, happy, and well rested. He wakes any time from 6:30-7:30. Sometimes 8, if I’m really lucky. But after that wake up time, we play, relax, eat breakfast with me and then he goes back down 2 hours after he’s woken. That’s a typical 30-1 hour nap. Then he awakes, feed and we head off to an activity (usually the park for some daily dose of nature). He loves people watching especially children watching. I swear he thinks he’s older than he really is. It’s cute how much he adores my nephew. He’ll stay awake and alert and around 2-3 hours after he’s been awake, he gets tired and goes back for a nap. This one sometimes can be an hour or more. This is around 1 pm, usually. His third nap is the hardest for him to remember (sometimes he likes to power through and play play play). I go with the flow, but typically his next nap is 4. That one is a quick recharge. Then we start his bath/bedtime routine at 6:30 and lights out at 7. (Crossing my fingers, of course). If he skips that one last nap, he’s so so so cranky and tries sleeping at like 6 but I try to stretch that to at least 6:40 just to hit his ball park night time. It’s a struggle but I hope this helps new moms. It’s been a really balanced play, sleep schedule for our household. I believe that set early nighttime routine is so very important because it gives me and my husband time to hang out, do laundry, etc. Those 3-4 hours before Benjamin’s dream feed at 10:30 is crucial to feel like an adult again.