Hi guys.
When we visited the pediatrician 1.5+ weeks ago, (by the way, we were 89% for weight, 70% for head circumference, and 95%, or was it 97%? for length) I complained about not having a nap schedule. So the pediatrician said "oh that is simple. Just keep track of her naps for a few days and then when you see a pattern and know when she will be tired put her down for a nap."
Right.
This is our sleeping and eating log. Let me explain. Red lines are feedings. Black dots are night time sleep (yay! We are doing great!) Black bars are daytime naps. There are some squiggles in there which indicate she had a hard time falling asleep that particular nap or sleep time.
Here is the pattern I notice:
a) falling asleep at 7:00-8:00 most nights, eating at 10:00-10:30 (I wake her up for this one) and waking up once more during the night to eat.
Here are the patterns I do not notice:
a) eating during the day pattern
b) nap pattern
Am I missing something?
No I don't think so mom. I really like the teether you got me. Thanks.
In other news, I think I solved, at least for now, the ant problem.
Good job, mom!
The garage nest was easy. They were like sitting ducks.
Go on.
The inside of the house was more difficult. I knew there was a nest but didn't know where. Eventually one day a small movement on the side of the door frame of the front door caught my eye.
Over there, right?
Yeah. I found what looked like the beginning of tunnels. So I baited it.
That sounds reasonable.
Yep. I haven't seen any ants since then.
I think I see one right now.
Just kidding, that was the cat.
I have only seen dying ants. Usually in the bathtub for some reason.
Really?
Why are they in the bathtub?
That I don't know.
hmmm...
Um. Please clean them out before you give me a bath.
I don't do baths with ants, not even dying ones.
Taking pictures of my baby is like trying to not eat chips.
So hard to stop...
You really should check my diaper, mom.
Ahhh!! I won't post the other 60 I took.
Alex and I went to the Lowell Folk Music Festival today. It was crowded but fun. We managed to find a salted chocolate covered caramel.
Cecily enjoyed it.
That is the stage with a bluegrass band from Ohio. The guy on stage left was an ASL interpreter of all the songs. I had never seen that at a bluegrass concert before.
Alex taught me some Ukrainian on the way there. I learned (and forgot) how to say "how old are you? I am 30. Where is the bathroom? Joseph Smith was a prophet."
Haha! Taking pictures of babies really is like trying to not eat chips--what a perfect analogy.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I thought I would offer my unsolicited advice on baby naps. Feel free to ignore it if that's obnoxious or irrelevant to your situation. I really stressed about making a consistent nap schedule with my first child and I would get totally stressed if it was disrupted once it was established, but with my second two it became a lot more complicated to be consistent and with them I was able to develop a new theory on naptimes that worked really well. Maybe you can even let me know if these observations work with other babies besides my own.
Anyway, what I did notice with B and C is that around 4/5 months old they would 1) usually need a nap within 2-3 hours after the last time they woke up (so naptimes would be variable from day to day depending on how long they slept in, how long the last nap went, etc.), and 2) my babies seemed to build longer awake-time stamina as the day progressed (so they may be tired after only 2 hours in the morning, but by evening they might make it as much as 3 or 4 hours before needing to sleep again). Anyway, this was less stressful for me than always trying to hit a target time for naps because it also seemed to fit with their changing sleep needs. An example of a day might go:
7:00 am baby wakes up and eats
9:00ish am baby naps
10:30 am baby wakes up and eats
sometime after lunch (12:30?) baby naps
1:30 pm baby wakes up and eats
4:30 pm baby eats again and naps
5:30 pm baby wakes up
8:00 pm baby eats and goes to bed
But, of course, the timing would vary from day to day depending on the length of naps, eating needs (growth spurts always throw things off too). I hope that makes sense.
I'm glad to see that you are enjoying Boston, and your new home!
I love seeing Cecily in her Mom's yellow tub. Katie you were a cutie in it 30 years ago. I love you both!
ReplyDeleteGlad you guys are getting out and about! I have a lot of pictures of Cecily, too, and that is saying something considering I've only been around her for like 5 days of her entire life. I can't imagine LIVING with her 24/7! lol
ReplyDeleteI'm TOTALLY digging your sleep/eat chart. Way to get methodical! I agree with Kiersten, though, about babies not always being methodical, especially in a 24-hour time frame.
ReplyDeleteI fed my babies as soon as they woke up, pretty much every time they woke up, so there was a rhythm to the day, but my my babies tended to sleep longer than Cecily does, so, um, that's the unmethodical part of infanthood.
But I know infants can be trained to a schedule. Parents of multiples do it all the time...but they're pretty much superheroes in my book.
I feel for you, though, and it sucks sometimes to have your life and schedule so wrapped up in someone you love beyond control who is really not under your control. I always take comfort in the fact that things will change, even if it's only a little at a time.
I see the Parent genes in Cecily now, finally, and the yellow bucket photo comparison totally sold it. She's her father's daughter, to be sure.