Showing posts with label routines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label routines. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

A Room of His Own :: Part Two


Hello, friends! Remember last week, when I told you Shepherd was going to transition from his bassinet to his crib? Well, transition has been a huge success so far. I am very thankful! He is now going to bed at 8:30 p.m. in his own room. We usually start bedtime routine a little before 8, with a bath, stories, nursing and prayers (but not necessarily in that order).

Once we say prayers, turn off the lights and turn on the ceiling fan, Shepherd generally just looks at us and smiles until we walk away. I sometimes think that little boy knows how hard some things are for his mom, so he goes out of his way to be super sweet. It breaks my heart in a happy way. He sleeps from about 8:30 p.m. to 2:30 or 3 a.m. He is then awake at around 4:30 and finally up at 6:30 for the day. He wakes up so happy, and even his little face looks brighter. Again, I'm so thankful!


Thanks to your advice, I feel like his good nights of sleep are more than worth adjusting to his natural nap routine. After I posted about Shepherd's napping habits, he began to take two regular naps: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I don't think it will be a trend, though it sure has been nice!


Now, our newest challenge is introducing the bottle. Do you have any suggestions about which types of bottles you have had success with? We have tried with little success Medela bottles; similar to pacifiers, Shepherd just spits them out and gags. Should we just keep trying the same type of bottle/nipple? I am working along the lines of these suggestions, so Aaron is feeding Shepherd until Shep is comfortable. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Naptime or Bust.

OK, mamas and papas, help me out! I have the worst time getting Shepherd to take his naps. Apparently he is supposed to be taking two or three a day, and we are lucky to get one in, usually around 1 or 1:30 in the afternoon.

He is a champion sleeper at nights, but every time I put him down for a nap,  he screeches and screams and is obviously a tension increaser, because crying it out just ain't working. I have tried to follow his nap time patterns in an effort to create a predictable daytime routine, but he's just not that into napping.

Here's our regular schedule:

6:30 a.m.: wake up for early morning feed. I call this the first awake period of the day because it's after the sun rises. He nurses and then falls back to sleep.

8:30 a.m.: up for the day.

10:30-11 a.m.: try to lay Shep down for a nap. Scream. Scream scream scream. If I'm lucky, he will shut his eyes for about 15-20 minutes during this time.

1/1:30ish p.m.: try for nap time numero dos. This is usually when we have the best luck; if he's going to nap, it will be in the afternoon and not in the morning. Sometimes, he doesn't nap, and he ends up falling asleep closer to 3 p.m.

Down for bedtime at 8:30 p.m.

So, any thoughts? Do I need to wake him up earlier or keep him awake longer? Should I just follow his natural schedule a little closer and see if I can tweak my times to better fit his internal routine? Am I just out of luck?

Thanks in advance!