Infant Schedule is Backwards
Normally a baby goes down for a nap right after a bottle for me. My new DCB has a different schedule than the avg baby. DCM wants him to wake after his bottle, she says he does not sleep well if he gets laid down right away. He is to play for an hour then, when he gets tired lay him down. He falls asleep on his own when he is laid down.
Has anyone had an infant with this kind of schedule before, did it work well? |
Yup. Both of my kids.
Sounds like it's an eat, play, sleep cycle. Is he/she babywise baby? The eat, play, sleep cycle worked well for us because 1) DS was a huge reflux baby and had to be totally upright for 30 minutes after eating and 2) it helped to not make food/sleep associations which in turned helped with him sleeping own his own. Even now I usually have my DCK's read for about 20 minutes after lunch before laying down. Unless they are being unruly, in which case lunch then nap it is :lol: |
Yes, I did this with both my children and encouraged it with most of my daycare babies. I just preferred to not have children associate food/eating with part of the sleep routine. I never had any issues!
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Yes, sounds like an EASY schedule (Eat, Activity, Sleep, Your time). Both my kids were on that routine, and it is also what I work toward with the daycare babies. For me it's easier to predict. I know they will be ready to eat when they wake up, then when tired cues hit it's time to lay down. No "oh man, he looks tired, I need to go make a bottle" only to have them fall asleep halfway through. And then have them wake up when I try to transfer!
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I did this with both of my kids also. It's nice because they learn how to fall asleep on their own.
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Originally Posted by 284878: |
Originally Posted by 284878: |
Thanks all. I seriously have never had an infant on this schedule but I'm glad to hear that it is more common than I thought. DCB is here today and it seems to be working out great just like some of you said his hungry and sleep cues are easier to detect. The other baby I have in care is on the schedule that I consider average eat sleep play. So it's interesting to have two different infant on two different schedules.
I do have one question how does the schedule work for middle-of-the-night feedings? Does the infant expect to stay up and play then too? |
Originally Posted by 284878: |
This is how all my dck do it. Eat, play and be upright (especially my reflux baby) and then 30-60 min later they’re drowsy and fall right to sleep. I think it’s better this way so that they don’t think “I need a bottle or I won’t be able to nap”.
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Originally Posted by 284878: |
Originally Posted by mommyneedsadayoff: and I think they don't associate hunger with sleep. They don't need to eat to fall asleep, which is hard to break, imho. |
Follow up Question
I need help nailing down DCB schedule to fit with my other children's schedule.
DCB schedule arrives at 8 and DCM has fed him at 630 naps 830-930 Change 930 bottle 945-10 change/nap 11 wakes/change 1-130 bottle 130 nap 230 wakes/change 330-345 leaves 420-430 Once 4 hits, DH and dd come home and all p/u and drop-offs happen and things are hectic until 430 when all the kids are gone. According to the schedule DCM has him on, he should have another bottle before he goes home. Should I / would you try to squeeze another bottle in after the last nap? |
Originally Posted by 284878: I base everything off of feed time. Here's an example of what I would do in your case, but age would affect this slightly. Bottle 6:30 Nap 8-9:30 Bottle 9:45 Nap 11-12:30 Bottle 12:45 Nap 2-3:30 Bottle 3:45 Play and watch the other kids till pick up at 4/4:30 Like I said, it would adjust for age and how much/often they eat, but this based on about a 3 hr schedule. You can adjust based on the first feed, so if he comes and mom says he ate at 7 am, he would have bottles around 10, 1, 4, 7, 10. As he gets older and can drink more at one sitting, you begin to drop the snack feeds. The ones at 10 and 4 go away, so that you end up having him eat at breakfast, lunch, and dinner like the other kids. His naps eventually reduce to two a day as well, since he can go longer before eating. But again this depends on age. If he still pretty little, he'll have to keep the three hours schedule for a while, but this is the routine I do with all my kids and it works well. :) |
Originally Posted by mommyneedsadayoff: I have another infant (8 months) that arrives at 915, she normally gets a bottle at 945-1015. Today, I got his bottle ready when she arrived, to see if I could move a few things up so I could have time to squeeze in a 3rd bottle and because I did not give it to her she spent the whole 20 minutes crying. She does not give up either. He is scheduled to leave at 5 but last week DCM comes earlier 420 before the other family left. I had scheduled to give dcb a bottle after the other family left but she showed up early. Then yesterday, she came later and I was not prepared for that as I was expecting her earlier, just as I was going to warm the bottle she pulls in. DCM says that last week she was leaving work early, so 430-435 will be her time window for now on. I hate feeding a baby a bottle when a parent arrives, I am never sure if I should hand off the baby and bottle or finish feeding the baby myself. |
Originally Posted by 284878: As for doing bottles before pickup. I kind of extend the same courtesy to the parent as I expect from them. I send home a well-fed, well rested, and clean diapered baby. I would either wake the baby up a bit early from nap to make sure I can fit that feed in, or I would just finish the feed before they leave. Hope that helps! |
Originally Posted by mommyneedsadayoff: Yes, he is very content and waits for his bottle. Thus why I was feeding within 30 minutes after waking. He actually fought the bottle a little bit today when I tried to feed 15 minutes earlier than normal. I do agree, I hate when a parent shows up randomly and I have not changed/ checked the diaper for a while. One time a dcd showed up as dcb had just filled his diaper. I offered to change him but he took him home dirty anyways. |
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