Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby

[sashimi]

Solid food does not work the same way as breast milk. Simply put, solid food take a much longer time for a baby to digest, whereas BM is digested very very quickly.


So you must not assume just because your child wants to BF every 2 hours, she therefore must be hungry every two hours. If you have fed her solid food, it will keep her stomach satisfied for a longer time.

In general, never feed a baby more than she wants to eat, UNLESS her weight/size/growth is below par.

If you overfeed a baby, the result is the baby becomes overweight, and this could cause other health problems.

I suspect that perhaps because you are concentrating on a very fixed feeding schedule that you are disrupting her natural sleep cycle. Just a guess. Eating and sleeping are linked, because an infant/baby is usually either doing one or the other, and not much else. If you are feeding when she should be sleeping, her bio-clock goes haywire.


Can you distinguish between a hunger cry and a tired cry? Some parents don’t realize there’s a difference, and aggravate their kid’s health by overfeeding when the child is simply tired and wants to sleep.

I.e. to see when your child is hungry, you need to recognize the hunger cry. Monitor this to understand how often she needs to eat.

Bear in mind babies at this age also undergo growth spurts where, from time to time, they experience a huge hunger, and would feed non-stop. Afterwards, they go back to a normal schedule. (they will also grow visibily).

As for sleep - ideally your child should doing something quiet before naps. If you can tell when she gets tired, then immediately calm her down as best as you can. If what you - your child is screaming away - then there is a possibly she is already OVERtired, which is not good.

If this happens again, monitor the time of day, and the next day try to bring her for her nap about 30 minutes before you think she’s going to overtire.

You need to watch and anticipate when your child will get tired. This has the additoinal benefit of slowly becoming a true schedule.

[schellen]

sashimi:

If you overfeed a baby, the result is the baby becomes overweight, and this could cause other health problems.

You have to be very careful with this. sashimi and I found out that if you're fat when in childhood, the chances of you getting fat when you're older is much higher than if you weren't fat in childhood. This is because in childhood, fat cells are laid down in your body if you grow fat. When you're older, since the \"foundation\" for fat is already there, your body can get fat more easily.

I can't remember the official report where we got this. I think sashimi should be able to find it though. I was skinny as a child so I only started gaining fat in my 30s. However, sashimi has not been skinny for quite a huge part of his life so .....

P.S. There's a period of time in a baby's life when all babies generally look fat/are chubby. I think it's about 3-6/9 mths? That's when they start gaining weight after adapting to life outside the womb. When they start crawling, they'll naturally lose the chubbiness.

[icyclaw]

Eh.... Her \"sleeping problem\" has started from when she is born till now... Was on \"on demand\" schedule from birth till 1.5months back.


Dun really tink that she is being overfed...

Pls refer to http://claudiachong.multiply.com/photos/album/6/Cheyenne#1 for her pic.

So far, she will eat when she wants to ... If she do not want to, she will seal her lips and no matter how we try to put the spoon to her mouth she wont open her mouth... So guess, no issue of feeding her when she do not wan to be fed?

P/S: Im definitely not trying to argue here.. just trying to share more of my baby's reaction so that you good Samaritans can enlighten me with ur words of wisdoms..

Oh, the 3hrs thinggy, i try.. but i dun force.. if she is tired and wan to sleep just before the feeding, i let her sleep 1st... cos if she is tired she aso wont eat much.. and if she sleep 1st, she tend to wake up faster cos she is hungry.. so i try to strike a balance here...

[cmm]

icyclaw:

wanted to stop the carry to sleep method. so far in the afternoon, maid managed to put her in cot and she can sleep on her own once. usually need patting and/ or singing.

Yes, keep at it. Repetition does the trick. Try to \"forestall\" her wakings. For example, if she usually wakes about 40 mins after you put her down for her nap, go to her 5 - 10 mins before that time and pat/soothe her. This is so that she wldn't wake up completely and wld be soothed before her usual wakings. Hopefully this should help her nap longer.

icyclaw:

my baby sleep halfway, suddenly wake up will while closing her eyes, get into crawling position and start crawling ard.. sleep positioners can help?

Does she sleep on her side or on her back? At 9mths plus, her arms are strong enough to push herself chest up, so you can safely put her on her side to sleep, and have her hug a bolster. Then put some pillows snugly against her back. The idea is to make her comfortable so she can stay asleep longer. Make sure the pillows are not heavy ones though.

When she crawls around and changes position, stuff the pillows around her again. But do it gently so you don't wake her in the process.

[icyclaw]

ok, will aso try the sleep positioner too...


thanx..