Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Fri, 15 May 2009 10:30:56 GMT

icyclaw — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:30:56 GMT

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

thanx..

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Fri, 15 May 2009 10:17:22 GMT

cmm — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:17:22 GMT

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.

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Fri, 15 May 2009 06:44:20 GMT

icyclaw — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:44:20 GMT

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...

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Fri, 15 May 2009 02:32:14 GMT

schellen — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:32:14 GMT

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.

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Fri, 15 May 2009 02:21:39 GMT

sashimi — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:21:39 GMT

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.

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Thu, 14 May 2009 17:23:56 GMT

icyclaw — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:23:56 GMT

thanx cmm for the routine, will try and report on progress.

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.

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

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Thu, 14 May 2009 17:18:08 GMT

icyclaw — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:18:08 GMT

Sashimi, i am consciously and deliberately feeding your girl every 3 hours. As all along was bf-ing on demand averagely every 2 hrs. So tot of every 3hrs since its solids now. So far she does eat, but when she indicates that she do not want to eat, we will keep the food and try again 1/2hr to 1 hr later. So shld be how often?

My prob is her sleeping. All her life, her naps and even her sleeping at nite are like tat (always will wake up crying with eyes closed). To be able to reach 45mins is considered long liao. If can 45mins without crying once is like once in a blue moon miracle liao… How we know she "Wake" up from her nap is when she wake up without crying / she open her eyes
/ if sleep in yao lan, refuse to go back to sleep - start to scream if we cont to shake yao lan.

She could be eating or playing, then will indicate that she is sleepy - according to my maid by scratching her ears or eyelids like want to close like tat, and start to refuse to eat, start screaming… or start to throw away all her toys…

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Thu, 14 May 2009 05:51:53 GMT

cmm — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:51:53 GMT

icyclaw:

I tried the sleep begets sleep theory for 2 days asking my maid to lullaby her to sleep in the daytime and as we noticed that she can sleep more when she is being carried, she carried her throughout while she sleep.. Same things happened at night.. Need to continue for how long then will be able to know whether it is effective?

Agree with Sashimi not to get your baby into the habit of being carried while sleeping. Try to get your baby to fall asleep on the bed itself. I know it's hard, but babies are more adaptable than what we credit them for. Place sleep positioners around baby when she's asleep so she doesn't jerk herself awake when she turns in her sleep.

I feel that you are feeding your baby at very odd hours. When introducing solids, we are also introducing the concept of breakfast, lunch, and dinner at certain hours of the day. And not feeding at 3 hr intervals.

My suggestion for a daily routine:

0700
Milk feed. Let baby wake up for the day. I wouldn't wake baby up if she's still sleeping, but if she wakes up at around this time, her day starts.

0900
Breakfast (avocado + oatmeal cereal)

1000
Nap

1200
Lunch (spinach & pork porridge)
(I cook the pork in the soup for the porridge and put it in a mini chopper to chop it up finely and set aside. mix it into porridge with vege just before serving)

1500
Teatime - Milk feed and nap. When your baby gets older, you can include a cookie with the milk feed.

1700 bath

1800
Dinner (fish porridge + broccoli)

2030
Milk feed and sleep. End of the day.

Try this for a few days and see if it helps....

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Thu, 14 May 2009 04:57:00 GMT

sashimi — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:57:00 GMT

Offhand, my thoughts:

- Are you consciously and deliberately feeding your girl every 3 hours? EVen if she does not indicate she’s hungry?

- The naps seem too short. Some, eg. those below 45 mins cannot be considered naps at all. Esp. if interrrupted by crying.

- what does she do just before each nap?

- beware constantly carrying her to sleep, this is extremely tiring, becomes a bad habit you 'll find very hard to change.

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Fri, 08 May 2009 11:42:35 GMT

icyclaw — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:42:35 GMT

oh… she loves to drink water from her new pigeon bottle during the day time. Can finish 2 bottles in a day. But at night while she is sleeping, when she wake up crying, anything else that touches her mouth she will spit out and cry harder except for my breasts… even tried to slip in the avent teat with my breast next to it to fool her, also doesnt work… when she taste water, she rejected…

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Fri, 08 May 2009 11:39:57 GMT

icyclaw — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:39:57 GMT

Hi thanx everyone for all the valuable advices.

I tried the sleep begets sleep theory for 2 days asking my maid to lullaby her to sleep in the daytime and as we noticed that she can sleep more when she is being carried, she carried her throughout while she sleep… Same things happened at night… Need to continue for how long then will be able to know whether it is effective?

My maid vacuums the bedroom & vaccum + steam all the pillows/mattress/bolsters etc with OSIM iecologi + change bedsheets / comforter every week. So i guess no problem with the dustmite? Anything else i shld do? Wash the air-con filter everyweek? - need to do it with hot water?

Some of the routine that she has:

Porridge is 1 tbsp of rice steamed into porridge using either (ard 2x4cm) pork (thrown away) or fish mashed to be eaten together.
Scoops of cereal will b using the Similac formula blue scoop

1115 wake up
- > play
1200 - 1230 eat broccoli & pork 1tbsp porridge
-> play
1345 - 1430 sleep (wake up 2 times crying)
1530 - 1600 eat 5 slices avocado + 4 scoop oatmeal cereal + EBM 80ml
-> play
1730 - 1740 bath
1800 - 1845 sleep (wake up 4times crying out loud)
1845 - 1900 eat 2 scoop rice cereal + 60ml formula
-> play
2100 - 2130 eat fish porridge + broccoli
2330 eat 2 scoop oatmeal cereal + 105ml FM
0000 sleep after daddy carry and rock her sleep

0055 - 0115 BM
0659 - 0714 BM
1034 - 1048 BM

1100 wake up

Another day:
4th May
1230 wake up
1240 6 spoons of 1 tbsp of porridge + 12 slices of carrots
1400 - 1445 Porridge finished + carrots 1/4 only + FM 100ml
-> play
1615 - 1640 sleep
-> play
1710 4 scoops barley cereal + 20ml FM
1730 bath
-> play
1825 - 1840 BM
1845 - 1850 sleep
-> play
2000 1tbsp rice porridge+ 1 large pumpkin (finished 1/2)
2030 try again - finished all
2240 - 2 scoops barely cereal + 1 scoop rice cereal + 120ml FM
0055 - 0105 BM
0105 sleep
0233 - 0244 BM
4+, 7+, 9+ BM
1052 - 1058 BM

5th May
1150 wake up
1230 - 1300 3/4 of 1 tbsp rice porridge, 4 spoon taken of 1 large cauliflower
-> play
1440 - 1515 sleep
-> play
1600 - 4 scoops oatmeal cereal + 55ml BM + 1/2 scoop rice cereal
-> play
1730 bath
-> play
1840 - 1905 sleep
1908 - 1920 1 tbsp rice porridge + 1 large pumpkin - finished all
-> play
2045 - 2145 EBM 30ml
2200 2 scoop rice cereal + 30ml FM
2238 - 2250 BM -> SLEEP
1133 - 1148 BM
0012 - 0026 BM
0304 - 0314 BM
6+ BM
0830 - 0845 BM
0902 - 0912 BM
11+ BM
1203 - 1224 BM

Can see that there is no routine at all. So how to start fixing one? I realised alot of mummies have babies that wake up at 6am? Im a night owl, guess that’s why my baby is one too. Im thinking of fixing her waking time to be 10am and sleep time to be 11pm? Any recommendations as to the pattern for this? I know that i will be very sad the day she is weaned. But just hoping that maybe can let her BF in the morning and before sleeping - perfect scenario. And during weekends more often if possible. Dunno how… to start on this… and similac’s pauline was telling me 10mth old baby shld have ard 750ml of FM with 2 solid food… So my idea of every 3 hrs of solids in the day time is wrong?

Confused…

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Wed, 06 May 2009 15:34:06 GMT

gigue — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:34:06 GMT

Dear icyclaw, you have my total sympathy...lack of sleep gives me a short temper!!

I hope that the many useful suggestions by sashimi and schellen are effective for you.

I've a 8 mth old who also rejected the bottle when he was younger. But now he's ok. The key is to persist. Some things we did were:

- We changed the teat - because some babies are sensitive to the texture / feel / shape of the teat. We changed from silicon to rubber. It helped.
- We changed the milk feeder. My boy used to look at me (at 2 months!!) with wide-eyed and a traumatised look when I tried to bottle feed him! He associated me with BM, so bottle feeding (even with EBM) was rejected. I asked my hubby / MIL to help feed with bottle. And during that time, I leave the room so that my baby could not smell / see / hear me. That also helped.
- We started bottle feeding for one feed a day. Everyday, consistently, for the feed around lunchtime, he will receive a bottle feed. And when hes ok with one feed, increased to 2 and so on. Soon, he was able to adjust to being bottle fed, and after 2 months I think, he was able to let me bottle feed him too!

This baby also sleeps light. Until recently, he used to wake up as many as every 30 mins at night, and slept max 2 hrs in a stretch before waking up crying, asking to be carried to sleep again. Like you, I couldn't let him cry until he sleeps - part of the reason is that his crying wakes up his two brothers and I do not want to deal with 3 kids being awake in the middle of the night!!

I absolutely agree with sashimi and schellen that routines are important for babies - not just at bedtime, but throughout the day. I'm still trying to work it out for this one (who's diff from his two older brothers), but here are some things I tried:

- at first, just try to reduce the no. of times I bf my baby to sleep. In my sleepy daze, I did that very often when he was younger. But now that he's older, and taking the bottle, I give him water, or sometimes just carry him a little to put him back to sleep. Mixing gripe water in the water helps - he likes it too.
- adjust his daytime routine to have regular sleep - meal - wake times. Feeding takes place every 4 - 5 hours. No food in between that. After food, it's wake / play time and then it's nap time. He takes 1 catnap (30 - 45 mins) in the morning, 1 longer nap (1 - 2 hrs) in the early afternoon, and sometimes a very short one late afternoon (30 mins). I try not to feed him to sleep.
- his daily routine is based on this sleep-meal-wake cycle. 6am - wake up, milk, play. 7am - bathe and self play time in playpen. 8.30am - catnap. 9.15am - read. 10am - breakfast, playtime with me. 12.30pm - afternoon nap. 2pm - wake up, lunch, play. 5pm - catnap. 6pm - dinner. 7pm - bathe, 8pm - sleep, 11pm ++ - milk. 2-3am - if he wakes up, to give water / carry. but sometimes, when that doesn't work, and I am dead tired, I give in, and give him milk.... :oops: I try not to do that too often.

Hopefully this helps you in creating your own schedule for your little one. My boy is now sleeping better, and sashimi is right - the more a child sleeps, the more the child sleeps!

Also, found this website on helping baby sleep useful too: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070300.asp

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:57:41 GMT

sashimi — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:57:41 GMT

One of the MOST important lessons I learnt from Tracy Hogg is that for babies and young children:

The more a child sleeps, the more the child sleeps.

What this means is that a child who naps well and adequately sleeps better at night. An overtired child who does not nap in the day properly has bad sleep at night.

This is completely the opposite of what many parents do - which is to \"deprive\" a child of naps in the daytime so that they will sleep \"more\" at night. This idea not only does not work for children, it is detrimental to their development. Children's sleep is measured differently from adults'.

Once you understand that a child's sleep is vital, you will feel better working hard to ensure she sleeps and naps well. So - persist, don't give up.

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:02:42 GMT

schellen — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:02:42 GMT

Like what fav_giraffe wrote, sashimi and I set a routine for our DD from Day 1, even though she may not understand it at first. Gradually, she will realise that there is a routine and by 4-6 mths, she understood that sunset means bathtime (which she enjoys and looks forward to) followed by a bottle of EBM or formula and then bedtime. It took a while but we succeeded. Of course, in return, she doesn’t nap for long during the day but it was okay since her naps very gradually went from 15 minutes to 1 hour by the time she reached 1yo.

I also agree that "Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg is very helpful. You may not want to follow every suggestion she gives but it helps you to understand your baby better and you can bond better. Also, it helps with the setting up of routines. She also wrote one for toddlers too.

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:00:05 GMT

fav_giraffe — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:00:05 GMT

Hi icyclaw, this remind me of my son when he was younger. He is not able to sleep much, be it day or night. At night, he will wake up every 1 hour and cried. Not too sure what is the problem but could be teething. Also could be overtiredness that make falling into sleep difficult for infants.

You may want to read the book\"Baby whisperer\" by Tracy Hogg on this.

But i persist in having a routine for him every night, dimming the lights and cleaning him up (using a basin and cloth) and having quiet time for about 15 mins. Slowly he seem to realise that it is bed time. When he turns one, the problem slowly goes away and now unless he is not well, will sleep thru' the night.

I know how it feels, the lack of sleep can really get into you. Take care.

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:43:25 GMT

sashimi — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:43:25 GMT

Hi icyclaw, sorry to hear about your problems. Let me offer a few suggestions:

1. Routine is something they have to learn, and you can adjust an undesirable routine, but slowly, half an hour at a time, moving her wakeful or napping periods to the time slots you prefer.

2. Formula is more \"filling\" than breast milk for the reason that it is not as nutritious as breast milk. The latter is almost all nutrition, so it is very quickly digested and her tummy thus empties very quickly. Suggest that you give a bottle of formula as the last feed before you go to bed yourself, eg. at 10pm or so. Theoretically it will take longer for her to digest, so she will sleep longer and not be awakened by hunger.

3. The other factor is stomach size. This can't really be helped much but it is helpful to understand that a baby can only consume so much at one go depending on the capacity of her stomach. As she grows bigger, so will her stomach capacity.

4. Refusing bottle - try this experiment, go out to the shops and find a bottle teat that is similar in shape to your nipple. When my DD was a baby, she seemed to prefer some teats to others. After some experimentation we theorized that she favoured the one which most resembled mommy's nipple shape.

5. You can also consider changing formula, or tricking your baby - give her a little of breast milk from the bottle, then surreptitiously change to formula halfway through the feed.

6. Colic - if you suspect this, go to watsons/guardian and buy a bottle of Gripe Water, a very old traditional answer to colic. It worked miracles with us. Add a bit to formula or water and feed to baby at night before you go to sleep. Colic is still poorly understood, if I'm not wrong, so in this case - consider the tried and proven solution. Gripe water looks seomthing like this:

https://www.mypharmacy.com.sg/ShopFront/ProductPage.aspx?CatID=294&ProdSKU=998095028G

Hope this helps.

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:20:57 GMT

icyclaw — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:20:57 GMT

alamak… too stoned until i didnt submit my last reply, i go and close the window…

thanx phankao, esther and deminc for reply, will reply again when im free, baby crying again…

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:15:51 GMT

icyclaw — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:15:51 GMT

oh… forgot to add, the sleep irregularities are since she is born…

and it was worse, she could sleep at 9pm and cry every average 1/2hr for nothing, put in sarong also like that, so everytime cry, then will have to shake again… if not, need to carry her to soothe her or feed her, but she will vomit if feed too much, refuse pacifier…

dunno whether that is colic, cos read taht colic is inconsolable… but she just cry very frequently but go back to sleep aft we soothe her by whatever method…

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:22:36 GMT

cnimed — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:22:36 GMT

Hi Icyclaw,

I've been breastfeeding for 5 years so maybe I can help a little.
First thing that came to my mind is that if the sleep irregularities are recent, she could be going through a growth spurt, teething, or just not feeling well. Remember if baby keeps waking up, she's tired too.

icyclaw:
She wakes up on average from 11am to 12pm around 6 times. I am very tired from lack of undisturbed sleep.

I'm not sure if the timing you wrote is right. If so, it sounds like she's sleeping too much during the day. A baby this age usually has 2 1- 1.5hr naps during day time, and a longer period of sleep at night, or 1 1-3hr afternoon nap plus a catnap somewhere. The average child may stir to nurse 2-3 times during night-time to nurse, but (much) more often if he/she is not feeling well or going through a growth spurt.

When sleep is not going well, you need to look through her day's schedule - there should be regular time for outdoor/indoor play, regular meal times, regular down time. During meals, it doesn't matter how much she eats, it's more an introduction to tastes, and also a chance for you to learn about her likes/dislikes and personality. What's more important is that it's at about the same time of the day. Offer it to her, don't force it on her. If she likes it, she will look interested and open her mouth for more. If she turns away, that means she doesn't want anymore. One thing that's quite important is not to push the spoon into the back of the baby's mouth as it may cause her to gag or create an aversion to mealtimes. Some babies are very tactile and prefer to touch the food or feed themselves. If so you can offer cut cubes of soft bananas, avocado, tofu etc.

I find that for my children, they generally will skip breakfast until they are about 2 plus because they will nurse twice in the night and are not hungry in the morning. They like to feed themselves, and enjoy finger food more than porridge. Both transit to feeding themselves with spoons once they are ready so don't worry about table manners at this age (just no throwing food). The main thing is the spoon /fork/foodpick is always there for them to try if they want to. If you're introducing new food, do so during the afternoon meal, so that if there's something upsetting to her digestive system, the body has some time to process it before nightime sleep.

If the day's schedule is ok, you need to look deeper for underlying causes. My first son slept like clockwork except when he has a cold or not feeling well. He went through a colicky stage but we found out it was due to dairy products and that solved it very quickly.

My second son was very irregular until about 1 year old - it turned out to be due to a combination of personality and food/skin sensitivities plus teething. He could only sleep at the same familiar place (ie no overnights or late nights at relative's place) every night. He couldn't sleep if there's anything \"stimulating\" - not even colored bedsheets. My bedroom is a sea of white and beige.

From 7-10 months old, he barely slept at night, cried almost every 1-1.5 hours. My husband and I had to take turns at the marathons. At around the same time, he started showing signs of eczema. It took me a few weeks to track our diet(his and mine) and remove all the food that he was reacting to. And it turned out that, he had also been reacting to something in my diet from birth without me realising and it was showing up as unusually strong-smelling and frequent soft stools (but still can pass for normal infant stools). After I cut the food out from our diet, the very next day his pooing pattern improved and he stopped scratching himself so much. Through observation and tracking, we cut out eggs, dairy, seafood and peanuts.

In addition, my PT helper and I cleaned the entire room thoroughly to reduce dust mites. He was also showing signs of reacting to the disposable diapers (both my father and I react to certain metals and materials)and I changed him to cloth diapers. Also made sure there are no scratchy tags in his clothes etc. Things became much better - wake up only 3-4 times a night. Throughout this period, he was also teething a lot. (He's 20 months old now and his teeth are almost complete.)

But it was only after he turned about 18 months old that his sleep became like his brother's when young - nurse twice a night without fully waking up and after nursing, will immediately unlatch and roll away. Now we know all the food he's sensitive too, have a skincare routine to prevent flare-ups etc - bascially we know him and his needs much better now. He's also talking now so he can now tell us what bothers him.

I know it's pretty tough right now. Just remember that baby is not doing this on purpose, and she's counting on her family to make her feel better. Check through the possible causes, and in the meantime, try to get someone to take over for a while during the day so that you can get some rest. It's hard to be patient and understanding when we're dog-tired and head buzzing from lack of sleep. I know, I've been there.

Hang in there!

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:55:17 GMT

EstherTan — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:55:17 GMT

I’m not sure if this helps, coz I did EBM and partial FM for my ah girl… We had a bit of problems initially because she refused to go to sleep at night and would hang up and about till midnight (she’d sleep till 8am thereabouts though).

We gradually shifted her sleeping time earlier (she sleeps at about 103pm now till 730am), had to make it a routine by bringing her into the room at about 10 - 1030. We’d stay there even if she didn’t want to sleep and let her play a little or read to her. We play standard music for her as well (granny compiled a cassette of nursery rhymes and we used that). Was hard initially, but hubby would give her a gentle massage and used the lavender moisturizer from Johnson’s. (The scent is supposed to help her sleep).

Nowadays we toss her in the crib where she’ll roll/ totter around until she’s ready to fall asleep. We’ll just lay down beside the crib and read/ rest. She’ll fuss and try to get out of the crib, but we just ignore her. If she’s not keen to sleep, we let her play a little.

We don’t bathe her at night, but give her a ‘wipe down’ with warm soapy water. Her usual bath time is in the afternoon at about 2 - 3pm.

Hope this helps!

Reply to Schedule / Routine for 9 1/2 mths old baby on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:12:00 GMT

phankao — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:12:00 GMT

icyclaw:
Hi, I have been breast feeding my 9 1/2mths old baby on demand and she has been breast feeding to sleep every night.

....But have no idea what is the \"correct\" routine... Would appreciate if some mummmies can give me their schedule (bed time, eating time, portions - cos all along breastfeeding on demand.. so dunno really know her appetite, recently been feeding her solids till she scream which doesnt seems like such a good idea..) for their babies thru out the day so that i can try to follow, and maybe adjust to suit my family as i go along?

You are talking about nighttime routine? Or whole day? My schedule is rough roughly there, sometimes flexible abit.

My bb is 8-1/2mths.

I leave my baby around 6.30am after bf'dg him at 6am+ to send the boys to school and go to office. At 9.30am when I come back, he'd probalby have woken up anytime from 8am to 9am and have had his morning bath & breakfast. I will bf him again then, let him watch flashcard videos while I quickly try to go through the newspapers.

Between 10-11am onwards, I will then bring him out for a walk or to the market or out on errands or whatever else I need to do. Usually back by 11.30am or 12noon. I will bf him once again, and he'd take like a short half-hr nap while he nurses. Sad bc he won't let me go at this time of the day.

He will eat lunch around 1pm, then take afternn nap until abt 3+pm and bf again.

Eat dinner around 5+ or 6pm, then go out for walk/play at playground or a swim.

7 to 730pm, Bathtime.

then read books until about 8pm, plus the rest of the family will have fun playing w him, carrying him around or so.

9pm bedtime. He will nurse to sleep.

Sad to say though, he will nurse throughout the night hor, every so often when he wakes. I'm too sleepy to notice after 1 or 2pm since bb sleeps w us.

Our 3-generation household configuration is jus not conducive to sleep training lor