My baby girl will be 9 months on Sunday and I'm just wondering what kind of schedule other babies this age have. I'm having a very hard time figuring out how long she can stay awake between all sleep periods (wake up until morning nap, morning nap until afternoon nap, afternoon nap until bed time). She's a very easy going girl so she doesn't usually get fussy or show any signs of being tired, but if I wait too long she cries when I put her down. If I put her down too soon she lays in her bed for a while and then cries because she's been in there for a while and is still awake. Very frustrating! I'm also wondering about her eating schedule. I'm still nursing and feeding some solids now, too. After I nurse her she usually doesn't want anything else right away, so I feel like I'm feeding her very few hours (for example, I nurse her at 11 and then feed her some solids for lunch when my son and I eat at 12ish). Maybe that's okay though. Just wondering what other moms are doing. Looking forward to your replies!
I used these schedules as a jumping off point. I never followed any of them exactly, but adjusted them to our needs and our son's needs. Hope that helps!!
http://www.babycenter.com/0_sample-baby-schedules-for-9-a...
Try writing out your schedule. Are you putting her down every 4 hours, or so, or is it more random?
As for eating, that is about what I did too, the food is just for learning, the milk is the nutrition, so you nurse, and then feed solids. I think I would wait about 1 hour or so after nursing, or he wasn't interested at all.
Marc Weissbluth has a really great book and gives sleep schedule recommendations for ages newborn - 12 yrs of age. I strongly recommend this book to first-time moms and moms who have multiple children.
My two kids were very different, my older still needs more sleep than my younger a lot of the time! I think writing down everything and keeping track of which days it works best will give you a good idea of what kind of schedule works for HER instead of what a book says should work.
As for feeding, you're doing it just right! She still gets everything she needs from nursing and will until even after 12-months old if you're willing to continue nursing. You always want to nurse first and then offer solids 30-60 minutes later. Solids at her age are just about exploration of tastes and textures, not about providing nutrients. So don't worry about it. Just follow her lead:)
I liked the Sleep, Eat, Play routine. My kids would take their naps, wake up and nurse, then have active time. The first continued to nurse before bed at night for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time (he's just weaned recently) but not naps, and the second still nurses before most naps and most bed times. But neither nursed to sleep after the first few months.
There's nothing wrong with nursing to sleep if it's working for you:)
So - a little about our life before I show you schedule - because, in the end... it's all about what works for you and baby...My daughter is 9 months. I work and my hushband is a SAHF. Our daughter's hours awake are from 7ish (am)- 9ish(pm) - she gets 5 meals (not including snacks) so I divided the awake time by 5. I only breastfed until 6 months due to production issues..... (all times are adjustable pending on baby)
Wake - 7AM
Bottle 6-7oz
mornings are never the same.... if she is grumpy before 9:30... she will nap before eating again, but we try to get one more meal in her before nap time as it helps her sleep longer.
10:30 (ideally) food - 4-8oz baby food... we mix it up - 1 veg, .5 fruit, or .5 cereal and 1 fruit, etc..... and always a sippy cup of water
2:00 -bottle 6-7oz
nap (this is normally when she takes the longest nap - 1.5-2 hours)
5:30 food - 4-8 oz baby food... normally this meal is one of the 3rd foods (ckn and noodles, beef veg, etc + fruit or veg....) and sippy cup of water
we eat dinner around 6:30 and she always wants some of ours... so we let her snack on baby appropriate things we are having (veg, bread, etc - or one of her snacks - puffs, yogurt melts - this also helps her learn to feed herself)
8ish last bottle 6-7 oz and then off to bed
hope this helps.... not that we are doing it "right"...(FYI - I do plan to ask Ped how this is working and if she agrees at our visit this Wednesday), at our last ped visit, she mentioned to do 2 "food" meals a day.... I had friends breastfeed until baby was 2, and they didnt' offer any solids until at least 1... go with your gut and the ped advice and baby will be fine! Good Luck!
I had a hard time figuring out a schedule for our first child. I recommend writing down everything (sleeping, eating, when she's getting grumpy) in a notebook for a week or two. You will start to see a pattern and then you can go from there. Having a child on a schedule is a wonderful thing! Good luck : ).
