1 MONTH
Eating: 7-9 feedings in 24 hours; every 2.5-3 hours
Number of Naps: There was a bit of waketime and sleep after each
feeding, so the "nap count" was kind of unnecessary at this point.
Duration of Naps: Anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. If she woke
early, I'd try to use the paci or rock her back to sleep so she would be
well rested.
Length of Waketime: Optimal waketime was probably 50 minutes; actual
waketime was closer to an hour or a little more. This was because she
was having so many
issues nursing and would sometimes take a full 45 minutes to nurse.
Hours of Sleep at Night: I didn't let her go past 5 hours at night.
Many times, I'd wake up to my alarm telling me to feed her at the 5 hour
mark.
Worth Noting:
-I didn't keep track of any kind of
"schedule" the first week. We focused on full feedings
every 2.5-3 hours, the EWS pattern, and the
sleep hierarchy.
-We started working towards a
consistent morning waketime at 4 weeks.
2 MONTHS
Eating: 7-8 feedings in 24 hours; every 2.5-3 hours
Number of Naps: I guess there were technically 4 naps and then after the 8ish feeding was bedtime.
Duration of Naps: Anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours.
Length of Waketime: I was still trying to figure out her optimal
waketime. Sometimes it seemed close to 50 minutes, but other times it
seemed closer to an hour and 10 minutes.
Hours of Sleep at Night: This was a frustrating month because I knew
she was capable of going longer than she was. There were scattered
moments of hope, but most of our nights were broken into 4-4.5 hour
chunks. Things started to lengthen out during week 9 though. One night
she went 9 hours between feedings, so we felt like we would turn a
corner soon.
3 MONTHS
Eating: 6-8 feedings in 24 hours; every 2.5-3 hours
Number of Naps: Still taking 4 naps.
Duration of Naps: Anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. Naps did start
to improve this month, specifically the 2nd one. There were a lot of 45
min. - 1 hr. and 10 min. naps, then towards the end of the month,
things started getting better.
Length
of Waketime: 1st waketime = 55 min, 2nd waketime = absolute mystery;
almost every 2nd nap ended up being just 45 minutes, 3rd waketime = 1.5
hours, 4th waketime = 1.5 hours (or however long would make her 4th nap
around 45 minutes)
Hours of Sleep at Night: A couple days before she turned 12 weeks, we
decided not to feed her when she woke in the night. We had every reason
to believe she could easily make it through the night without eating.
(She was on formula, didn't spit up a ton, was gaining well, and wasn't
eating well for her first feeding of the day due to the MOTN feeding.)
So when she woke in the night, she fussed, and then went back to sleep
on her own. So from 11.5 weeks on, she was doing around 10-11 hours of
sleep.
Worth Noting:
-By the end of this month, we started swaddling her hands up by her mouth.
-At 10 weeks, I tried a new thing. The consistent morning waketime was
really rough on us, so I decided that whenever she woke (6:30 a.m. -
8:30 a.m.), I'd start my day. My goal was just to keep bedtime the
same. I'm not sure if this helped us get closer to STTN or not, but
that did happen soon after. Once she was STTN, she fell back into a
consistent morning waketime.
-In general, it felt like something magical happened when she turned 3
months. Everything just seemed more settled - her schedule, her night
sleep, her naps, her ounces per feeding.
4 MONTHS
Eating: 6 feedings in 24 hours.
Number of Naps: 4
Duration of Naps: Anywhere from 1.5-2 hours. Naps were getting more and more dependable.
Length
of Waketime: The 1st waketime was typically closer to an hour and 15 minutes. The rest of the waketimes were 1.5 hours.
Hours of Sleep at Night: 10.5-11 hours of
sleep.
Worth Noting:
-We had to cluster feed at night, as you can see. I tried 5 feedings a
couple of days and she just wasn't ready for it. Cramming in those last
2-3 feedings at night was hard, mostly because she was just so tired
having to be up that long. But it was necessary so she could get all
ounces in.
-Nova goes down pretty quickly for naps, sometimes not even making a noise. A minute or so of crying is pretty normal though.
5 MONTHS
Eating: 5 feedings in 24 hours.
Number of Naps: 4
Duration of Naps: The first 3 were anywhere from 1.5-2 hours. The 4th
nap was only 45 minutes to an hour. If she was still sleeping at an hour,
we'd wake her.
Length
of Waketime: The 1st waketime was close to an hour and 15-20 minutes.
The next 2 waketimes were 1.5 hours. The waketime before the last (4th)
nap was closer to an hour and 45 minutes or 2 hours.
Hours of Sleep at Night: 10.5-11 hours of
sleep.
Worth Noting:
-Soon after she turned 4 months, we cut down to 5 feedings. 6 feedings
had just turned into too many for her, almost causing her to "snack feed"
and not take full bottles.
-A lot of the time, she wakes or stirs at the 45 minute intruder during naps. I'd say 95% of the time, she goes back to sleep.
-Last month, she was swaddled with her arms completely out. And as of 5
months, we have switched her over to the sleep sack. She kept getting
her body out of the swaddle so it was time to make a change.
-A few days after turning 5 months, she started eating rice cereal once a
day. She had a few mornings of early waking (anywhere from 6:30-7:30)
and some bad naps, so I took that as my cue to start.
6 MONTHS
Eating: 5 feeding periods (4 bottles, 2 solids) in 24 hours.
Number of Naps: 3
Duration of Naps: Anywhere from 1.5-2 hours.
Length of Waketime: An hour and 45 minutes was the norm. Occasionally
if I saw sleepy cues a bit earlier than that, I'd put her down. Also,
if it was getting towards the end of the day and I needed to stretch
her schedule, it'd be closer to 2 hours.
Hours of Sleep at Night: 11-11.5 hours of sleep.
Worth Noting:
-We moved to more of a "four hour schedule" even though it's not
technically all the way to four hours yet. We found that 5 bottles a
day was causing her to snack and refuse the bottle. She does much
better with just 4 bottle feedings.
-After a couple weeks of rice cereal once a day, we moved to doing it twice a day (when we changed to the four hour schedule).
-Started offering a sippy cup of water after some meals.
7 MONTHS
Eating: 5 feeding periods (4 bottles, 3 solids) in 24 hours.
Number of Naps: 3
Duration of Naps: Anywhere from 1.5-2 hours.
Length
of Waketime: An hour and 45 minutes was the norm, but if she gave me
sleepy cues before that, I'd go ahead and put her down. She could do 2
hours towards the end of the day if I'm needing to stretch her schedule.
Hours of Sleep at Night: 11-11.5 hours of sleep.
Worth Noting:
-Just before turning 7 months, we added the rice feeding at lunch time.
-The veggies she has had so far are carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes.
-We started giving her the mesh food feeder (apples and oranges) occasionally and she loved it.
8 MONTHS
Eating: 5 feeding periods (4 bottles, 3 solids) in 24 hours.
Number of Naps: 2 (this month we made the transition from 3 to 2 naps)
Duration of Naps: Anywhere from 1.5-2 hours. (There were
very occasional 2.5-3 hour naps.)
Length
of Waketime: Around 2 hours.
Hours of Sleep at Night: 11.5-12.5 hours of sleep.
Worth Noting:
-We introduced fruits this month (bananas, apples, pears).
-She continues to love all kinds and mixes of veggies.
-After going down to 2 naps, Nova's night sleep got much better. I was not only noticing some early
waking, but also occasional wakings in the night. Sticking with just 2
naps seems to have solved it. Her night sleep is also now closer to 12-12.5 hours rather than
11-12. Not a huge difference, but any added sleep is a plus!
-Adjusting to 2 naps means that our last feeding and bedtime are a
little earlier than preferred. But I know that as she gets older, we'll
be able to push it more.
-The number of ounces she takes at each liquid feeding is a guessing
game. There is seriously no pattern - sometimes all she wants is 2
ounces, but other times she'll guzzle an 8 ounce bottle.
9 MONTHS
Eating: 5 feeding periods (4 bottles, 3 solids) in 24 hours.
Number of Naps: 2
Duration of Naps: Anywhere from 1.5-2 hours. (There were occasional 2.5 hour naps.)
Length
of Waketime: Around 2 hours. I did find that sometimes she needed
closer to 1.5 or 1.75 hours of waketime this month. That could possibly
be due to illness or maybe just that she's adjusting to 2 naps a day
still. It's safe to assume anywhere between 1.5-2 hours is what she
does though.
Hours of Sleep at Night: 11.5-12.5 hours of sleep.
Worth Noting:
-Last month, I talked about how we had transitioned to 2 naps. There were a few
days, however, that a 3rd catnap was needed if she didn't nap quite as
long as expected. I just took it day by day and did what worked best
each day. But officially, at 9 months, she is down to 2 naps except for
Wednesdays. Those days are off because of Duke's school pick-up.
Because her afternoon nap is cut short, she always goes down for a 3rd
nap around 4:30.
-We have just barely begun to venture into non-baby (pureed) foods. So
far, she has tried pasta and rice. She is a fan of both!
-She is now completely capable of picking up small foods (like puffs)
and feeding herself. Now that she's learned that skill, we'll begin to
slowly introduce more finger foods.
-As of now, we'll start cutting out the rice cereal since we'll be adding in other foods.
-Nova seems to be pretty sensitive to textures. She gags easily, so I
know we will have to ease her into the process of more chunky foods.
-She seems to have settled into a more predictable pattern with drinking
4-6 oz. of her bottles at each feeding. It's not always that amount,
but for the most part, that's what she takes.
10 MONTHS
Eating: 5 feeding periods (3 main meals, 4 bottles) in 24 hours.
Number of Naps: 2
Duration of Naps: Morning nap went through a 45 minute funk for a
couple weeks, but it seems to have settled around 45 minutes-1 hr.
15 minutes. Afternoon nap was anywhere from 1.5-3 hours, although the
average was 2-2.5 hours.
Length
of Waketime: We were kind of done needing to operate on "waketime," but if I had to count, I'd say 2 hours.
Hours of Sleep at Night: 12-12.5 hours of sleep.
Worth Noting:
-She got tubes in her ears at the beginning of this month and it made a
HUGE difference in her sleeping. (She had been waking up at several
points in the night and crying due to pain. She rarely needed us to
come in and tend to her, but it was still interrupted sleep for all of
us.) We had our happy baby back!
-At mealtime, we do a combination of her feeding herself and me feeding
her. One, because it helps keep her focused and two, because if we let
her feed every single piece of food, we would be there forever.
11 MONTHS
Eating: 5 feeding periods (3 main meals, 4 bottles) in 24 hours.
Number of Naps: 2
Duration of Naps: Morning nap was a bit unpredictable, but it was usually
around 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes. Afternoon nap was anywhere
from 1.5-3 hours, although the
average was 2 hours.
Length
of Waketime: We were kind of done needing to operate on "waketime," but if I had to count, I'd say 2 hours.
Hours of Sleep at Night: 12-12.5 hours of sleep.
Worth Noting:
-For the past couple of months, I've felt that
she would start cutting down on her morning nap a lot sooner than
expected. In general, it seems that if she sleeps more than an hour in
the morning, then she wakes from her afternoon nap way too soon.
Dropping the morning nap is a transition that can last awhile, so I'm
just assuming that we are at the beginning of it.
-Something has clicked with her and the sippy in this past month. She
has discovered that there is actually something in there to drink! This
is great since we'll be transitioning to whole milk in the sippy soon.
12 MONTHS
Eating: 5 feeding periods (3 main meals, 1 snack, 3 bottles) in 24 hours.
Number of Naps: 2
Duration of Naps: Morning nap had to stay around 30-45 minutes. Afternoon nap was anywhere
from 2-3 hours.
Hours of Sleep at Night: 12-12.5 hours of sleep.
Worth Noting:
-In order to have any kind of normal nap in the afternoon, I really have
to keep the morning nap short. My guess is that she drops her morning
nap sooner than Duke did (at 15.5 months).
-There are occasional mornings that she does not end up taking a morning
nap at all because of appointments or not napping well at church. She
actually does just fine. I don't think she could handle it every day, 7
days a week. But the fact that she can handle it at all means that we
are definitely in the transitional period to dropping the morning nap.
-Around the time she turned 1, we dropped that 4:00 p.m. bottle feeding
and replaced it with a small snack and water. That leaves us with 3
bottle feedings. The next one we drop will be the lunchtime bottle.
-She is not a fan of milk in the sippy cup right now. We'll see if she gets used to it over time.
***To see more detail or a schedule for each month, check out Nova's monthly schedules or Duke's monthly schedules.
***To see a summary of Duke's first year, click here.
