baby schedule

At 11 weeks old, Greyson is now sleeping about 7-8  hours a night and our life has dramatically changed for the better now that we get a solid night's sleep!  We were very fortunate to receive a great book & good advice (thank you Fiores!) before Grey was born.  Katie gifted me the book On Becoming Babywise which was really aligned with all of the feelings I have towards starting a family.  For example, we believe and want Greyson to know/feel that he has joined our family....he didn't start it.  The book's main theme lies around how to give your child the gift of sleep.  Some people agree with putting babies on a schedule; others don't...but if you're interested in how we do things here...this is how we roll.

7am Mealtime
Waketime:  playing/talking/swing
Naptime (1.5 - 2 hours)

10am Mealtime
Waketime:  bouncy chair with music/reading books
Naptime (1.5 hours)

1pm Mealtime
Waketime:  tummy time, dancing with mum
Naptime (1.5 hours)

4pm Mealtime
Waketime: walk with Bullet, talking/playing
Naptime (1 - 1.5 hours)

7pm Mealtime
Waketime:  playing/talking, Skype, reading books, bath
Naptime (1.5 hours)

10pm Mealtime
Bedtime until 7am

Since Grey is almost 3 months, over the course of the next few weeks, we'll be moving the 10pm feeding up and up until Grey is getting his last feeding at around 8:30pm and then sleeping through the night.  At this point now, I take him to his crib while he's awake and lay him down for his nap.  We have a sound machine in his room that I put on and he goes to sleep on his own with little or no whining.  It seems like he takes a lot of naps, but he's only 3 months old!  It takes a lot of work to do all the growing he's been doing.  As he gets older, his naps will become longer but fewer. 

If he doesn't wake up on his own for food, I wake him up (the shock!) and he smiles his little head off at seeing me.  I can't say that this will work for everyone, I only know it works for us and we have a very happy baby.  I think a happy baby comes from being well fed and well rested<3

For mommas-to-be:  I would definitely reccommend On Becoming Babywise.  I had no idea on schedules for eating, sleeping, or staying awake.  It was really helpful to have some type of guidelines.  We don't follow everything that the books says exclusively, but it has made a lot of sense out of our lives since the babe.

You may have noticed that in our schedule for waketime there isn't any mention of television.  That's because we haven't introduced Greyson to any tv.  At first it was out of habit because Brandon and I just don't really watch tv...the only tv I watch is generally on Hulu and that's while Grey is eating or sleeping so he doesnt' watch it.  When Grey was about 9 weeks old it suddenly dawned on us that we've never intentionally sat him in front of the tv for a children's program (or to watch whatever we have on either).  So at that point it felt like we were taking a stance against tv.  I did some googling about it (duh) and the world is undecided about the effects that tv has on babies.  I do think there seems to be something creepy about little kids sitting with their mouths open staring at the tv screen...or parents who claim they "can't pull their kids away from the tv"...(um, hello- YOU ARE the parent!??!)  I think people need to decide for themselves.  Grey is super talkative and interactive already and we feel like maybe it has something to do with the no tv?  maybe.  In any case, we aren't really taking a side, but for now Grey isn't a tv-watching kid....just yet, anyway.