Archive for July, 2008

This article outlines the average 6 month old baby schedule, including feedings, solids, naps and night sleep. If your baby is having trouble napping, you may be interested in how you can get your baby to nap.

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6 month old baby’s sleep

At this age, if you are not lucky enough to have a baby who sleeps through the night, many 6 month olds are still waking 1-2 times to eat at night. Anything more and likely you have a sleep association problem (aside from the 6-month growth spurt that should only last a few days to a week).

Obviously, all babies vary, but here are some sample schedules you can use to make your own for your unique baby. Schedules are iffy at this age because many babies simply can not stay up past 2 hours to get to the next scheduled nap-time, so at this age, it’s likely naps are still on the short side, but come frequently. Over the next several weeks, you can work on getting down to just 3 naps to get closer to the 7 month schedule.

I should warn you that I am in the camp that breast milk or formula should be the primary nutrition for the first year and solids come secondary. Below are the amounts recommended from Super Baby Food, the book I use for reference (as a guide, not as the end-all-be-all because I don’t give my kids nuts before a year or follow other things in the book, but it’s a good reference guide). Another useful reference is Wholesome Baby Food. Although I work full time, I did make most of my baby food (I’d make 1 or 2 big batchs of something each weekend in 1-2 hours), but even if you don’t, the website is useful as a guide when to introduce what food and other meal ideas.

Amounts per day:

• At least 5-6 breastfeeding sessions per day or 32 ounces formula or combination (decrease solids if your baby is not taking in at least this much)
• Water is unnecessary (breast milk and formula have plenty of water in them). If your baby has any constipation issues, focus on “P” foods (pears, prunes, etc.)
• 1-2 servings baby cereal (1 serving = 1-2 Tablespoons dry)
• 1-2 servings fruit (1 serving = 1-2 Tablespoons)
• 1-2 servings vegetable (1 serving = 1-2 Tablespoons)

Note: If you did not start solids until 6 months (I did not start until 6 months), you will work your way up to the amount of servings above. Don’t worry about feeding this much right away!

Sample 6 month old schedule

Here is a what I call a “staggered” approach. My first son did better with a full feeding and then having solids a bit in between. He was a little hungry but not famished. He just didn’t do well with stopping nursing or his bottle mid-way to eat solids.

Schedule 1

6:30 - Wake and Breast milk or Formula
7:45 - Breakfast
8:30 - Morning Nap (at least 1 hour)
10:00 - Breast milk or Formula
11:30 - Nap (often 30-45 minutes at this age)
1:00 - Breast milk or Formula
2:00 - Nap (often 30-45 minutes at this age)
4:00 - Breast milk or Formula
4:30 - Catnap (30 minutes)
5:00 - Dinner
6:00 - Begin bedtime routine
6:30 - Breast milk or Formula and Bedtime
7:00 - Goal to be asleep

+Plus possibly 1-2 nighttime feedings

If your baby doesn’t mind a more “consolidated” approach to eating, like my second son, here is another type of schedule:

Schedule 2

7:00 - Wake and Breast milk or Formula, then Breakfast
9:00 - Morning Nap (at least 1 hour)
10:00 - Breast milk or Formula
12:00 - Nap (often 30-45 minutes at this age)
1:00 - Breast milk or Formula
2:30 - Nap (often 30-45 minutes at this age)
4:00 - Breast milk or Formula
5:00 - Catnap (30 minutes)
5:30 - Partial Breast milk or Formula Feeding, then Dinner
6:30 - Begin bedtime routine
7:00 - Bedtime
7:30 - Goal to be asleep

+Plus possibly 1-2 nighttime feedings

Note: Many people prefer to follow an eat-play-sleep routine, which is a good routine to follow, however, sometimes hard to implement at this age when the amount of time between naps is not long enough and your baby wakes too early from his nap because of a feeding. I take all of that into consideration when making my schedules. The most important part is to be careful not to create sleep associations with feedings too close to sleep times, which we saw become important at 4 months old.

You may also be interested in tracking your baby’s sleep, feedings, medication doses, immunizations, etc. using online baby software at Babble Soft. You can even install on your mobile device for when you’re on the go!

If you need help with your baby’s schedule or night-weaning, you may be interested in Help Your Baby Sleep, a Step-by-Step Guide, which discusses naps, schedules, and shifting schedules for babies waking too early or going to bed too late (among many other things) or get one-on-one baby sleep advice.

What is your 6-month old’s schedule?

Many people wonder when they can put their baby on a schedule. Today’s sleep quick tip is that babies will vary, but the average age that I recommend to start trying a sleep schedule is around 6 months old. Depending on how consistent they are, how sensitive they are to becoming overtired and how over-tiredness affects their napping will drive when a schedule is comfortably achievable. Of course, many people try schedules sooner and some will succeed, but if pushing them to be awake too long makes them nap worse, you aren’t helping you or him get enough sleep. The main obstacle in short-napping in babies under 9-10 months old is over-tiredness. When they are over-tired, they have more trouble settling down to sleep. This is usually done by keeping them up too long between naps. Strange, but true!

Would you like to learn more about baby schedules?

I will be posting sample schedules for a variety of ages. So far, I have the 8 month schedule done. On Thursday, I will post the 6 month schedule. I’ll update this post as I get more up.

You can also read about napping in my free guide, 5 Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night as napping can affect nighttime sleep. And, I also talk a lot about schedules in my e-Book, Help Your Baby Sleep, a Detailed Guide. The e-Book also covers how to shift schedules in 8+ month olds and toddlers when they are waking up too early and/or going to bed too late, complete with examples on how to shift the schedule.

When did you put your baby on a schedule?

I just had my first free giveaway last week and here are the winners! There weren’t too many entries, so you had a good chance to win! Next time, I need to find ways to advertise it more, I suppose, but I don’t mind giving away to most people who entered!

To choose the winner, I counted up the number of entries and asked my husband to choose 5 numbers, randomly, so here are the winners:

A copy of my e-book: Shay and Jessica
A free 2-email consulting services package: Laura
A custom-made baby blanket by Elizabeth Artiz: Julie and Jennifer

Congratulations!! I’ll send you an e-mail with either instructions on getting your prize or send you my e-Book, directly. I’m going to plan another giveaway next month. Maybe I can try to do one once a month or every other month.

And, thank you for any feedback you gave me on the site! I really appreciate it!!

Babies can begin to teethe as early as just a few months old, but it might take awhile before the actual tooth even appears. Some babies never show many signs of teething apart from drooling and chewing on everything while others will get fussy and cranky as the tooth is popping through. Some babies will sleep through it all while others will have numerous night wakings. Some experts have said it will not disrupt sleep, but I wholeheartedly disagree. As everything else, all babies are different and they will all have different pain tolerances. I know that my son did seem to be affected and since none of us can go back and know what it feels like, I believe it’s our job, as parents, to be sympathetic, while also making sure they get enough sleep.

Here are my tips for handling teething and your baby’s sleep:

• If baby is extra fussy during the day when he’s awake (i.e. he is not fussy because he is sleepy), make sure you make him extra comfortable at bedtime with a dose of Motrin or Tylenol or teething tablets and possibly, Orajel. Note: My pediatrician did not OK Motrin until 6 months old. I prefer Motrin because it lasts longer (6 hours) than Tylenol (4 hours), but you should check with your pediatrician about when you can give it.
• Given a baby teethes for what feels like a constant 2 years, you should figure out a plan for how you will handle it because you can’t allow too much sleep deprivation in the name of “teething”, since you may think something is a teething problem, but it’s really a sleep problem.

  My plan with my first son was that if he was extra fussy during the day, I’d give him Motrin and Orajel at bedtime. If he had any night wakings 6+ hours (give or take 1 hour) after the medication, I’d tend to him with another dose and then stay with him for 30 minutes until it kicked in and then put him back down. It was usually only about 2-4 days of super fussy times that he needed extra soothing until the tooth popped through. Other times, I’d have to be more stringent on my nighttime visits, because of the problems it would create.

• If you are nursing, expect baby to possibly nurse more frequently as it feels good on their gums. As always, you may have to set limits and be careful not to create a sleep association with nursing to sleep.

Should You Stop Sleep Training During Teething?

In general, my answer will be no. If you waited for all your baby’s teeth to pop through before you sleep train, you might wait over 2 years! Some baby’s teeth pop through at a few months old but others don’t until past a year old! Since you have no way of knowing, you need to just do your best and make sure you prioritize your baby’s sleep. Having said that, you may need to alter your plan a bit, as I suggested above, during the few days the teeth are about to erupt through the gums (you might notice them right on the surface of the gums and your baby is extra fussy), but otherwise, help them feel comfortable, but continue to be consistent and help them learn to sleep better.

Do you have any teething tips?

I breastfed my first son for 13 months and am still breastfeeding my second (he’s now 5 1/2 months as I’m writing this). As I’ve said before, we also used a crying sleep training method with my first and a no-cry sleep training method for my second (so far). They are just two very different temperaments.

Although I used a crying sleep training method for my first son, I was pretty turned off by an article I read that promoted crying it out to wean breastfeeding. Part of my philosophy is that we all must find a method of sleep training that works for our families.

Another part of my philosophy is that you need to be fair to your child. For example, I never recommend cry-it-out to families who have been co-sleeping for a lengthy amount of time. I believe you need to start slower. With my son, I made sure he could fall asleep unassisted before I expected him to do it alone. Some babies have more trouble self-soothing than others. Once my son knew how to fall asleep, it was more of a matter for us to set limits that he had to do it daily, without our “help” only because our “help” turned into a 3 hour marathon event.

Back to that article. She mentions going on a vacation, separating from baby abruptly, for a week or more and another method is to sabotage your breast milk so it doesn’t taste good. Her final method is to let your baby cry and increase the time before you nurse until you work your way up to letting your baby “cry itself out”. First of all, my baby is not an “it”.

Second of all, there is another method (and there are others!) that worked well for me and that is the “Don’t offer, don’t refuse” method. I had plenty of time, so I could take my time and we took 2 months to wean. Even going slow, my son showed signs of weaning too fast, so I can’t imagine if I had used any of the methods outlined in the article I read!

Granted, had my son taken “too long” (whatever that means to each of us) to wean, I do understand that sometimes you do have to set limits and yes, they might cry, but just like sleep training, there is a range of things you can try before you jump to cry-it-out. I was completely turned off that the article seemed to only list extreme methods. At least give a variety of methods like I have on this site about sleep training with my sleep training series, ya know?

I know this post isn’t really about sleep, per se, but when I read the article and it mentioned “cry it out” for weaning, I felt compelled to write. Cry it out gets such a bad rap, sometimes, and this doesn’t help. What I want to emphasize is that you let your baby cry-it-out to fix sleep problems, but only after your baby is fed, dry, comfortable, and any other needs are attended to. A baby’s cry is protesting the changes you are making when you are breaking sleep associations and other habits. But, breastfeeding is about more than just a mother’s milk as it’s a source of comfort and a connection between mom and baby, too. Even when you sleep train, you can (and should) breastfeed or bottle feed your baby. The idea is just not to do it until baby is all the way asleep. Easier said than done, unfortunately.

I hope this article lets you get to know me and my philosophy better. You may also want to read more about my definition of cry it out and at what age I recommend it. For more weaning techniques, please visit Kelly Mom. You can also visit BabbleSoft for breastfeeding support.

What do you think about cry-it-out to wean?

I am so happy that I have been featured in 5 Minutes for Mom’s weekly column 5 Minutes Around The Blogosphere. My contest to win a copy of my Help Your Child Sleep, a Detailed Guide e-Book, sleep consulting services , or custom-made baby blanket was listed as a “Baby Essentials” contest.

If you haven’t heard of this website, you should check it out! It’s a place that brings moms together and gives you great places to visit while online. You should definitely check out their readers blogs and mom-run websites. The owners also have this really cute store that sells rocking horses called A Rocking Horse to Love.

If you haven’t already entered my contest, please make sure you post a comment on this blog post for a chance to win!

When I hear about baby sales, I want to pass them along to you! Here are a few from Amazon going on right now!!!

Diaper Promotion, July 1 - September 30. Shop Your Registry and Get Six Months of Free Diapers. Click here.

Phillips Avent Promotion, July 1 – July 31. Get $40 to Spend Later with Your Purchase of Philips-Avent. Click here.

Top Brands Promotion, July 1 – July 31. 20% Off Top Brands in Baby plus FREE Super Saver Shipping* and Prime Delivery. Click here.

Bugaboo Promotion, July 1 – July 31. Save up to 20% on Select Bugaboo Cameleons Sold by Right Start. Click here.

Fisher Price Zen Collection, ongoing. Save 15% on the Fisher Price Zen Collection. Click here.

I am giving away two (2) free copies of my Help Your Child Sleep, a Detailed Guide e-Book (Value $27 each), one 2-email package sleep consulting services (Value $19.95), and 2 free custom-made baby blankets by Elizabeth Artiz (pictured below, but color may vary) (Value $12 each).

To enter the giveaway, all you need to do is post a comment on this post or e-mail info [at] picknicksbrain [dot] com BEFORE MIDNIGHT EST on Thursday, 7/24/08. In your comment or e-mail, give me some constructive criticism (does not have to be a lot) on my free guide 5 Ways to Help Your Child Sleep Through the Night, the website, or just Pick Nick’s Brain, in general, so that I can improve products and services for my customers. That’s it!

I will choose 5 winners randomly on Thursday, 7/24/08. Good luck!

Picture of blanket:

Countless parents come for help with their baby’s sleep around the time he turns 4 months old. Why? This article will explain why “good” sleepers sometimes turn “bad” around the 3 or 4 month old mark.

How baby sleeps in the early weeks

When a newborn falls asleep, she immediately goes into deep sleep (also known as REM sleep, but I will avoid too much technical talk because that’s one reason I made this website, so you won’t have to learn the whole history of sleep if you don’t want to (or can’t stay awake to!)). If you are interested in knowing more about our biological rhythms and how we do sleep in more detail, I highly recommend the book, Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems). Newborns spend a lot of their time in deep sleep, which is why it is hard to wake them up (even to eat!) in those early days.

4 month old baby sleeps (and sometimes as early as 3 months)…

We all go in and out of light and deep sleep. As adults, we might change positions, look at the clock, or reposition our pillow. Up until now, you may have rocked your baby or simply given him a pacifier and he slept for hours without waking up. Well, at 3 or 4 months old, your baby is now sleeping more like an adult. Now when she falls asleep, instead of entering deep sleep, she enters lighter sleep, first. That’s why if you help her fall asleep, then put her down, she is likely to wake up because she isn’t in her deep sleep, yet.

4 month babies enter deep sleep…

Initially in the night, your 4 month old will enter deep sleep relatively quickly, within 30 minutes (this changes as we get older). However, as I said, we all cycle in and out of light and deep sleep. A child’s sleep cycle is about 45-50 minutes. So, your baby will briefly awake 45-50 minutes after she has been asleep. To put that in perspective, if you are holding your baby to sleep, you would need to hold her for at least 30 minutes to make sure she’s in deep sleep and then she might wake up 15 minutes later. Sound familiar?

Overall, though, your baby’s deepest sleep is in the early part of the night, so after that first sleep cycle, she might sleep just fine for a few hours. So, you’re golden right? Just hold her for an hour? Nope!

4 month old sleeps the rest of the night…

The technical definition of “sleeping through the night” is 5 hours of continuous sleep (i.e. no feedings) and many babies can/will do this by 2 or 3 months old. The beginning of the night is your baby’s deepest sleep and after the first 5 hours (if not sooner, depending on just how challenging he is), he will cycle between light and deep sleep, but not as deep as the beginning of the night. This is where the problem of sleep associations really come into play. If your baby needs your help to go to sleep in the beginning of the night, sometime after midnight or so, he will continue to need your help every 1 or 2 sleep cycles (that means every 45 to 90 minutes or as I often hear, every 1-2 hours).

Between 4-6 a.m., approximately, is the lightest sleep of the whole night (parents’ complaints alone make this true, in my experience, aside from my reading). In the very early morning hours (about 30 minutes to an hour before waking up), he will again go into the very deep sleep.

Although babies commonly wake up early, be sure it is truly their waking up time and not just this lighter sleep and that they are having trouble sleeping. You might notice they want a “nap” just 30 or so minutes after “waking up”. What you experienced was a night waking, not starting the day.

4 month olds sleeping through the night…

How can you help your 4 month old sleeping through the night? Read this website (free article updates via e-mail is a good choice), be sure to check out my free guide, 5 Ways to Help Your Child Sleep Through the Night and/or get a detailed step-by-step baby sleep guide, which includes 2 of my e-mail baby sleep consultations, to answer all those “what if?” questions.

Did your baby stop sleeping well at 3 or 4 months old?

I get the question “Do you think I need to sleep train again?” a lot. My advice is not to think of sleep training as a quick-one-time-fix. It really begins to boil down to a parenting method related to sleep. More often than not, teething, traveling, illness, developmental milestones or simply the knowledge your baby gains (eventually) that crying gets him what he wants can throw a wrench in even the most peaceful sleepers. Once my first son was “sleep trained”, we had to revisit over and over because of his spirited personality. Then, we’d have a string of great times and then fall back, again. It was sooo frustrating! But, necessary.

So, my advice is that you need to tend to your baby when she is sick, teething, etc. but once she is well again, you may need to go back to your sleep training method of choice to get things back on track. Many times it’s more about setting limits and deciding what you will and won’t do all night long, and how much sleep you decide is too much for your child to lose.