7-9 Months: Sleeping & Feeding

7 Months

• Up around 7am
• Nurse, solids (veggies), nurse
• Nap 9am (unless she seemed fussy then I'd put her down at 8:30)
• Sleep no more than 2 hours
• Nurse, solids (veggies), nurse
• Awake for three hours until next nap (aimed for 2pm)
• Sleep until woke up
• Nurse right after waking
• Around 5-5:30 give 2 oz of formula in pack-n-play, feed oat or rice cereal using formula, nurse
• Bed between 7 and 7:30pm

8 Months

Completely stopped nursing by end of 8 months

• Up around 7am
• 8 oz bottle, solids, water
• Nap 9:30am
• Sleep no more than 90 minutes (did this because the afternoon nap was shorter than morning nap)
• 8 oz bottle, solids, water
• Up til around 2:30pm
• Sleep until woke up
• 8 oz bottle
• Around 5-5:30pm give 4 oz bottle then finger foods while making dinner
• 4-8 oz bottle
• Bed around 7:30pm

9 Months

• Up around 7am
• 8 oz bottle, solids, water
• Nap between 9:30 & 10am
• Sleep no more than 90 minutes
• 8 oz bottle, solids, water
• Up til around 2:30-3pm
• Sleep until woke up
• 8 oz bottle
• Around 5-5:30pm give 4 oz bottle then finger foods while making dinner
• 4-8 oz bottle
• Bed around 7:30pm

Mommy Reflections

• Pray.  Ask God for wisdom, patience, and joy.  Put on thankfulness.
• Let a routine serve my family.  Don't force my family to serve my routine.
• Nap time stuff became way easier around 7 months. 
• If Geoffrey's schedule ever changes make bed time 7pm.
• If naps become hard try putting baby to bed earlier than I have been doing.  Sometimes the fifteen minutes makes a world of difference.

4-12 Months: Solids

Resources

• Loved this website!
• Printed this LIST and had it inside cabinet to help think through what feeding Carmen.
• Super Baby Food is an overwhelming book that friends swear by... maybe try getting through it with second kiddo.

Real Food for Baby

• Introducing Liquids
• Never gave juice because didn't want baby to have so much sugar.
• Use small see through cup of water to have baby learn how to sip out of it.
• Also use sippy cups: 
• Do consistently and at most meals.
• Model how to use it.
• Try a soft straw in a cup with the next one.

• Introducing Solids (Mainly Veggies)
• Tried to do a lot of various veggies and non-sweet foods before fruit.
• Month 6 & 7 only did veggies and avocados with Baby C.
• Order of foods started with Baby C: oatmeal, avocados, acorn squash, butternut squash, green beans, rice cereal, carrots, peas, apples, bananas, pasta
• Used formula with solids to make them less thick instead of trying to pump for it.
• Used oatmeal before bed for the first couple of months to help with sleeping through the night

• Introducing Fruits
• Think through what fruits are binding and which ones break down.
• No citrus, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries until after a year.

• Introducing Dairy 
• Start with whole fat yogurt (banana flavor is especially mild, watch out for berry flavors!), mild cheese (like mozzarella), then not as mild cheese...
• No milk until after a year old.

• Introducing Finger Foods
• Started at 8 months.  Maybe do earlier with next one.
• Finger Food Ideas
• Don't put finger into mouth to pull out food baby is choking on unless you can see it.  Do a hooking motion to pull out food.  Swatting baby's back is best!  Don't want to accidentally shove food further down the neck.

• Foods to Watch Out for and Avoid:
• Highly allergenic foods: dairy, eggs, peanuts, strawberries, wheat
• Peanut butter and nuts
• 6-12 months
• Maybe give baby right before doctor appointment in case swells?
• Not until after a year: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, citrus, honey, eggs, whole milk, shellfish/crustaceans
• Grapes and hot dogs are super big choking hazards!

Mommy Reflections

• Be patient!  Baby is learning!
• Know what allergies run in the family.
• Wait 3-4 days with introducing new foods to see if there are any allergic reactions.
• Baby C had big time rash with poop changing for 1-2 weeks.

Parenting

• Flick the side of baby's mouth if spitting food to nip that practice in the bud right away. Don't do it hard! Even a little flick hurts.
• From beginning of solids hold baby's hands down in lap while feeding him/her. This keeps baby from from grabbing the spoon and pulling on the bib.  Down the road as you no longer need to hold the hands he/she won't grab the spoon when being fed.

4-9 Months: Baby Food Making Supplies

Must Have Supplies

• Stock Pot and Strainer/Colander
• To steam the fresh foods.
• Used the strainer that came with our stock pot and it worked great instead of needing an additional colander.
• Blender
• To puree the steamed food in.
• If food is already frozen just follow the directions of how to cook it on the bag.
• Ice Cube Trays with Lids 
• Use initially to freeze baby food.
• Silicone Muffin Pan
• Use to freeze baby food once eating more.
• Loved this over a normal one!  So easy to pop the food out after it's frozen!  
• Use saran wrap to cover it to keep it from freezer burn.  Must be BPA free.
• Skillet
• To reheat the food up since the microwave zaps all nutrients.

Additionally Useful

• Pack of 4 oz Jars
• Place frozen ice cubes of pureed food into them to defrost the food in the fridge before heating it up.  
• Moved so quickly to the muffin pan to store the pureed food that probably would get a couple bigger glass jars instead for next baby.
• Or skip this altogether and just go straight to using the skillet to reheat the food.  It only takes a couple minutes longer :)
• Sili Squeeze
• To take homemade baby food on the go in.  
• Make sure have a way to keep the food in it cold.

Thoughts & Resources

• How to Puree & Store Baby Food
• Start with small batches to make sure there aren't any allergies first.

3-6 Months: Sleeping & Feeding

Schedule Starting at 3 Months

Did the following loosely starting around 3 1/2 months.  Should have been doing this starting at 3 months.  Around 3 months is when babies generally can no longer fall sleep whenever and wherever.  Awake no more than 2 hours initially once three months.

• Up 7:45am 
• Feeding
• Awake 90 minutes
• Sleep no more than 2 hours (this was to help ensure she was more tired for her afternoon nap, on days where I didn't think she would be able to get a good afternoon nap I would let her sleep longer in the morning) 
• Feeding
• Awake 2 hours
• Sleep until wakes up 
• Feeding
• Down after 1 hour 
• Short nap (this one she always fought and normally lasted only 45 minutes to an hour) 
• Feeding
• Down around 7pm 
• Feed when wakes up and put right back to bed (sometimes checked diaper) 

If she was up before 7am I would feed her and just put her back to bed. If it was 7am or later I would decide that morning whether or not I would try to put her back down. If I didn't I would just shift the timetable accordingly.
As Baby C got older I slowly started stretching her awake time in the morning and afternoon to drop her third nap. If she was screaming more than 10 minutes when I put her down I knew I had kept her up too long. Kept track of sleeping with sleep log below to help me figure out her nap times when I first started around 3 1/2 months. It was especially helpful seeing how if she was crying a long time she was overtired and what her typical nap length was. Keeping her up no more than 2 hours (sometimes closer to one) was a helpful guideline around 3 months.

Schedule by 6 Months

Up around 6:30am-7am. Would let her sleep until 7:30am if she wasn't awake by 7am (happened maybe twice). Didn't get her out of bed until 7am and she became used to playing in her crib for a bit before we came to get her.

• Up 7am
• Nurse and solids 
• 8:30-9am Nap (no more than 2 hours) 
• Nurse and solids 
• Awake 2-3 hours 
• Nap until wakes up 
• Nurse
• Solids around dinner time
• Nurse
• Down around 7pm 

Sleeping Log Baby C

Practical Baby Stuff: Formula

Formula

• Formula Amounts
• When switched to full time formula Baby C had diarrhea for a week.
• Started supplementing at about 7 months.  
• Fully switched by 10 months.
• Biggest challenge was not fearing what others would think.
• Way easier to do things once no longer nursing :)

0-2 Months: Sleeping & Feeding

SLEEPING

• Only keep up 45 minutes to an hour from start of feeding time at the beginning.  
• Wait until baby has surpassed birth weight before letting her go as long as the can through the night. 
• Baby shouldn't sleep more than 5 hours during the night before 6 weeks old.
• 1st & 2nd Night = basically no sleep.
• Don't rush in as soon as she cries. When she wakes up she might not be hungry just rested.
• A good time to wake baby up is during the lighter sleep when her eyes are moving.
• Watch for cues of being tired: fussing, screaming (overtired), yawning, rubbing eyes, etc.
• Crying it out is hard.  Leave monitor on without sound and go in office so don't hear her crying.  Saw the time decrease even after just a couple days.  Started crying it out just for naps once past the six week growth spurt.  Only do the when confident that baby has been fed, burped and changed.
• Down to crying less than 10 minutes for each nap time. 
• C started sleeping through the night around 6 weeks.

FEEDING

• Don't let go more than 2.5-3 hours from feeding to feeding during the day.
• If baby wakes up earlier than the 2.5 hour mark and is hungry then feed the baby.
• Make sure burp after and between feedings.
• Last feeding would wake up for was around 11pm.  
• Put to bed earlier (around 8 weeks) with A.
• Around 4-6 weeks introduce bottle.
• Microwave water until boiling to put bottle into to defrost breast milk.  

Reflections

• If you establish good sleeping habits during the day the night time falls into place.
• Goal is to establish pattern of: Feed Time, Wake Time, Sleep Time
• It is normal for babies to cry (especially during 4-7pm they tend to be more fussy).
• You are doing your best to help baby adjust to a 12 hour time change since in the womb babies are most active and awake during the middle of the night :)

Round 2

• Did feeding times for A more like every 3-3.5 hours due to having to take care of C.
• A started sleeping 8-10 hour stretches during the night right before 3 months.

Resources

• Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
• On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the GIFT of Nighttime Sleep
• Mom & Pediatrician