Monday, April 29, 2013

4/28/12 Schedules

I found it odd and ironic today that right now I am doing everything in my power to get Josiah to sleep through church and in 14 years or so, I'll be doing the exact opposite. I have found bits of rhythm and cycle in Josiah's life in the last two weeks. With little additions and helps here and there, it turns into a nice schedule we can plan on. I noticed that whether or not he is fed right before, Josiah is sleeping from 9pm to 2am. For a while I was trying to wake him up at 11 or midnight to feed him to get him to sleep from then till 4 or 5am, but it never worked, he'd still wake up between 2-2:30am and ask to eat. So, I gave up and decided to see if I could work with his natural schedule to improve his 2-6am complaints. If he doesn't eat at 9pm or just before he will want to eat every hour after he wakes up at 2am. I found that to be too exhausting for Bryan and I to handle, even as a team. If I feed him a few times close together before 9pm say at 5pm, 7pm and then 9pm, or even 6pm 7:30 and then 9pm, he'll give us 2.5 hours between feedings after he wakes up at 2am. If we in addition to frequent feedings, do our best to keep him as awake as we can without angering him in the evening before he falls asleep at nine he will give us 3-4 hours between feedings after he wakes up at 2am. So, I am figuring out what we can do to work with what Josiah is already doing to get us the most sleep at night.
It will be hard to get ourselves home every evening before 9 to get Josiah in bed, but I am wondering if we need to. His bedtime routine is rather portable I suppose. We swaddle him and feed him or give him a pacifier and sing or read to him until he falls asleep. Sometimes we rock him when we are at home but that doesn't seem to be as necessary as the other components. So we could do all these things and just lay him down in his car seat and then put him in his bed when he wakes up at 2am or try to move him to bed carefully. I don't like for him to be in the car seat more than he has to be. We try to leave the thing in the car.
It is nice to know a little of what to expect when night time comes, rather than just having to wake up and deal with it whenever Josiah cries. I know that babies are ever changing and this may not last one. It's nice to have a schedule though, and we'll do what we can to work with it to keep Josiah a happy longer sleeping baby at night.

We went on a nature walk with my mom today at Jenkins Estate. Here are some pictures.

 

1 comment:

  1. Oh my goodness, that picture of him holding the dandelion is precious!

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