Sleep Routine Analysis
I’ve been tracking Caroline’s sleeping and eating routine for the past 10 days in an effort to get her on a schedule and here are my results and conclusions (and yes, I feel like I’m doing a project for school):
Her Schedule:
- Wakes up between 7:30 – 7:45 every day
- First nap 9:00 – 9:15
- Naps four to five times a day
- Naps last anywhere from 35 minutes to 2.5 hours (makes it difficult to plan anything!)
- Eats seven to nine times a day (not including two nighttime feedings around 1:00 and 3:00)
- Bedtime has changed from 10:00 to 9:00
Getting her to sleep (I’ve tried a few different methods over the course of ten days):
- Rocking her no longer works unless she has already cried in her crib for a while and tired herself out
- Letting her cry for a minute sometimes works. Sometimes it takes her a minute to realize she can comfort herself to sleep with her thumb and sometimes she does want to be picked up for just another minute
- Feeding her always works, but I don’t want this to become a habit!
Conclusion:
Based on my results, here’s my plan:
- I will put her down for naps at 9:15, 12:00, 4:45, and 7:00 every day.
- I will try not to feed her before her first nap (my general rule is no sooner than 1.5 hours between feedings)
- I will rock her in my arms for a minute, put her in her crib and leave the room. If she is still
crying in two minutes, I will go in and try to soothe her. Being able to see me only makes it more difficult for her to calm herself down
Coming up with a plan like this seems like the right thing to do, however, if I find she is constantly fighting me, I know I won’t be willing to force her into it. I’ve learned that just when you think you have the hang of it all things can change so quickly. Just the other day, Caroline wouldn’t be able to fall asleep for the night before 10:00 and now she falls asleep on her own at 9:00 on the dot. I also decided last night I would let her cry in her crib for at least one minute if she woke up during the night wanting to eat and guess what? She didn’t wake up until 7:45 the next morning! Though it was a little upsetting at first when I could no longer rock her to sleep like I used to for her naps, I think it was Caroline’s way of telling me that she needs to fall asleep on her own now. She never ceases to amaze me every day.
Her Schedule:
- Wakes up between 7:30 – 7:45 every day
- First nap 9:00 – 9:15
- Naps four to five times a day
- Naps last anywhere from 35 minutes to 2.5 hours (makes it difficult to plan anything!)
- Eats seven to nine times a day (not including two nighttime feedings around 1:00 and 3:00)
- Bedtime has changed from 10:00 to 9:00
Getting her to sleep (I’ve tried a few different methods over the course of ten days):
- Rocking her no longer works unless she has already cried in her crib for a while and tired herself out
- Letting her cry for a minute sometimes works. Sometimes it takes her a minute to realize she can comfort herself to sleep with her thumb and sometimes she does want to be picked up for just another minute
- Feeding her always works, but I don’t want this to become a habit!
Conclusion:
Based on my results, here’s my plan:
- I will put her down for naps at 9:15, 12:00, 4:45, and 7:00 every day.
- I will try not to feed her before her first nap (my general rule is no sooner than 1.5 hours between feedings)
- I will rock her in my arms for a minute, put her in her crib and leave the room. If she is still
crying in two minutes, I will go in and try to soothe her. Being able to see me only makes it more difficult for her to calm herself down
Coming up with a plan like this seems like the right thing to do, however, if I find she is constantly fighting me, I know I won’t be willing to force her into it. I’ve learned that just when you think you have the hang of it all things can change so quickly. Just the other day, Caroline wouldn’t be able to fall asleep for the night before 10:00 and now she falls asleep on her own at 9:00 on the dot. I also decided last night I would let her cry in her crib for at least one minute if she woke up during the night wanting to eat and guess what? She didn’t wake up until 7:45 the next morning! Though it was a little upsetting at first when I could no longer rock her to sleep like I used to for her naps, I think it was Caroline’s way of telling me that she needs to fall asleep on her own now. She never ceases to amaze me every day.
posted by Alissa at 1:48 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home