Babywise 15-18 Months

15-18 Months

I remember writing in my last post about trying to keep two naps for as long as possible and I will be happy to say I kept two naps until he was 18 months!

The biggest question, how do you know its time to switch to one nap?

Now, as you may recall I started doing my own version of a 5 hour schedule, where he started going down for his first nap at 10:00 and his second nap at 3:00. At around 15 months there was about a week time frame that he was very fussy about napping during one or the other nap. I decided to move his nap times up an hour and it made a WORLD of a difference. So for three more months he slept at 9:00 and 2:00 keeping all the feeding times the same.

When 18 months rolled around, (and the fact that I was due with our second child had some what of a factor in this), we went through another week of inconsistent napping. He wouldn't sleep for one or the other nap. I decided it was time to move to one nap between 12:30-1:00. I also transitioned him to a toddler bed. My theory behind putting him to a toddler bed was that he would be tired enough by only taking one nap that he would stay in his bed and OH did he stay in his bed. We had one incident that he locked himself in his room once, and we had to bust the door knob, but after that, it was really smooth sailing!

I think you will notice, that a Babywise kid is a lot more obedient. My oldest was very good when I would say, "It's time to take a nap, lay your head down, go to sleep and stay in your bed." He would stay in his bed. On those rare occasions that he would come to the door, all I would have to do is tuck him back in and say it again. If it happened again that same night, it really just took a firm Daddy's voice of "Go to bed" that would keep him in his room (haha). But really, it would usually only happen once, if it happened at all, and he would stay in his bed.

Consistency is so great for children! Be consistent. If you noticed in my earlier writing, it would be a week before I tried something different with his sleeping routine. Kids will go through phases and thats OK! Be patient and wait it out. If it's longer than a week, try something different. I remember at one point I put a blanket over the window in my sons room, so it was darker for him to sleep. Yeah, I had to wean him off it, but at least he got back to normal sleeping and weaning him wasn't too difficult because he knew it was still time to sleep.

BabyWise 11-12 Months

11-12 Months

I've been following BabyWise pretty consistently from day one and it always gives the schedules or merges in weeks (Schedule for 24-39 weeks or merge five) and it always confused me, I had to try to calculate how old my kid would be and when I had to start looking for transitional phases. I wrote this blog by monthly transitions so I could better remember for my next kid. ALSO, to remember that each kid is different, just like my first went to a 4 hour schedule at 5 and 1/2 half months, my next one may be 6 and 1/2 months, who knows? Well actually, you'll know, you'll understand whats best. here is the feeding schedule I used.

11 Months (week 1)
(3 feedings)
7:00 AM- Wake, Nurse Feed, Play
8:45 AM-Solid Feed
9:00 AM- Nap
11:00 AM- Wake, Nurse Feed, Play
12:45 PM- Solid Feed
1:00-2:00 PM- Nap
3:30-4:30 PM- Wake, Nurse Feed, Play
6:00-6:30 PM- Solids, Play
*8:00 PM- Down for the night.

*I only stopped his night time feeding because in the BabyWise book I read there were no more liquid feedings at night between 46-52 weeks. I wanted to start weaning him to three feedings because I read it was beneficial to start getting them used to three feeding, or the feedings that your family would be eating.

11 Months (week 2)
(2 feedings)
7:00 AM- Wake, Nurse Feed, Play
8:45 AM-Solid Feed
9:00 AM- Nap
11:00 AM- Wake, *Milk Bottle, Play
12:45 PM- Solid Feed
1:00-2:00 PM- Nap
3:30-4:30 PM- Wake, Nurse Feed, Play
6:00-6:30 PM- Solids, Play
8:00 PM- Down for the night.

*I know this may be controversial because your pediatrician will say to not introduce milk until they are at least a year old. I started a little early, my son was weighing well, and didn't want less nursing to effect him too much. I also had family members that would introduce milk at 11.5 months and things went well. He didn't really take to the milk right away, and we had to find a bottle that he liked, he loved drinking out of straws so we found a bottle that had a straw for him to sip the milk out of.

11 Months (week 3)
(1 feedings)
7:00 AM- Wake, Nurse Feed, Play
8:45 AM-Solid Feed
*10:00 AM- Nap
12:00 AM- Wake, Lunch with Milk Bottle, Play, Snack
*3:00 PM- Nap
5:00 PM- Wake, Dinner with Milk Bottle, Play
8:00 PM- Down for the night.

*At this point I changed the napping schedule. It was more of a 5 hour schedule: up for 3 hours, nap for 2 hours, this also allowed the continued wake, feed, sleep routine. He would wake up at noon, ready to eat, and than again at five ready to eat. This helped to put him on the same schedule as the family too. We eat at noon, so he would eat with us. The 5:00 o'clock dinner wasn't always consistent with the family, if I knew I wasn't going to have dinner done for a while I would make sure he would get a snack, until we had dinner.

11 Months (week 4)
(0 feedings)
7:00 AM- Wake, Breakfast with Milk Bottle, Play, Snack
10:00 AM- Nap
12:00 AM- Wake, Lunch with Milk Bottle, Play, Snack
3:00 PM- Nap
5:00 PM- Wake, Dinner with Milk Bottle, Play, Snack
8:00 PM- Down for the night.

By this time my son was completely weaned AND there was little discomfort as I stopped nursing and my milk dried up. I would usually provide a snack before nap time and here and there when I felt he needed it. He was still sleeping majority of the two hour frame I gave him for naps, but would go through phases where he didn't sleep well, which happens, but I learned they were phases.

12 Months
7:00 AM- Wake, Breakfast with Milk Bottle, Play, Snack
10:00 AM- Nap
12:00 AM- Wake, Lunch with Milk Bottle, Play, Snack
3:00 PM- Nap
5:00 PM- Wake, Dinner with Milk Bottle, Play, Snack
*8:00 PM- Offer Milk Bottle, Down for the night.

At our one year check up with the pediatrician, we talked about milk and how much my son was getting. He wasn't entirely hooked on milk yet and I wasn't being adamant about offering it. The doctor informed me it should be around 16-24 oz a day, which is about 2-3 bottles, but he said to watch out for constipation, which will come from too much milk. My son was no where near drinking that much milk, so I started offering him milk at night as we read a story before bed. It seemed to help. We got pretty consistent at drinking an entire bottle between breakfast and lunch meals and then another bottle at dinner and before bed, but there were those rare days that he would drink an entire bottle just at breakfast, on these occasions I would offer water at lunch and then continue with milk at dinner.

I can't repeat often enough that every kid will be different and every household schedule will be different. I liked that we switched to a 5 hour schedule, and am hopeful to keep him at two naps a day for as long as possible.

BabyWise 9/10-11 Months

9/10-11 Months

9/10-11 Months

(4 feedings)

7:00 AM- Wake, Feed, Play

8:45 AM-Solid Feed

9:00 AM- Nap

11:00-11:30 AM- Wake, Feed, Play

12:45 PM- Solid Feed

*1:00-2:00 PM- Nap

**3:30-4:30 PM- Wake, Feed, Play

***6:00-6:30 PM- Solids, Play

8:00 PM- Feed, Down for the night

Notice 3 changes on this schedule:

*His afternoon nap got later in the day, this was mainly due to my son waking up later from his morning nap, and him wanting to stay up longer as he got older.

**His afternoon wake time got later, putting his 3rd feeding later in the afternoon.

***No catnap, it just goes straight to solids.

Remember you're going to know what will be best for your baby, it will flow naturally, anytime I feel like I don't know what I'm doing, I usually google it, or ask other moms who've experienced it before. It usually helps.

Babywise 5/6-9/10 Months

5/6-9/10 Months

At about 5 1/2 months I switched to 4 feedings. I started to notice that my son was getting really fussy while eating, I decided it might be because he was eating too often and getting enough milk throughout the day. Switching to four feedings a day really helped this problem

5/6-9/10 Months
(4 feedings)
7:00 AM- Wake, Feed, Play
9:00 AM- Nap
11:00 AM- Wake, Feed, Play
1:00 PM- Nap
3:00 PM- Wake, Feed, Play
*5:00 PM-Nap (Catnap)
6:00-6:30 PM- Wake, **Feed, Play
8:00 PM- Feed, Down for the night

*I had a peculiar situation with this transition from catnap to no catnap. I started coaching volleyball and practices would usually run from 3:30 to around 5:30-6:00. My son would come with me to the gym, and when he would get fussy, I would wrap him on me and would continue coaching. When practice ended he would wake up and we would go home, where I would then cook dinner and he would either play or sit in his high chair with finger food snacks.

**During this feed you can either bottle feed/nurse or you can do solid food. As you are transitioning from 5 to the 4 feedings, you may want to nurse for a little bit here. My son LOVED solids, so it was easy to eliminate that feeding.

As I mentioned before, I started coaching volleyball and game days turned out to be long. So, I would send my husband with a bottle and some solids for my son. My son would nap on my husband (by being wrapped) and then would wake up, he would sometimes take the bottle, but would usually always take the solid food. Eventually, I just stopped nursing him.

When volleyball season was over I would try to get my son to take a catnap and sometimes he would, sometimes he wouldn't, but it was always worth a try.

Flubber

I was looking forward to birth so I could have my great athletic body back. I had an image in my mind that I would have my flat stomach back, I would be perfectly fit again, and I could go on runs, wear my old clothes, feel attractive and skinny again. I was far from understanding that my body had changed and had to go through a healing process.

It sounds silly to think about now, of course your body needs to heal, and of course your body will need work to get back to pre-pregnancy weight and fitness. Being the perfectionist that I am, I was very displeased with myself when I still had a little, well in my case, a big belly after I gave birth. It honestly took some convincing that it was okay to have that belly. My husband would constantly remind me, that I just gave birth to a 8.5 pound baby. I'm 5'4" and weighed 135 before I gave birth. That's a big baby for a small person!

I understand some women don't have this problem. Some women loose their baby weight the moment they give birth. THAT'S AMAZING! I write this post because that didn't happen to me, and probably won't happen to the majority of women out there, especially if it's your second, third or fourth pregnancy. The body isn't as resilient the older we get, it takes more time to recover.

Now, LISTEN UP! If this is the only part of the post you read I will be satisfied. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL! You just created, sustained, carried around, and birthed a baby, an ACTUAL human being! Looking at my baby now, who doesn't talk or understand what I'm saying, I forget he is a real human. Someday he will be able to talk back to me: we can have intellectual conversations and he will make his own decisions. It seems unfathomable right now, but you created that!

Your body went through so much! Labor in itself is a workout and an exhausting experience. The night I gave birth I turned to my husband and said, "I don't want to do that again," it was literally traumatizing for me! I had a rough labor and some women will choose labor over 9 months of pregnancy. Not me!

Your body will never be the same, which is okay, but something you need to be prepared for. Understanding what your body is going through may help you cope with your after birth body. Your uterus has stretched to over 500 times its pre pregnancy capacity and weighs 15 times more than it previously did, it will take time for your uterus to shrink back into your pelvis. From what I've read that is usually between 4-6 weeks.

So why was I still so flubbery? Well, my abdominal muscles had also stretched, very loosey goosey. It makes sense that I still looked pregnant two months after giving birth.  There is also going to be some loose skin, your stomach is being stretched to the max! Embrace the beauty of what that skin means, yes, it takes some convincing (especially for those perfectionists) but it truly is beautiful. (Baby Center)

Regular exercise will help. It wasn't until I was about 9 months post birth that I really felt like my body was back, minus the loose skin. It takes time and patience, you will soon understand these after effects, all come with the joy of a child.

You are a beautiful, strong, powerful woman! You gave birth to a baby, a human being, an angel sent from God to reside with you! You sacrificed your body for that baby. You will continue to sacrifice sleepless nights, clothes that get spit up on, and your own sanity for that baby. You are beautiful! You are strong! You are powerful! Be confident in what you just accomplished! It is all such a beautiful process and one I would gladly do over again, even labor!

Infant/Toddler 72 Hour Kit Checklist

My husband and I decided to watch World War Z one saturday morning. My husband laughed at me when I said this was a scary movie. It makes you think of every possible thing that could go wrong in your life. I've been meaning to get our 72 hour kits together, but just haven't gotten around to it. Now that I have my little one, I've decided it really is time to get them done. I truly believe it's extremely important to be prepared and a 72 hour kit is a great place to begin. I plan to do a whole section on Emergency preparedness, and I hope the things I research and gather will help.

I've researched lots of websites and blogs and have put together a checklist, the link is below, along with a explanation for most items. Of course, it's YOUR kit, you know what your baby will need more than I do, this list can be adjusted to your needs.

Infant/Toddler 72 Hour Kit Checklist

First off, decide what to put all your gear and supplies in. I've chosen a backpack, but there is the option of using a suitcase, or duffle bag. The discussion my husband and I had was even with one of us carrying our own backpack and the baby the other could manage their backpack and the baby's backpack. We only have one baby right now, so it's a bit easier than having multiple kids, in my opinion I still think we will use a backpack to keep my hands free.

Also, I've compiled a list, but for the most part, it's your family, it's your kid. You may not need everything I've listed and you may need something I haven't listed. Choose the essentials and go from there.

Food

I mainly breastfeed and my goal is a year, BUT I have to realize that we are going to be in an emergency situation and with the stress my body may not be able to produce milk, OR I may not be with my family and my husband will have to feed my baby, or some other adult, so having formula is just a precaution, but I think a smart one.

On the checklist it says 3+ food pouches, this is completely up to you to determine how many of these you want. I will always have at least three no matter how old they are, but usually at 4 months I feed them once a day, 5 months-twice, 6 months-three. So at 6 months I have 9 pouches in the pack, 3 per day. I would also recommend checking the expiration date on these and switch them out every 6 months. 

Clothes

Get the sweat outfit a year bigger so the child can grow into it, then each year when you replace the clothes they can wear the outfit that year. If you choose to put socks in your pack, they can be used doubly as gloves.

Hygiene

Remember with the diapers you need to adjust the amount to however many diapers you change in a day times 3. If you have too many it’s ok, they can be used as paper towels or other things. Wipes can also be used for cleaning and not just the babies bum.

Medicine

These items will be the last that I will get. I think priority here would definitely be tylenol and possibly rash cream. Depending how old your baby is you may not even need teething gel. This one just depends on your baby.

Luxury

Now, these luxury items, really are LUXURY. At this point you may not have much room left in your pack let alone the need for dispensing spoons and laundry soap (though, if you are using clothe diapers, I would assume this will be essential). So, pick and choose where you can, if you have room for some things, great, if not have them listed separately as things you will grab in a hurry.

Hopefully this is helpful, if you have any ideas of additional gear you might need, please comment and I will add it to the checklist.

Infant/Toddler 72 Hour Kit Checklist

BabyWise 3-5/6 Months

3-5/6 Months

At 3 Months I switched to 5 feedings, it was basically the same three hour schedule but I put him to bed earlier. I've seen some moms switch to a four hour schedule at this point but I didn't like that he would be going from 6 feedings to 4 feedings.

3-5/6 Months
(5 feedings)
7:00 AM- Wake, Feed, Play
8:30 AM- Nap
10:00 AM: Wake, Feed, Play
11:30- Nap
1:00 PM- Wake, Feed Play
2:30 PM- Nap
4:00 PM- Wake, Feed, Play
**KEEP AWAKE AS BEST AS POSSIBLE**
8:00 PM- Feed, Down for the night

**between 6:30-7:00 he would sometimes take a cat nap for a half hour to an hour I usually woke him up at 7:30 to either give him a bath or just have him awake for a little bit before he went down for the night**