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**

The Unexpected of an Expected Delivery

Life as a mother was far from what I expected.

Pregnancy was great, uncomfortable at times, but there was never anything to complain about, after all I was building a human body inside my own body, HOW MIRACULOUS, and hard and exhausting, but MIRACULOUS! I wanted this baby more than anything, this was the beginning of my family here on Earth, and I was SO excited! I also found it very annoying when expected mother's did complain, because somewhere along the way it was their choice to become pregnant.

Pregnancy was great, uncomfortable at times, but there was never anything to complain about, after all I was building a human body inside my own body, HOW MIRACULOUS, and hard and exhausting, but MIRACULOUS! I wanted this baby more than anything, this was the beginning of my family here on Earth, and I was SO excited! I also found it very annoying when expected mother's did complain, because somewhere along the line it was their choice to become pregnant.

I had this unrealistic picture in my head that my life would go completely back to "normal" once I had my baby.  I didn't realize that going to the store, taking a shower, traveling, sleeping, cooking, dreaming, eating, cleaning, physical appearance, money would NEVER be the same. I now had a baby to care for, love and nurture for the rest of my life… a bit overwhelming wouldn't you say?


It may have been tremendously overwhelming because my husband and I decided that we wanted our child to be breastfed. As a first time mother, this was the hardest part! Nursing is such a new experience, beginning with the fact that your body is producing milk to sustain a human life, to the built in knowledge that your baby knows exactly what to do with a breast.  Learning to listen to your body and recognize when your baby is wanting to nurse was a real adjustment, and a hard one at that.


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 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 to go through a healing process and was a different body then it was 9 months previous. 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. Having the patience to let my body heal was half the battle, I'm a very active person, and laying around healing wasn't my ideal scenario.


Pre-pregnancy I didn't realize the time and effort I would have to put forth in order to raise a child, I was so caught up in the fact that I was pregnant and getting tons of attention that I overlooked the pending responsibility that was coming. Looking at so many mother's around me I had this misconception that raising children was going to be easy! So many, women had done it before me, how could it be so hard? Come to find out babies are needy and solely dependent on their care giver. I remember thinking during the first few weeks we brought our precious package home, that my life was over, my life was now in the hands of this adorable, sleepy little newborn.


Life wasn't going back to "normal," life was now becoming normal. Change takes time to accept. and change is the theme in every overwhelming scenario that I experienced. Something I didn't comprehend before my baby made his big debut. The joy of being pregnant and bringing life into this world can cloud reality. I needed to accept that my life had changed, and had I accepted this before I gave birth to my sweet 8.5 pound 20 inch long baby, adjusting to life may have been a little bit easier. Change is good and necessary and in this case extremely fulfilling. Having a child is such a wonderful blessing and my life now is committed to him and I wouldn't have it any other way.

If I could give any advice to the many first time mom's out there, it's too be prepared to change your life for the good. Be prepared to give every ounce of your heart and soul to your little one. Remember that change can take time and patience and can be extremely overwhelming, but as you adjust and accept the change in your life it becomes easier. Besides, it's all worth it, right?

BabyWise 0-3 Months

0-3 Months

I used a three hour schedule.  Those first two weeks of life don't stress about being on a strict schedule because your baby sleeps so much anyway and if your nursing your establishing milk. I chose to wake my baby every 3-4 hours.  I let him sleep longer at night and would therefore usually wake him up at around 3:00 AM to feed him to keep my milk production up.  Once we got through our two week appointment our pediatrician gave me the clear that he was gaining weight just fine and I didn't need to wake him at night. This was nice, he usually slept till around 4:00 AM and then would wake up hungry until he was about 6 weeks. He then started to sleep till 5:00-6:00 AM till he was about 8 weeks. During his 9th week of life he transitioned to waking up between 6:00-7:00 AM. By 10 weeks he was sleeping till 7:00 AM consistently.  The trick to this though (which I learned the hard way) is letting him "fuss" for at least 15 minutes before I went and fed him. Often times he would fall back asleep, which slowly prolonged the time he slept at night

Schedule:
0-3 Months
(6 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
5:30 PM- Nap
7:00 PM-Wake, Feed, Play
**KEEP AWAKE AS BEST AS POSSIBLE
10:00 PM- Feed, Down for the night

(Feed during night until he reached 10 weeks, but every kid is different)

**Sometimes your little one may need to take a little cat nap, which is fine, I would just always wake him up about 20 minutes before the bedtime feeding, either to take a bath or to just get him ready for bed. You can do it however you like.

BabyWise Over View

Being a new mom I wasn't exactly sure what to expect and what to do. Luckily, I had some friends introduce me to BabyWise. This method isn't for everyone, but it was definitely for me! I loved it! I'm a schedule person. Not every one is, which is understandable, especially with those who work and have different baby sitters watching their little ones. I'm a stay at home mom and was able to maintain the schedule and work with my baby each and every day to get the hang of this curious world he now lived in.  This also is the only way I was able to get my baby to sleep through the night at 10 weeks.

This has to be decision that you are your husband agree to, the best thing about it was I had his support. We decided together that we were going to establish the principles of BabyWise with our first and we've supported each other with that.

Here are the basics:

1. YOU SET THE SCHEDULE! This is hardest part for some people because they believe that when their baby is crying it means they are hungry and they have to feed them immediately, and it could be that he is hungry, but that's not always the case. BabyWise helped me to know exactly what my baby was wanting. 10:00 AM rolled around and I knew he was hungry, 11:30 approached and I knew he needed a nap. Growth spurts come and go and your baby may need more food during that time, FEED HIM, this schedule isn't meant to leave you feeling bad because you are starving your baby.

2. BE FLEXIBLE! You don't have to wake your baby up right at 1:00 and put him to sleep right at 2:30, if you want to you can, but life happens and your not always home right at those times, or your baby is still sleeping at 1:00 and you know they are exhausted, let them sleep and get back on schedule at the next cycle. Babies are more resilient then you think. There were times we went to visit family and it was four hours before I could feed my little guy, he was perfectly fine! Hungry, and he ate a lot, but he was perfectly fine.

3. LAY YOUR BABY IN THEIR CRIB AWAKE FOR NAPS. This can be hard because they cry and it breaks your heart, but it helps them learn to put themselves to sleep. I give him 10-15 minutes of crying and then I will go comfort him. I did this very consistently for the first 4 months and when he reached 4.5 months it was a sure thing after 10 minutes of cooing or a small amount of crying he was asleep.

4. ALLOW NATURAL SUNLIGHT DURING THE DAY. This helps their internal clock understand day from night. And that's why it's important to wake your little one during the day, but not at night (depending how old they are). That's all there really is to this principle.

5. CONSISTENT MORNING FEEDING. Pick a time every morning to wake your baby to feed him. I'm a morning person so 7:00 AM was the time we picked. Before he was sleeping through the night I would usually feed him at 3:00-4:00 AM and he would usually sleep till 8:00 AM, being a new mom, healing from delivery, I needed the sleep so I allowed it, but once he started sleeping well, I would wake him up between 7:00-7:30 AM.

6. ADJUST THEIR SCHEDULE TO FIT YOURS. Just realize you can always change the schedule to fit the needs of your family. If you need to begin your schedule at 8:00 AM, then do it. If you need to change the schedule for just a day out of the week, babies are resilient and will adjust.

7. NIGHT TIME FEEDINGS.

1. Allow at least 15-20 minutes of crying, some babies wake up crying in the night but are able to go back to sleep. My little guy never really cried, he kind of just made noises, like grunts. If he was still awake after 20 minutes (tops) I would go nurse him back to sleep. I made a huge mistake the first few weeks by not letting him cry long enough before going to feed him. As I waited a little longer he learned to put himself to sleep and he would sleep longer and longer every week.
2. When you feed your baby during the night, keep it strictly business. Keep the lights low, pick them up, nurse them (or bottle feed them), no talking or playing and put them right back in their crib. Do a diaper change before you feed them, mine is usually gets drowsy when I feed him anyway so if I changed him after I fed him it would just wake him up more. 

8. DON'T BE DUMB. Don't ignore signs that your baby is in distress, or in pain. You have a Mother's Intuition for a reason. You can read your baby better than anybody else. You know what he needs, don't withhold from him.

I will add more things are I think of them, but for now, that seems like the basics.