Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Rhythm and Routine

Over the past two weeks we have implemented a pretty strict schedule with Eleanor and it has been great! It has taken some time, patience, and discipline to stick with it, but the pay off has been totally worth it. So here is how it goes:
No matter when she ate prior, I always give Eleanor a 9:00am feeding. She then is up for about 30-40 minutes and then goes down for a nap.
Her next feeding is at noon. She eats and then is down again at 1:00 (this is great because this is when the boys are napping).
Next feeding is at 3:00pm. This can be a more fussy time of the day. She has had gas issues on and off, but eventually goes down for another nap.
Her supper feeding is at 6:00pm. After this feeding we have been spending time together as a family, either taking a walk or playing.
At around 8:30 Eleanor has her bath. Even if we have to wake her up, she has a bath! This is part of her night time routine.
After bath I nurse her at 9:00 and then we put her down for the night.
Fortunately, the principles we institute throughout the day has caused Eleanor to only get up once during the night (with the exception here or there). Her middle of the night feeding is usually about 3. She then is up again for a feeding about 6am.

I never knew that by 4 weeks of age (Eleanor is 6 weeks now) that we could schedule an infant! It took Everett and Hampton way longer to get scheduled. We feel more well rested and Eleanor is definitely more predictable.



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