Sophie is three months old already! I can hardly believe it! Since she was two months old she was consistently sleeping 12 hours with one feeding around 3 or 4am! Now she’s sleeping 11-12 hours straight through! I'm excited to share my current routine with you.
Sophie still sleeps in our room in a Moses basket next to my bed, in a swaddle with a sound machine. (She only takes naps in her Snuggle Me)
She wakes up between 9 and 10am! I usually play with her in bed and enjoy those morning snuggles, giggles and watch her chat to herself. I breast feed her for around 5 or 6 minutes in each side. Then I change her diaper and she loves to sit on the cushioned chair while I make the bed, brush my teeth, wash my face and get dressed. SOMETIMES I can even curl my hair if I have music playing and put a book in front of her to stare at.
After we're both dressed and ready for the day I make myself some tea or coffee. Sophie will spend a little in her boucey seat while I do some light housework like empty the dishwasher or water the plants. We do tummy time, go on a walk, play with some toys or listen to music. If I need to do any pictures for the shops I'm patterning with I try to do those as close to her wakeup time as possible since that's when she's the happiest and most compliant. About 2 hours after waking up Sophie is ready for a nap. I just started feeding her and then putting her in her bassinet letting her cry herself to seep. Within 5 minutes she is passed out. Most days I try to do errands when its her nap time so she will fall asleep in the car. She does not like the car if she's not tired... Knowing their natural routine is definitely helpful when starting to sleep train and get a routine in place. Letting them "cry it out" is not fun and may even be heart wrenching and painful for you. They will be okay and so will you! Start small mama. Try a minute or two then rock them again. Then next time try 5 minutes. Work your way up until you are comfortable. Know their queues; are they just crying because they want to be held, fed or are they just tired. Try to keep your self occupied during those few minutes; go do the dishes or straighten up the toy room. Don't stand by the door counting down the seconds until you can go grab them. Kind of like when they tell you not to watch the pot boil.
Sophie will sleep for about an hour or hour an a half and then will be ready to eat after about an half hour to hour of "playing." If she is getting fussy and I need to do some more housework she loves laying in her Snuggle Me while I vacuum. She will nap again around 2pm for a good two hours. Sometimes she'll fall right back asleep after eating and sleep for another half hour up to an hour. If she doesn't fall back asleep she'll usually take another hour nap before dinner.
Her fussy hour is usually when I'm finishing up making dinner or even better during dinner... She definitely has FOMO and doesn't like sitting in her seat when everyone is talking and hanging out during dinner! She just loves being held and being a big girl at the table. Most days she takes a 20 or 30 minute power nap after dinner before she's ready to get ready for bed.
Most bedtime routines start with bath time. However, Sophie doesn't really enjoy baths at night. She's more of a morning bath person. So we start with nursing once ((same 5 minutes on each side) around 8 or 8:30pm making sure to keep her awake. Then me or my husband will change her diaper and put her into pjs. I'll nurse her again. Read her a book or put her down on the couch so she won't fall asleep quite yet. I put her into a zippered swaddle with arms up. Then around 9:30 I will do her last feeding but this time until she's fast asleep. She will be out for the rest of the night. If we are out one night we'll put her into pjs, feed her once, she'll fall asleep in the car and I'll do the two other feedings when we get home.
Sometime's she will wake up around 7am instead of sleeping the full 12 hours. But I will quickly nurse her and she'll be out until her normal wake up time. If its a bath day I'll change her diaper as soon as I wake up and let her play in the chair while I get ready and let her do her morning poop BEFORE I get her all clean.
I'm a huge believer in routines, patterns and good habits. Each and every baby is different. You might be wondering why you 5, 6 or even 8 month old isn't sleeping through the night... I'm sure you're longing for that extra sleep mama, but know you're doing great and enjoy that extra time connecting with your little one. But establishing a routine and good habits will help for when they are ready to sleep through the night.