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| just a cute picture of today: happy first full day of Autumn! |
I had a goal for the month of August. Besides
having extra cuddle and love time with my daughter, the main reason I
took 16 weeks of maternity leave is to get Helena on a schedule for my
return to work. Of course the “normal” maternity
leave time is 12 weeks (bless those mom’s who return after 8 or even 6
weeks!), I felt very fortunate when my boss and employer agreed to give
me an extended 4 weeks of a “leave of absence” to extent my leave to
total of 16 weeks.
From the very beginning I knew that going from 3
months to 4 months I would be able to implement more of a schedule.
Wake up at “X” time, feed, nap etc… Not so fast. Here we are nearing
the end of September and Helena is on her own schedule.
Which is fine. We definitely take cues from Helena, but there are
times when I wish her schedule was a little bit more determined. If
that even makes sense? Friday and Saturday for example were total crazy
days. It’s difficult when I know she is sleepy
and tired, but she won’t take a nap. On Friday she was up all day, to
finally take a nap at 6:30pm…and she slept for 3 hours! Needless to say
she didn’t go to bed until almost midnight! Similar to Saturday, she
just wouldn’t take a nap. Granted she did
take a short cat nap in the car, or she’ll “sleep” while she's feeding on
the boob, but unless I can be productive I don’t classify it has a
nap!
J
I will say that most days she does have a
predictable schedule. Morning nap/afternoon nap. It’s the days when we
are out and about that interrupt her schedule the most. So how are we
suppose to live life? In addition to this, how do
we transition her from napping in her swing to napping in her crib?
She’s goes out perfectly fine in her crib when it is her bedtime. But
she won’t have anything to do with it for her naptime.
I guess I just feel bad for not being successful
at putting her on a schedule during those last 4 weeks of maternity
leave. I of course, loved the extra time with my daughter, but I
definitely failed at what I set out to do.
Yesterday and today she was a rock star. She definitely adhered to her "schedule" and took her naps at the appropriate times...she even slept in her crib during naptime today! (proud mommy moment even though I wasn't home to witness this great accomplishment.) But it's must more difficult when we want to be out and about.
Any tips on how to get her on a little bit more
stricter schedule? Or getting her to sleep in her crib? I would truly
appreciate your ideas!
1 comment:
I don't have much advice because every baby is so different. But the book Secrets of the Baby Whisperer is what worked for me. My babies were never on a set schedule (meaning they woke up at the exact same time, ate at the same time, napped at the same time) but had more of a general schedule. When the baby woke up I would immediately feed him and then he would be awake. When he started yawning and showing me he was tired I would put him in his bed and he would take a nap. Repeat, all day long. :) At first I would leave my babies out to take naps on the couch and stuff because I wanted to make sure he knew it was day time and not night time but eventually you just transition to the crib. Noah had a particularly hard time with naps and he slept in his swing more often than not during the day. I don't know how to help except to say keep trying. Eventually she'll get used to it.
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