Tell me about your 6month olds nap/milk/solids routine help!

[josephine3]

Please share your 6 month olds routine!
We used to have a great routiine in place, with 3 naps a day, only half hr naps but thats another story but since getting onto solids its all gone wrong. She wants to stretch her naps out, but then when the 2nd nap gets delayed for some reason theres just no time to fit in a 3rd nap! She wakes from her second nap around 4-5 ish, so gets tired at say 7 which is so close to her bedtime at 9pm shes not tired enough for bed. If i keep her up she just gets so tired she falls asleep on me before getting much milk. I guess what im asking is how to drop the third nap? And meals? How many? What time? Arrrggghhh its suddenly got complicated!

My mum keeps telling me a little food an hr or so before bed so she ends up ahaving 4 mini meals and i just cant fit it all in!

 

[babydust1990]

Our schedual roughly goes like this (it can vary a couple of hours either side depending on what time he wakes up/goes bed)

8am: up and breakfast (toast usually)
10am: 7oz milk then a nap
11.30-12: wake up from nap
12.30/1: Lunch
2pm: 7oz milk then nap
3.30/4: wake from nap
4.30/5: Dinner
6pm: 7oz milk and a cat nap (30mins-ish on me)
8.30/9: 7oz milk and bed

The times can vary a lot but the pattern stays the same. Sometimes he doesnt wake til 10am! Other days he wakes at 7am (no earlier thank god!) so I adjust his bedtimes accordingly

 

[Louisey80]

Not sure ill be much help because my lo is all over the place as well. Her routine can vary but looks something like this
5am 4oz bottle (sometimes more during the night)
7.30am wake have bottle 5 oz
9.00am nap for 30-60 mins
10am breakfast solids
12/1pm sometimes she will have a short nap
1pm lunch solids
2/3pm nap for an hour
3pm bottle 5oz
Sometimes she is so tired by 5pm she has a short nap I don't let her sleep for too long
5.30pm dinner solids
If she doesn't have a 5pm nap then she's in bed with a bottle about 7.30 if she had had a 3rd nap she's in bed by 8.30/9

Gosh, seeing it written down she is definitely all over the place but I just go on her ques. I should probably be doing something different and be more strict on naps but I figure she'll get there eventually!!

 

[Larkspur]

Could you just put her to bed earlier? 9pm seems quite late for a bedtime.

 

[WishfulX1]

My little girl is 6 and a half months and weaning is going awful for us! She just isn't interested at all! She prefers finger foods but doesn't take enough to count as an actual meal, she was 2 months prem so I'm just hoping its down to that and she'll start feeding better soon!

With my son, he was a great eater, his routine at 6months plus went like his:

7:30am wake- 7oz bottle
9/9:30 porridge and nap till about 11.
12ish lunch and pudding.
2pm-7oz bottle and nap, usually 1 and half to 2hours.
4:30pm dinner
6pm bath
7pm 7oz bottle and bed.

 

[Damita]

6:30am awake up & bottle
8/9am porridge and nap time
11am wake & bottle
1pm lunch & nap time
3pm wake & bottle
5pm nap time
6pm awake
Bedtime routine
7:30pm bedtime with bottle

DF 11pm with bedtime milk

Wake in the night either 3am or 5:30am

 

[Qqltsmejen]

Wake 6:30am
Feed 7:00am 4oz
nap 7:30
feed 10:00am 5oz
nap 10:30
feed 1:00 5oz
Nap 1:30
feed 3:30 5oz
Nap 4:00
Feed 6:30 5oz
Bed 7:00pm

Overnight feeding between 3:00-4:00am 4oz

She also gets solids 3 meals a day between feedings and is a short napper only 30 minutes

 

[sg2011]

I was also going to suggest an early bedtime which may eliminate the need for a third nap. 9pm does seem late.

My daughter is a bit older but this has roughly been her schedule since 6 months (with a third meal of solids added and increase in solids since 6 months...she is 9 months now).

7:30-8:00am (anywhere between)- Wake up, solids and bottle.
10:00am- Nap
12:00- Lunch of solids and bottle.
2:00pm- Nap
4:00-4:30pm- Dinner of solids and bottle.
7:00-7:30pm- Bottle and bed until waking the next morning as above.

Obviously there is flexibility because we can't always sit at home all day but this is just how her schedule has worked out on her cues as well as guidance from DH and I towards a more appropriate bedtime.

 

[Jslyn9996]

9 a.m wakes up/feeds on breast
Activity time
10:30/11 a.m first nap (lasts an hour or two)
Wakes and has solids (veggie) then breast
Activity time
Next nap is roughly 3 hours after first nap. So between 2 and 4 p.m lasting for an hour or two.
Wakes and has breast.
Activity time.
Bed routine starts at 7, 20 minutes of naked time, bath then dinner jar of solids then breast, bed times if four hours after second nap, usually 8 p.m

We just dropped the third nap. Only two solid meals a day one right before bed to see if it helps his sleep

 

[josephine3]

Thanx everyone. So it seems the general theme is 4 bottles, 2 or 3 naps and 3 meals? Im enjoying reading these thanx!

Could you just put her to bed earlier? 9pm seems quite late for a bedtime.

i know id like her to go earlier but i fear she wont sleep thru as well as she does now. Thats the problem i think she could push an earlier bedtime if she didnt need that last nap. Another problem is she likes to sleep, then wake up for a feed, so if i drop the nap i drop the feed.... But then she is only taking 3oz of milk all afternoon/evening she wont take more in one go. Also even if i made bedtime 8pm i dont think she'd make it.

My routine does sound similar to the pp's with the last nap being a 'catnap' i wonder if this is common.

 

[Damita]

Yeah lil has a 30/45 minute catnap at 5pm we could skip it but then her daddy doesn't get to see her or do bath/bed routine.

 

[josephine3]

I wish a normal nap was that long! A catnap for us is like 10 mins!

 

[AC1987]

so far I find 6 month very difficult to find a schedule that works for me and cassidy.
on GOOD days its
7am wake(but lately its been 5:30-6 awake but I leave her to talk or kick til 7)
Then fed and changed, 7:30 breakfast
9-11am nap
bfed at 11am
bfed at noon
bfed right before nap at 1-130 I try to keep her up til 2pm but she fusses
then nap til about 2:30-3pm
bfed at 3pm
dinner at 4pm
bfed at 5pm
bfed at 6pm
bedtime 6:30-7pm

 

[Kato2]

Our routine looks like this (but can be half if he cuts naps short or wakes up earlier)

6am- wake and BF
7am- breakfast- cereal and fruit
9am- nap
10.30 awake and BF
11.30- lunch
1.30- nap
3- awake and BF
4.30- dinner
6- BF, bath
6.30 bed

We just moved from 3 naps to 2 and its quite useful to use an earlier bedtime if your day seems long with not enough time for that last nap!

 

[Noelle610]

6 months is a hard time because most babies are transitioning from 3 to 2 naps. Most do better with an earlier bedtime at this age - its more in tune with their circadian rhythms and helps to prevent over tiredness, which contributes to night waking.

 

[josephine3]

Wow ashley thats a fair few breast feeds! I am using ebm most days now but she still has breast in morninb, midday and bedtime. Then 2 small bottles of ebm in the afternoon. I thought that was a lot of feeds but maybe not.

Managed to get her to bed at 8.30 last night, fail. Wake up at 4am instead of 6.30-7

 

[Missy86]

I am quite baby led when it comes to naps, I think he roughly has three a day

He has 5 8oz bottles a day, baby porridge in the morning and I am just starting to give him something in the evening

It hasn't effected his sleep, he has been sttn since he was 12 weeks

 

[AC1987]

Wow ashley thats a fair few breast feeds! I am using ebm most days now but she still has breast in morninb, midday and bedtime. Then 2 small bottles of ebm in the afternoon. I thought that was a lot of feeds but maybe not.

Managed to get her to bed at 8.30 last night, fail. Wake up at 4am instead of 6.30-7

Yeah she doesn't eat much at one feeding, so she probably only gets about 2-3 ozs just a guess

 

[josephine3]

Wow ashley thats a fair few breast feeds! I am using ebm most days now but she still has breast in morninb, midday and bedtime. Then 2 small bottles of ebm in the afternoon. I thought that was a lot of feeds but maybe not.

Managed to get her to bed at 8.30 last night, fail. Wake up at 4am instead of 6.30-7

Yeah she doesn't eat much at one feeding, so she probably only gets about 2-3 ozs just a guess

i think georgia takes a lot more from the breast but from a bottle only around 3oz. Sometimes i put more in then she only takes 2oz, if i put less in she drains it. Typical. And i hate hate hate wasting breast milk its so hard to kno how much she wants!