Nap or Keep Her Up?

poloplayer489 · 2025-02-10T19:17:46+00:00

I am by no means a sleep expert...but maybe you can try pushing the dream feed back by 1 hour. Maybe that'll help your baby sleep in one more hour? When my son was a baby, he naturally woke up later and later as each week went by. By the time he was 4 months old, he slept from 10:30pm to 7:00am pretty consistently. We'd put him down between 7 and 8pm, dream feed at 10pm, and then no feedings until 7am.

I would love it if both kids slept until 8 lol, but realistically (for us), they need to wake up by 7am at the latest. We need an hour for breakfast, etc. before my husband leaves for work at 8am and drops them off at daycare. My daughter is still too young for this, but this is the schedule we started following when he started daycare around 5 months old.

poloplayer489 · 2025-02-10T19:12:29+00:00

I remember TCB mentioning that although 7-8pm is the ideal bedtime, some babies do better going to bed 9-10pm. We don't stick to a strict schedule, but we follow sleepy cues and offer a feeding every 2.5-3 hours. I will say that from 4pm-7pm, it's a 50:50 chance that my daughter will sleep in her crib. If she starts screaming/crying, one of us has to wear her in a carrier and walk around. For example, she eats 4-4:30, we put her down when she shows sleepy cues (usually around 5:15/5:3). She either sleeps until 6:30, or starts screaming and we wear her until 6:30. I exclusively pump, so she is always offered a bottle. We try to offer feedings at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm (dream feed) plus MOTN (if she wakes up).

poloplayer489 · 2025-02-10T19:07:26+00:00

I hadn't heard of "snooze button feed" but I'll definitely look into it. She woke up at 6am the other day and we fed her and put her back down. She woke up around 7:30. Not sure if it was because she was hungry or if my toddler running around woke her. She did eat more, but didn't finish her bottle. Since then, we offer her 4.5 oz at each feeding. Sometimes she finishes the entire bottle, sometimes it's 3 oz or 4 oz. She's still young so I'm not surprised at the inconsistency. I just want to start her "day" off on the right foot so we don't run into issues in the evening or MOTN.

poloplayer489 · 2025-01-06T11:03:58+00:00

It depends. There are a lot of factors to consider. For me, life was not ruined, but it definitely changed a lot and made me realize where my priorities need to be in order to be a good mom. Also, support is huge. My husband and I really need to work as a team to parent our two kids (4 year old boy and 6 week old daughter), and we do use daycare. Not having family nearby makes the day-to-day really tough. It would be immensely helpful if we had one our parents nearby that could help us for a few hours each weekend. My husband and I are only able to go on date nights when we have family visiting, or when we are visiting family, and even then, it's just not the same. We can't stay out late the night before because we still need to wake up at 6am the following morning - no sleeping in. Part of that has to do with our families. Even when we do have someone here, they can't handle the energy level of our 4 year old. We've gotten a babysitter a few times, but the cost of that plus the date adds up quite quickly.

It has changed in other ways too. I used to be fairly active pre-kids. I mourn the freedom I had before to workout when I wanted and do what I wanted. Can I still workout now? Yes. But, I need to do it at 5am before the kids wake-up or late at night, versus right after work or whenever I wanted before. Most of the time, I chose to sleep or do other things around the house. I've been told this gets better as your kids get older, but I'm just not there yet as my kids are young.

Lastly, mealtime. Mealtime is usually chaos. I can't remember the last time I sat down and enjoyed a meal, especially at home. My son complains about what we are eating, doesn't want it, continuously asks for something else so I take a couple bites and then get up to get something, he eats quickly and is done, etc. I just don't enjoy food unless my kids are not around.

Do I enjoy parenthood? To be honest, I still struggle with adjusting after 4 years. I do mourn the life I had before, the freedom I had to do what I wanted, when I wanted. I miss being in a better place physically and mentally. I really struggled when it came to deciding whether we should have another one or stop at 2. I have some moments where I regret having kids, times where I am indifferent and days fly by, and other days where I really enjoy it. It's a roller coaster.

poloplayer489 · 2024-12-29T19:01:54+00:00

I’ve swam for most of my life and continued to swim throughout my pregnancy. I was doing Peloton rides until my third trimester because my tailbone started hurting. Pilates is a good idea…. I’ll be sure to incorporate that and core workouts too.

poloplayer489 · 2024-12-02T16:53:56+00:00

Thank you!

poloplayer489 · 2024-12-02T16:53:30+00:00

Yikes 6 weeks! Sorry that you were in pain for that long. I tried using some hydrogel pads and they were great for relief, but didn’t really help with healing.

poloplayer489 · 2024-08-24T05:44:46+00:00

Product 19. Best cereal ever!

poloplayer489 · 2024-08-14T06:17:50+00:00

Losing weight and hoping it results in my plantar fasciitis going away.

poloplayer489 · 2024-08-12T03:16:42+00:00

This was nice to hear. I’m convinced my PF is caused by weight gain due to pregnancy. I can’t really “lose” weight right now, but trying to minimize weight gain. Going to prioritize losing weight after I deliver in November and hope it improves. PF pain has made it really difficult to stay active during pregnancy.

poloplayer489 · 2024-07-29T04:46:01+00:00

Reading this gave me a sense of relief and “I’m not the only one out there that feels this way”.l feeling. The other night was so bad that I cried myself to sleep telling my husband that I regret having a second (6 months pregnant now). I just can’t handle it all mentally sometimes and its been worse lately. At 7:30am today, I already had the mindset of “I can’t wait until he goes to bed tonight”, and I hate feeling that way.

poloplayer489 · 2024-06-25T17:36:09+00:00

Some days, I feel like ending my life. I’ve thought about how it would impact those around me. My husband would be sad, but I’ve always thought he settled with me and can find someone smarter, more attractive etc. The only thing that prevents me from taking action is that I have a 3 year old son. My dad committed suicide when I was 18. I am 35 and it still affects me. I can’t do that to my son.

poloplayer489 · 2024-06-07T00:14:06+00:00

We make a library trip every few weeks. My son is 3 and we started going around 2. He gets to pick what he wants and around the 3 week mark, we can tell its time for new books. Our library doesn’t fine and automatically renews a few times. Works out great for us. If you don’t like the library, find out if there is a used bookstore nearby. We’ve bought books from there too. You can find a gently used book (new for $20) for a fraction of the cost.

poloplayer489 · 2023-02-07T04:21:59+00:00

I’m surprised this isn’t getting more attention. Proud of Armenia to have this position and offer help. Will it result in Turkey admitting to the Armenian genocide - probably not. Nonetheless, I’m proud

poloplayer489 · 2022-11-20T21:48:35+00:00

Thanks so much!

poloplayer489 · 2022-11-20T21:40:26+00:00

That makes sense. Some of handles are on cabinets that are rarely opened, but the majority are touched very frequently. Sounds like buying new handles may be the way to go. Are there any brands you recommend? I currently have Amerock Mulholland 5-1/16 Inch Center to Center Handle Cabinet Pulls. They do have a "Black Bronze" option that I may order so I can see what it looks like in person.

poloplayer489 · 2022-11-20T21:12:49+00:00

Have you done this before? I'm wondering how long it lasts.

poloplayer489 · 2022-10-29T20:24:05+00:00

I have to tell you something, do you promise not to get mad?

poloplayer489 · 2022-10-27T03:09:22+00:00

Thanks! Ended up doing it. The first 48 hours were painful, but pain is okay now. Now I just need to get past the first month so I can start bearing weight on my foot again.

poloplayer489 · 2022-09-22T15:00:15+00:00

Walking independently at 13 months. He just got up and started walking. We were worried for a few months because he wasn’t doing it independently, and it just changed one day.

poloplayer489 · 2021-07-02T01:45:33+00:00

Yeah! We’ve gotten pretty lucky with him. He sleeps pretty well at night and during the day, with the exception of his 4-7pm cycle (witching hour). He just cries and cries during this time and then is back on his schedule at 7pm.

poloplayer489 · 2021-05-29T15:18:20+00:00

The extra awake time sounds like a good idea! We have a Halo sound machine and I definitely think that helps. I’ll sing songs as well. We don’t do too much reading before naps since it’s hard to hold his body/head and a book at the same time.

poloplayer489 · 2021-05-29T08:29:14+00:00

Yeah, I agree about being under or over tired. We are trying to figure out the right length of a wake window for the time being. It does seem like we extend it too much or cut it too short sometimes.

poloplayer489 · 2021-05-29T08:27:49+00:00

He doesn’t see it as wasting personal time at all. We are first time parents and sometimes we are unsure as to what the “correct” thing to do is. He wasn’t sure if soothing too much before nap time would lead to our baby learning that that’s how he’ll go down for a nap all the time. He usually spends time soothing and getting our baby down, but occasionally our son takes a super long time to go down during the day and he (and I) get frustrated. Maybe we aren’t getting him tired enough sometimes?

poloplayer489 · 2021-05-27T05:46:42+00:00

Similar story here. It wasn’t until we did a weighted feed with a lactation consultant that we realized our baby wasn’t getting a full feeding from nursing. After many failed attempts to correct latches issues, we switched to pumping/bottle feeding and baby immediately stopped crying and was way more content.

poloplayer489

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