Baby Schedules

Since before I had Lindsey I have been addicted to researching everything I can online about everything baby. I have babysat all my life but actually raising a baby of my own? Clueless. One of the things I read alot of about is putting your baby on a schedule. That to me sounded bananas. If Lindseys hungry Im not going to not feed her because "Its not time yet" or if shes tired Im not going to keep her awake "because she just napped."

 Now thats not to say we don't have a routine, we do. She gets her baby fruits in the morning when she wakes up, her veggies after her afternoon naps and her cereal and fruit in the evening before bath. Then she has a bath, we read from her baby bible, play a little and its off to bed with mozart humming along in the background.

I will say that after the past few months she puts herself on "schedules" as she grows. They vary as she gets bigger since she stays up longer between naps and is now taking longer less frequent naps. She is sleeping through the night and generally gets ready for bed around 1130. The baby makes her own schedule and I follow it. It works for us and every baby and parent is different.

I still refuse to let her cry it out. A lot of people say oh it's good for their lungs and yadda yadda. I strongly disagree. When she starts crying and no one will comfort her, blood pressure rises and she gets very worked up. I don't rush in there if she starts crying but I do not make her wait either. I do not believe her crying herself to sleep is worth the anxiety she will feel. I know I wouldn't like crying myself to sleep so why would I do it to my innocent baby? She generally cries for a reason and I would hate for her to think that no one is going to answer her when she is upset.

We have been working the past few weeks on getting her to go to sleep on her own without rocking her. After her bottle, if she's still awake, I will lay her down in her crib. Usually she fusses so I rub her belly and then leave the room. After 5 mintues of fussing I will go back in and rub her belly some more. If she really starts crying I pick her up to soothe her and calm her back to sleep. She is getting the hang of it and usually for naps she puts herself right down. It does take a lot of patience and some parents are fine with listening to their baby cry but not this momma.

For more info on attachment parenting and crying it out click here. They have really great info.