Hello! My girls are 6 1/2 months old and I feel everyday like their schedule is not right. I am a first time mom and am always second guessing myself. I just called gerber's 24 hour hotline and they informed me that I should have been feeding my girls rice cereal still!! We stopped once they started eating solids twice a day (about 2 weeks ago). I hope I wasn't harming them without that?? Anyways, I must read the handbook section for 6 and 7 month olds schedules at least twice a day trying to see if what I am doing is ok?? Here's our schedule: 7 am wake 8 am bottle 7 oz. 9 - 9:45 nap 10 am fruit (1 1/2 containers split) 12 pm bottle 7 oz. 12:15 -2:45 pm nap 4 pm bottle 7 oz. 5:15 - 5:45 nap 6 pm veggies (1 1/2 containers split) 8 pm bottle 7 oz. then bed Is their bedtime too late? I feel like if I put them to bed sooner, they will wake sooner?? How many times a day do you feed solids? Do you mix the rice cereal dry or prepared with solids or gvie it to them just mixed with formula and then feed them their solid? It also seems like they need 3 naps, how do I get them down to just 2 a day? Please, any advice would be wonderul, Jen
Is their bedtime too late? are they sleeping through the night? if so and they don't seem too cranky at bedtime, i would just keep it there. if they are real cranky by bedtime, try moving it up in 15-20 min. increments until you get it where it feels right. each baby is different, so as long as they get good night sleep, you are OK. we tried to aim for 7ish bedtime, which we are at now, and i think we started getting there around 7 months or so. I feel like if I put them to bed sooner, they will wake sooner?? not really. you might be surprised. overtired babies aren't as good at sleeping. i think they say "sleep begets sleep". it seems counterintuitive at first, but it really does work. How many times a day do you feed solids? we are at 3 meals a day, and occ. i give them a little snack mid afternoon with their 3:30 formula. at that age, we had just started solids (we waited until 6 months). so i think we were just doing it once a day or so. after a few weeks we went up to 2x/day, and i htink i added breakfast around 8 months. as for gerber telling you to continue the cereal, of course they will! they want to make money! but seriously, i still give them the cereal 1-2x/day. it is a good source of nutrition and iron and vitamins. Do you mix the rice cereal dry or prepared with solids or gvie it to them just mixed with formula and then feed them their solid? i mixed it with water, and still do. if you taste it, it really is kinda gross, esp. the rice cereal! i think the oatmeal and mixed grain is a little better. anyway, sometimes my babies will eat it along, othertimes they prefer me to mix itwith their veggie or fruit. so i just take their lead. as long as they are only getting 1 new food every few days, it is ok to mix (meaning as long as they have tried both items). It also seems like they need 3 naps, how do I get them down to just 2 a day we just dropped the late afternoon catnap about a month ago. and we are just over 11 months now. DS REALLY needed it (some days i think he still does!) i know taking the 3 naps is tough, as it makes it hard to get out, but if they need the sleep, you really should let them have it. they will let you know when they are ready to stop taking the 3rd nap. this also can go back to your earlier bedtime question. if the lsat nap of the day is getting later or runnign longer, you might want to move that bedtime up and that will help to start to get rid of it. I also had read about the 2 naps for that age and was worreid that mine still needed 3, but i posted a question about it and got tons of responses back that others at the later months also were still taking 3, so that made me feel better! overall, i don't think ANY Of us really know hwat we are doing. that is why we are on this board!!!! i think it is fine and normal to questino things. if you didn't, it would probably mean you are either a)superhuman or b)not as invested in your children's well being. i am SURE that you are so worried because you just want the best for them. and i'm sure you are donig a great job. jsut because one person does something one way, doesn't mean you have eto do it exactly the same way. justfind what works for you and your kids. somedays wil be better than others. sometimes you'll mess up. but you'll elarn along the way. just keep plugging along, reading books, reading these posts. you'll do great. :hug99: deanna
Honey, you are doing just FINE. I wish my babies napped as regularly - and as long - as yours do! I think it's really difficult, especially for us first time moms, when we keep reading other peoples' schedules and they are different from ours.....or the eating habits are different. The truth is, all babies are different, and your job is to follow their cues and your wonderful mother's intuition. you will figure it out. they sound like they are thriving. You certainly have done no damage by not giving them rice cereal. In terms of how to do it- well, however they like it! it's said that people/babies need to try foods up to fifeen times to really develop a taste for some of them, so i think some repetition is good (hey, we just went to solids too and i'm barely able to get two meals into them. If they like it mixed, mix it. if they like it plain, serve it plain - after all, do you and all of your friends/family have the same taste? My pedi wants us to give the girls bkfst of cereal and a fruit (1 oz each),and dinner of another ounce of fruit and one ounce of a yellow veg to start (sweet potatoes, carrots, squash etc.) i can tell you that one of my girls spent a week spitting out cereal and carrots and applesauce...then DEVOURED sweet potatoes last night. So - just try and be patient with yourself. no one expects you to know everything, an di honestly don't thnk there is a right way to do it. Above all, be kind to yourself.
Okay, I don't have much specific advice for you but I will tell you that you are doing great. Gerber sells rice cereal, you called their hotline...of course they want you to be using their cereal. I personally didn't feed my DS rice cereal at all and don't plan on feeding these girls rice cereal. It has no real nutritional value aside from some calories and provides a full feeling. I think what you are doing sounds great. There is no perfect way. If they are gaining and having regular diapers, whatever you are doing works. As far as bed time goes, it's up to you. I will shoot for an 8 p.m. bedtime but my sister has always kept hers up until 10:00 so they sleep longer. It's all personal preference. There is no book, hotline, website etc. that can give you as valuable information as your own isntincts can so trust yourself. You know your babies better than anyone. I totally understand because I second guess myself all the time with these girls...sometimes if I make a change to their eating or routine I just hold my breath and hope it's ok. As they get older I am trying to trust myself more and more but I'm sure there will always be a part of me that wonders if I am doing everything perfectly. I'm sure you are doing just great. Pat yourself on the back.
I think if it's working for you, keep it! That bedtime will shift earlier when you drop that late catnap. We dropped it at about 8 months.
I second guess myself about a million times a day and wonder if I am doing this that and the other thing right. Sounds like you are doing a great job!!
QUOTE(2miracles @ Sep 30 2007, 05:48 PM) [snapback]429742[/snapback] Is their bedtime too late? I feel like if I put them to bed sooner, they will wake sooner?? How many times a day do you feed solids? Do you mix the rice cereal dry or prepared with solids or gvie it to them just mixed with formula and then feed them their solid? It also seems like they need 3 naps, how do I get them down to just 2 a day? Jen- Dont worry about second guessing yourself. I have an older DD and I still 2nd guess myself all the time. I think it just comes with the territory of being a Mom. If they are cranky in the evening then I would move the bedtime up. Mine go to bed around 6:30-7p and sleep until at least 6am and sometimes if I am lucky, 7:30ish. But if they are happy and you are happy I would stay with what works. At 6.5 months I was only doing 2 meals a day. Breakfast and dinner. I did mix all the solids with cereal for iron intake and consistency. My kids liked the texture of purees mixed with the cereal and I found that the thicker it was the easier it was to keep on the spoon. They will eventually drop that third nap on their own--probably pretty soon. Mine did it around 7 months and then they needed to go to bed much earlier for awhile until until they could stay up a bit later without being ridiculously cranky. So you may notice that once they drop the last cat nap they will want to go to bed earlier. Rachel
You're doing fine! Motherhood is hard and it's easy to second guess yourself. If you are trying your best and you have your children's best interest in mind then you are doing the right thing. Sometimes it takes some experimenting to see what works best, but that's alright.
