Hi everybody. I'm Melissa and welcome back to Cloudmom.com. Talking today about one of
my most favorite issues, baby feeding and sleeping schedules. I think it's really the
key to having a well-rested baby who's well fed, and having a mom and dad who can hopefully
catch a break now and then too. So today's video is about a schedule for a 6 to 9 month
old baby. At this stage your baby likely has started to sample solids and is probably doing
some longer stints at night. Love that! So it's a really, really nice stage. What does
your baby's daily routine look like when your baby is between 6 and 9 months of age? I'm
going to first talk about a napping schedule and then I'll talk about a schedule for milk
and solids. Most babies at this stage are taking 2-3 naps a day: one morning nap from
9:30 to 11:30 or so, an afternoon nap from around 1:30-3:30 and then a shorter cat nap
of 45 minutes to one hour later in the day, at around 5:30 or 6 p.m. This is just a general
guideline, and of course it varies tremendously from baby to baby. Some babies will do a shorter
morning nap, a shorter afternoon nap. Some babies might do a shorter third cat nap. Some
babies at this stage might have already started to drop that third cat nap, and actually I
have a video on the transition from 3 to 2 naps. So check that out as well, but this
is just a general guideline. Okay, so with that nap schedule in mind, when is my baby
taking his or her milk, and this applies to whether your baby is being breastfed or formula-fed.
You will now be giving your baby milk 4-5 times during the day, approximately every
4 hours. At 7 a.m., when she wakes up; after her morning nap, at 11:30 a.m.; after her
afternoon nap, at 3:30 p.m.; and at 7:30 p.m. after her dinner and before bedtime. Your
baby might still need a top-off feeding around 11 p.m. or one nighttime feeding. I always
preferred to do the top-off feed, which usually allowed me to sleep from around 12-7 on most
nights, not on all nights; however, some moms prefer not waking their baby and they might
feed at around 2 or 3 a.m. So what about solids? Now at this stage what my doctor told me is
that it's really more about getting your baby used to sampling different types of tastes
and textures, and that the variety, the majority excuse me, of the baby's nutrition is still
coming from the milk. And maybe you've heard the old saying "food before one is just for
fun." Well that really sort of applies, however it is a good idea to get into the routine
of introducing solids to your baby. And I have another show about how and when, you
know, you should do that in terms of solids, so check that out as well. With that in mind,
when should you add these solids into your baby's day and how should the whole thing
work? Let's take a look. Because it's more important that your baby have the milk for
nutritional reasons, I believe in giving milk first and doing these meals after you've given
the baby the milk. I would try to do it right afterwards. If your baby's not hungry at all,
wait 20 or 30 minutes and try again. So now that we have a general idea of a napping schedule,
of a milk schedule and of a solids schedule, what does my baby's day look like altogether
and I'm going to put a sample schedule up on my site as well so check that out. 7 a.m.,
wake up and have a milk feeding. 7:30 a.m. have a solids breakfast. Yum! 9:30 a.m., nap
number one. Mommy time! 11:30 a.m. or so, your baby's awake from the morning nap and
you're doing a milk feeding. 12:00 p.m., a solids lunch if desired. You can check with
your doctor, some say this is not necessary. 1:30 p.m., your baby's going down for his
or her afternoon nap. 3:30 p.m., a milk feeding after your baby has woken up from his or her
afternoon nap. 6-7 p.m., nap three, a short nap. I would keep it to one hour maximum.
7 p.m., a solids dinner, and 7:30 p.m., your final milk feeding of the day. At around 8
p.m., we hope that little Mr. Jack or Miss Emma's going down for bed, and keep in mind
that you're possibly doing a top-off feed at 11 p.m. or during the night. All of this
is based on personal preference, and you might find that even with the evening feed, that
you prefer to give the milk first. But I do think it's good to get a little bit in the
habit of having that last nighttime bottle, because that is what babies traditionally
do, and it seems to be something that they really like. So anyway, I hope this schedule
is helpful to you. If any of you have experience with babies this age that you'd like to share
in terms of what made it all work for you, please comment on my site at cloudmom.com.
Thank you so so much for watching my videos, and I will see you next time.