Hi everyone.
I'm Melissa and welcome back to Cloudmom.com.
Today talking about a schedule for your baby between 12 months and 18 months of age.
There are two main things that happen during this period of time.
First, for women who are formula feeding, doctors recommend the introduction of cow's
milk at 12 months of age.
And they might recommend that you introduce cow's milk even if you're breastfeeding, and
you'll do this alongside your breastfeeding.
So check with your doctor about that.
And secondly, many babies during this time period will go from two naps to one nap.
And that transition generally happens at around 15-18 months of age, in some cases as late
as 20 months of age.
Okay, so with those two general things in mind, what does my baby's napping and sleeping
schedule look like during between the ages of 12 and 18 months?
Let's take a look.
In all likelihood, your baby is napping between around 9:30 in the morning to 11 a.m.
Her afternoon nap likely is taking place between 2 and 3:30 p.m.
And she might be on a nice, early 7 p.m. bedtime.
These naps might vary.
Of course, you might have a longer two-hour morning nap.
You might have a shorter afternoon nap.
You might have a slightly later bedtime.
Of course it all varies.
But just as a general rule, doctors do recommend that your baby be napping for three hours
of the day and sleeping for at least 11 hours at night.
And that in total, your baby is getting around 14 hours of sleep.
Some recommend 15.
Mine slept as much as 16 hours.
In retrospect I can't believe it.
So they were napping even a little more during the day, and they were sleeping a full 12
hours at night.
So in that respect I was quite lucky.
Okay, that being said, when in this schedule, so we now know approximately when your baby
might be sleeping, will your baby be consuming his or her milk?
Okay, let's take a look at that, and at the end of the video we'll put the whole schedule
together.
Your baby will likely be consuming milk at least 4 times a day.
At 7:00, when he or she awakens; at 11:00, after the morning nap; after the afternoon
nap, at around 3:30. Make sure not to have your baby sleep too late so that you can get
them to bed nice and early.
And then, right before bed, at around 6:30 p.m. or so.
So, now we've looked at the napping and we've looked at the milk.
Let's take a look at solids.
At this point solids are becoming a much more important part of your baby's daily regimen.
And he or she is going to be getting a lot more nutrition from these solids.
So when should these solid feedings be taking place?
Let's take a look.
So, your solid meals are ideally happening 3 times a day.
I would recommend that you're feeding your baby breakfast after the milk at 7:30 in the
morning.
Lunch after that second bottle of the day at around 11:30 or 12 p.m.
And then dinner at around 5 p.m., before that final bottle of the day.
You can offer a healthy morning snack and an afternoon snack as well.
And definitely consider offering water throughout the day.
It's a good habit to get your baby into, to drink a lot of water.
So now we have the three components, let's put the whole thing together into a schedule
that I hope will be helpful for you.
7 a.m., your baby is waking up, having breast milk or milk from a bottle or a cup.
7:30 a.m., after that is having a solids breakfast.
If you find your baby isn't hungry, try waiting even a bit longer before giving them the solids.
9:30-11 a.m., your baby is taking his or her morning nap, give or take.
This nap might be shorter, it might be longer.
11 a.m., your baby's waking up, having breast milk or milk from a bottle or a cup.
11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., your baby's having a solids lunch.
Yummy!
Hopefully you're able to have lunch with your baby, from time to time.
2 p.m. or so, your baby's going down for an afternoon nap.
And at 3:30 p.m., when your baby awakens from his or her afternoon nap, he's having breast
milk or milk in a bottle or a cup.
After that, dinner.
Here you have some flexibility, probably at around 5:00 or so, your baby is going to have
dinner.
I think it's nice now to try not to give the milk first to see how your child does on a
nice empty stomach, because you do, it is nice to have that milk feeding right before
bed.
6:30 p.m., try giving the final milk of the day and see what happens when you put your
baby down at 7 p.m.
He or she might just surprise you and decide to go to sleep for the night.
There you have it, the Melissa schedule for babies between the ages of 12 and 18 months
of age.
Please comment on my site and tell me what your experience was, and what worked for you
to make things happen in a healthy and happy way at this stage.
And thank you so much for watching Cloudmom.com.