Monday, November 27, 2006

Jackson's New Schedule at 11 Weeks



Yeah! Jackson has finally adopted to his new schedule. It took just a couple weeks but now we are only feeding him 5 times a day and I feel like a new woman because I am not constanly feeding him. According to Baby Wise, we are on Phase Two: Extended Night---Weeks 9-15 week. This is his day now:

8-8:30 am Wake Up, Diaper Change and Eat 6 ozs
8:30-10am Wake Time (in his chair and on his matt)
10-11:30 Nap Time (wrapping Jackson very tight in a swaddle---learned it from the dvd Happiest Baby)
11:30 am Diaper Change, Eat 6 ozs
11:30-1 pm Wake Time (go to the church office and see the secretaries)
1pm-3pm Nap Time
3 pm Diaper Change, Eat 6 oz
3-4:30 Wake Time
4:30-6:30 Nap Time
6:30 Diaper Change, Eat 6 ozs
Wake Time 6:30 on no more naps unless he is fussy
Bath time 7:30pm
9:00 Diaper Change, Eat 6 ozs
10:15 Bed Time

He eats at 8 am, 11:30am, 3:00pm, 6:30pm, 9pm roughly. If he cries before his feeding I try others things like giving him his passy but if that does not work I feed him as long as it has been 2 1/2 hours from the start of his last feeding.

Basically he gets 3 big naps at 1 hour and 30 min minimum. If your baby does not sleep for at least 1 hour and 30 min times he will be fussy (swaddling him tight is crucial!) He can get 32 ozs of milk a day but usually only takes 27 ozs during the day. The doctor said for the first year they need 24 ozs of formula minimum and no more than 32 ozs in one day. Since Jackson is now 12 pounds he can take half of his body weight each feeding (6 ozs).

We should hopefully be on this schedule till he is 5-6 months old.

If your baby will not stop screaming/crying try this---it works!!!! I recommend buying the dvd to teach you how to swaddle correctly. You can also buy the SwaddleMe blanket by kiddopotamus for babies up to 22 pounds.

"Dr. Karp believes that babies, especially in their first few months of life, can experience "fourth trimester" issues. Babies can have a difficult time getting used to the huge amount of stimuli present in life outside of Mom's body. Their reaction to all of this is to cry and cry.

The Happiest Baby On The Block method formulated by Dr. Harvey Karp, addresses these issues by helping you learn how to effectively recreate the environment of the womb, outside of Mom's body. Once you have learned the steps, you will be able to alleviate some, if not all, of your baby's colic symptoms."

The 5 S's

There are 5 components to this method which, when used together, work amazingly well to calm your crying baby and in many cases help your baby go to sleep with no fuss.

Using cross-cultural techniques combined with his own research, Dr. Karp has developed the "five S's system". Some babies will need all five, others just a few to help induce what he calls the "calming reflex."

  • Swaddling - Tight swaddling provides the continuous touching and support the fetus experienced while still in Mom's womb.
  • Side/stomach position - You place your baby, while holding her, either on her left side to assist in digestion, or on her stomach to provide reassuring support. Once your baby is happily asleep, you can safely put her in her crib, on her back.
  • Shushing Sounds - These sounds imitate the continual whooshing sound made by the blood flowing through arteries near the womb. This white noise can be in the form of a vacuum cleaner, a hair dryer, a fan and so on. The good news is that you can easily save the motors on your household appliances and get a white noise CD which can be played over and over again with no worries.
  • Swinging - Newborns are used to the swinging motions that were present when they were still in Mom's womb. Every step mom took, every movement caused a swinging motion for your baby. After your baby is born, this calming motion, which was so comforting and familiar, is abrubtly taken away. Your baby misses the motion and has a difficult time getting used to it not being there. "It's disorienting and unnatural," says Karp. Rocking, car rides, and other swinging movements all can help.
  • Sucking - "Sucking has its effects deep within the nervous system," notes Karp, "and triggers the calming reflex and releases natural chemicals within the brain." This "S" can be accomplished with breast, bottle, pacifier or even a finger.

This information was taken from http://www.babyslumber.com/happiestbaby.html

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