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

Update on Jackson: 9 weeks old

This picture is of him doing his new favorite thing---sticking out his tongue and laughing. Too cute!

Well, according to Baby Wise [we do not agree with everything in this book], we are done with "Phase One" (Weeks 1-8) where Jackson eats seven to eight daily feedings for the first two months. Jackson is successfully sleeping through the night and as long as we swaddle him tight he goes to sleep when we put him down...what a wonderful baby! I really think he is doing this because we feed him every 3 hours during the day and he gets all his ozs in during the day (about 27oz). We never feed him earlier than 2 1/2 hours from the start of the last feeding. If you feed him every two hours they are snacking all day long and never getting full, therefore, they are extremely fussy.

Now we are in "Phase Two" (Weeks 9-15) where we try for him to eat about every 3 1/2 to four hours and bump up his ozs to 6 ozs. We have tried this but he wants to eat every 3 hours and will not take 6 ozs. Now we are trying to get 3 naps in (min 1 1/2 hours in length to 3 hours) but he does not want to take a nap longer than 45 minutes. However, if we put him down for a nap after he is swaddled extremely tight he will sleep longer At six months, apparently babies take 2 naps at 2 hours long each one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Right now this is Jackson day
Diaper change Eat at 7-7:30, Awake till 8:30
Nap till 10ish
Diaper change, Eat 10, Awake 11:30
Nap 11:30-1ish
Diaper change Eat 1 pm Awake till 2:30
Nap 2:30-4 pm
Diaper change, Eat 4 pm Awake till 5:30 pm
Nap 5:30 till 7:00pm
Diaper change, Eat 7 pm Awake till 8:30 pm
Nap 8:30 pm till 10ish
Diaper change (bath every other night) Eat 10 pm
Sleeping through the night from 11pm till 7 am

Wow that is exhausting! Haha...and you wonder why new moms are tired. He definitely does not follow that schedule perfectly and some days he only has 3 naps and for only 45 minutes.

Ps Go to 1800diapers.com and they have the cheapest diapers and wipes and free shipping!!!!!
http://www.1800diapers.com/prdList.aspx?c=1

We also watch this dvd that helped us learn how to calm Jackson down when he is crying real hard. It really helped and if you want to know more about it just let me know...
http://www.thehappiestbaby.com/