Our little Jade (小玉) is six months old today! I can't believe she is already so big. Six months has always seemed like such an old, mature baby age and I still look at Jade as a newborn. So many new things come with being this age. She started eating solids (well, rice cereal--it doesn't seem very solid to me) last Thursday; she started sitting alone before we left Hong Kong and is getting better and better at it each day; she rolls over quite easily now (sometimes we find her in some funny positions and places after leaving her alone for a few seconds); she continues to scoot around in a circle on her belly; she pulled herself up from sitting yesterday; and she is babbling like crazy and laughing more often. Oh, and she screams a lot louder.
Sit-up play
Pull-ups
In a previous post I mentioned her personality changing for the worse. She has improved dramatically, although not completely. We are continuously working on her schedule to try to better her moods. She is extremely happy when she has just awakened and eaten. Some time thereafter she becomes fussy. I have come to the conclusion that her sleep schedule is the problem. She appears to only be fussy when she is sleepy (or doesn't get to play with something that she thinks is a toy). The trouble is she seems to be sleepy way too often. We are having difficulty setting up a regular sleep pattern. I thought we had it figured out right before we left Hong Kong and then it was messed up by the aforementioned disturbances. I read Dr. Ferber's book and think his methods will help, but I am still uncertain about how often and how much sleep Jade should be getting. Will you mothers please enlighten me about a six-month old's sleep schedule? How long should her nighttime sleep be (or how long can it be while still avoiding the "too long in bed problem" and how close together/far apart should her naps be? From everything I've read and heard it sounds like a six-month old should only be having two naps each day. Is that what you have seen with your own kids? What times did they take them and for how long did they sleep? What did you do when they were fussy in between naps/sleep times?
There are a lot of things I don't know about parenting, but one thing is certain: I LOVE being Jadyn's mom. No question. I love her so much.
10 comments:
Ok, so I'm not a mom, but I am a dad. All babies go through an ornery stage sometime between 6 and 9 months. Hannah did and Lucy just got out of it. Just be patient. We have found that if you ignore it, the longer it will take to get back to normal. With Lucy the moment we would put her down she would start yelling. It's almost like they are afraid that we were going to leave them. So letting them know that we weren't and that we'd be right back if we left the room I think helped. Kristen may say differently, but that is what I noticed. Now Lucy doesn't have much of a problem when we leave her alone on the floor. Sometimes she'll follow us or she'll find a toy to play with or find her clothes and make a mess of them. But she knows now that we will be there for her. Also, she just might be teething.
Have you checked out Baby Wise? I loved that book as far as schedule help... and it is a quick read too. Good luck! Cute girl though!
how cute is she? pretty darn, if you ask me! what a doll! maybe if you quit putting scorpions down her pants she would stop being so cranky?!!
Don't feel bad... it took Reese what felt like FOREVER to have a regular sleep pattern. The thing we've found works best is just to set a routine and make sure you stick to it. We were the ones holding her back from good patterns because at first we were so quick to rescue her if she fussed. While it was excruciating, we had to let her cry it out for just a few nights and then she was fine. Now she knows that bedtime follows right after her jammies and a story with Mommy and Daddy... she goes right down. We suck at naps, though... so good luck with all that. Haha!
She is so cute Nicole. I don't think it is bad if she is sleeping a lot. My friend's baby turned a year next week and she probably had him on 3 naps until he was 11 months old. Maybe she wants to sleep more because she is going through a growth spurt. When lance was 6 months, he took two naps. One probably 1 1/2 hours after he woke up and I would say he would probably sleep 2-3 hours and then 2 hour nap in the afternoon. At 6 months, I would guess she would sleep at least 10-12 hours a night. I don't know - I think that once you guys get into your perm housing, she'll get into a better schedule, I am sure all the changes have been hard for her. Good Luck!
I'm not familiar with what the experts say to do, but Livi still takes 2-3 naps a day, each anywhere from 1-3 hours. She also sleeps all through the night from 9pm to 7am. When she is awake and cranky, I distract her with books and toys or my secret weapon, her big brother!
From what I have experienced with my two kids, their schedules are always changing. You can think you've got it down, but then after a couple of weeks they go through a growth spurt or have reached and age where you can cut out one nap or something or other. I know how frustrating it can be. I think at six months old, they should still have two naps a day, and be sleeping 8-10 hours a night. She should probably keep up the two naps a day until she's a year old or so. Zoe is 19 months now, and has been down to one nap for several months.
Andrew's sleep schedule started going all wonky at around 6 months, too. Then at 7 months he refused to have anything to do with his pacifier. Doh! But if I remember right, he still took 3 naps until 8 months or so, although the 3rd was typically just a 1/2hr catnap. How long does Jadyn usually go between naps? At what point during her wake time does she eat?
On a non-kid-related subject, I thought of you guys today as I was thinking about Halloween tomorrow. It was so fun to have you over for "How to Host a Murder." We miss you guys! :)
I'm a huge believer in the babywise book also! My kids have done great on it and still take great naps. Drew is almost 3 and the best sleeper I know! Good luck with it! I am sure you will figure it out!
I would definitely do the whole cry it out thing with the ferber method. It is the HARDEST thing to do, but SO worth it. I will never not do it with future children. We did that with Kennedy at six months. She went to bed around 8 and slept until 5 or 6. I fed her then put her right back to bed for 3 hours or so. I am a huge fan that after six months kids need 12 hours of sleep at night. We use darkening shades in the room so she doesn't wake up because of the sun to get in her full sleep. I would say Kennedy would take 2-3 naps during that age. I think I might have even typed up a schedule that Kennedy used to be on if you want it. Yeah, I'm that crazy mom. Good luck!!!
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