Hello Everyone! Since I will be returning back to work full time and Aki will be turning five months old next week, I wanted to share her four month old schedule with you all! I am a little hesitant to share because just when you think you have it all figured out, boom, everything changes. Four months was particularly tumultuous for us because she learned a lot of new skills and we were transitioning for me to go back to work. Nevertheless, we've had a lot of successful days with this schedule, so I'd like to share it below!
7:00-7:30 | GOOD MORNING
Aki is usually playing and babbling in her crib sometime between 6:45 and 7:00AM each morning. She wakes up pretty much like clockwork, which is fine because I will need to leave the house at 7:30 once I go back to work. This wake-up is even better for when she starts nursery school. If it's the weekend, and I want to lay down for a little longer, I'll breastfeed her in bed.
7:30-8:00 | SOLO PLAY
Aki seems to build up a lot of gas overnight, so after changing her diaper, I put her down on her playmat. During this time, she is free to explore and play with a few toys I put out for her. Eventually, she rolls onto her stomach and lets out a ton of gas (and more) from the night before. During solo play, I make/eat breakfast, and recap my husband on how her night went.
8:00-9:00 | BREAKFAST + DADDY PLAY TIME
After I finish breakfast, I change her second diaper of the day (which usually carries a huge surprise), and I leave Aki to be fed and play with her dad.
9:00-9:30 | MORNING WALK
Aki's wake window right now is about two to three hours My husband will take her for a quick lap around the riverside and then will take her into the nursery around 9:30 to start winding her down for her nap. If the timing is just right, my husband can tuck her in, sing the A-B-C song, and she will be fast asleep.
9:30-11:30 | NAP
Aki's naps are sometimes as short as 40 minutes or as long as 2 hours. For the sake of this schedule, we'll say it's two hours. If she wakes up before two hours, I usually spend that time feeding her or we'll go grocery shopping for lunch.
11:30-12:30PM | STIMULATING PLAY
Aki usually wakes up during my lunch time. So, while I eat lunch, I sit her beside me in her high chair, and I allow her to play with her more stimulating toys (ones with lights and sounds).
12:30-1:30PM | LUNCH + MOMMY PLAY TIME
This time slot is really tricky for us because we usually do something (grocery shop, go to the park, appointments) during this time. So, if we stay home, I try to stay on track by feeding her and just continue playing with her. If we go out, all bets are off!
1:30-3:00PM | NAP
Most people advise against feeding so close to sleep, but if we go outside, then I definitely know she has to be thirsty, so I usually feed her before her nap and then let her hang out quietly in her crib to wind down by herself. We try to cap her daytime sleep to four hours, so if she has a short morning nap, I'll let her have a longer mid-day nap. However, if she slept for two hours in the morning, I won't let her go past an hour and a half for her mid-day nap.
3:00-5:00PM | PLAY
After Aki's second nap, I begin kind of cluster feeding. Aki has gotten so distracted during feedings now that she rarely takes full feeds, so I spend the next two hours, letting her play and feeding her. I'll do more stimulating play at the beginning, such as singing songs, letting her walk around in her walker, and after she gets bored with each activity, I'll feed her.
5:00-5:30PM | CAT NAP
Aki used to take her longest nap at the end of the day, which was messing with her night time sleep. So, now I let her take a cat nap, which will give her just enough energy to make it through dinner and her night time routine.
5:30-7:30PM | DINNER + BATH
This is our dinner time, so I'll lay her down on her playmat and she plays while me and my husband eat dinner. We take turns holding her and playing with her if she gets fussy or wants attention. After dinner, we give her a bath. She loves bath time, so I try to take my time and let her enjoy the water. After I bathe her, if she isn't too tired, I give her a mini massage with calming baby lotion and blow dry her hair. After her bath, I feed her.
8:00PM | GOODNIGHT
My husband and I sing our goodnight song, and I'll lay her in her crib. If she begins to cry, that means she is still hungry, so I'll feed her one last time. I'll then burp her and lay her in her crib, turn on the white noise, and make the room pitch black. I'll lay in the bed and sing two versus of the A-B-C song and then she is on her own to go to sleep. It takes 5-10 minutes.
8:00-1:00AM | Night Feeding #1
Aki always wakes up 4-5 hours after she is put down (on a good night). I'll feed her and usually she falls right back to sleep.
1:00-5:00AM | Night Feeding #2
Aki sometimes gets gas during this time and wakes up. I'll change her diaper, help her express gas, and feed her. She is usually wide awake and ready to talk my ear off and play, but I lay her in her crib and she'll fall asleep by herself if I leave her alone.
Then, we do it all over again! Of course, there are some days where everything goes smoothly, and there are days where she cries and protests sleep, wakes up more often in the night, or doesn't eat and then the schedule gets messed up. It can be very frustrating, and I'm still learning how to be flexible and accommodating to the hundreds of developments she is going through, but we always try to be as routine as possible. Having a routine has helped me and my husband employ the same techniques and be able to help each other out. So, I definitely am glad that we started getting Aki on a routine around 2 months old.
I'm going back to work in a few days, and so, I'll post up her five month schedule as soon as we get into a good routine!
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