Many of you have been asking about Annie’s sleep schedule lately so I thought I would take some time to share this with you today! To say the least, we are completely BLOWN AWAY by Annie’s sleep routine! This little girl is a ROCKSTAR when it comes to her sleep and we think this is thanks to a combination of a couple of things, which I’ll share with you below!
When Leo was born we went through sleep training with Janey from WeeSleep (read ALL about it, here!) … this was a bit of a difficult process for us as Leo is a natural nighthawk and wasn’t a good sleeper! Even to this day he loves staying up late! In fact, if he misses his nightly routine by 20 mins or so, it’s like he gets a second wind so we have to be really on the ball with this! Leo is currently napping around 3 hours a day which I feel like will eventually get cut back to 2 hours verrrry soon!
To be honest, sleep training can be really overwhelming (especially for all of those working mamas out there!). I found that the biggest hurdle is fnding a routine that works for everyone and we often tend to overcomplicate our routines! So, from the time Annie was born until she was about 4-5 months we stuck with a very easy and SIMPLE routine that seemed to work really well for us!
Up until Annie was 6 months old, she slept in a bassinet beside our bed and during this time we came to realize that she had a natural sleep cycle so when we decided to take her out of our room and to her crib we followed the exact same pattern and we find that it works about 99.9% of the time!
We feel as though the trick to Annie’s unreal sleeping patterns are due to her eating schedule and the fact that we operate on an awake, eat, play, sleep routine! I’ve gone ahead and typed out what a typical day for Annie would be below so you have an idea of what I mean when I refer to our awake, eat, play, sleep, routine.
You’ll notice in the schedule below that we give Annie four bottles a day and she also eats breakfast, lunch, AND dinner … she is doing amazing with solids and eats everything we eat! Don’t worry, I’ll be sharing a blog on this in the coming months! I think considering she eats so much throughout the day, she goes to bed on a full stomach and doesn’t wake in the night our of hunger and luckily for us, Annie normally sleeps around 12 hours a night!!
Annie’s Sleep Schedule
6am: Annie wakes up
6:10am: Annie gets her first 5oz bottle (right after she wakes)
7:40am: Annie has breakfast (She eats what we eat! More on this coming in another blog!)
9am: Annie goes down for her first nap (for about an hour and a half)
10:30am: Wake Annie up from her nap
11am: Annie has her second bottle
12pm: Annie has lunch
1:30: Annie goes down for her second nap
3pm: Wake Annie up from her nap
3pm: Feed Annie her third bottle
5pm: Annie has dinner
6pm: Annie has a bath and last bottle
6:30pm: Annie goes down for bed
Aside from bedtime, we never use the bottle to put Annie to sleep so she isn’t dependant on it. If she wakes during the night she is able to self soothe without the comfort of a bottle. To be honest, we REALLY lucked out with Annie and she naturally fell into this routine, we didn’t have to go through the whole “cry it out” method at night!
What I learned when I did sleep training with Janey is that we are to give Annie 10 minutes to cry it out if she wakes at night and she will normally fall back asleep. But, if that doesn’t work, and she is still crying after those 10 minutes, we will go into her nursery, rub her back, give her a soother and wait another 10 minutes. If that doesn’t work … then that’s about the time I panic and call Janey from WeeSleep … lol!
Another thing that I feel plays a huge role in Annie’s sleeping routine is the fact that she sleeps in a pitch black room with her sound machine on, her gunaPOD sack on and her Jellycat bunny! Sounds nice, doesn’t it?? LOL!
Now, don’t get me wrong, this routine basically only works when we are at home and sometimes there are weeks where we are all over the map! Like on Wednesday’s for example, Leo goes to gymnastics and we bring Annie with us so rather than sleeping in her crib for nap time, she sleeps in the car so it doesn’t end up being a long enough nap for her! Another thing I learned from Janey was that if you have to pop out and run errands and your babe is on a similar routine, she suggests running your errands in the afternoon as their morning nap is the most important.
There you have it! That’s where we are at with Annie and her sleep routine! Make sure to check back next week as I’ll be sharing my breastfeeding update with you along with Annie’s new eating routines!!
If you have any sleep tips or tricks that have worked really well for your family, make sure to share them in the comments below!
xo
Jilly
The Jelly Cat bunny! Both my babes sleep with one and it is the best thing ever. The conversations my almost 3yr old son has with his “Lovey” is so cute.
Hi Jill! We did the same routine (awake, eat, play, sleep) for our now 4 year old, and are doing it again with our 2 month old. I am finding she is already an amazing sleeper because of it!
I am curious…with not having to sleep train Annie, was there a certain point you (or the sleep consultant) recommend unswaddling them and using sleep sacks? Did you wait til she was rolling, or do it sooner since she was a good sleeper anyways?
Thank you!
Annie schedule is very similar to my sons. I had him on EASY by the Baby Whisper(love love love her). It is perfect for most babies and toddlers (mind you I did it for most of my sons preschool life) As an ECE I have also recommended it to soooo many parents. Thank you for sharing Jillian…love you.
As a new first time mum, I find it so unbelievably overwhelming to get my little one into a good sleep routine. There are so many do’s and don’ts from so many health care professionals, it can all seem a bit much. I often find it helps tremendously to actually visualize a schedule.. that works. So thank you for sharing.
On a side note. A lot of what has to do with my little ones sleep or lack of, is my milk production. A month or so ago you posted a video about Annie’s recent switch to an organic formula. What was the name of that formula?
Love this! Thanks so much Jill. One question: is the sound machine on constantly throughout the night? Or on a timer? XOXO
We leave it on throughout the night!
Where is Annie`s pacifier and clip from. I love the pink. I would like to get one for a friend that is having a baby girl.
Where is Annie’s pink pacifier and clip from. I love it and would like to get one for a friend that is having a baby.
Where is Annie’s pink pacifier and clip from.
I’d never decide for cry it out! I googled a lot and decided for this metod: http://parental-love.com/shop/baby-sleep-training – it was so gentle! 4 nights and my boy is sleeping angel now! Why cry it out when you can have such nice alternative that works.
IT sound like you’re having a sleeping angel! Even if not every day. My Eve – before the training – was a sleeping disaster! Like catnapper, waking at night, crying a lot. Full package. We followed Susan Ubran’s book (the one: http://parental-love.com/shop/baby-sleep-training ) and even the tips for newborn did not help a lot. Ok, routine gave us some peace but finishing the main sleep training programm at month 4 changed the game. It’s like another child now. Sleeping 11-12 hours, napping in different places. Problem solved! Just like that.
Hi Jillian!
Thank you for sharing a blog on your routine with both your babes! It really resonated with me when you talked about different things works for different babies and you honouring their different routines and what works for you and your family!
We just recently completed the Weesleep program with our 6 month old, and she took to it very well, sleep through through after the first night.
However now the program is over and I am sitting here thinking of all these questions, i really appreciate your values and approach and wondered your perspective on, getting through difficulties with transition during travel and sleeping on new places and if you ever noticed Annie having growth spurts at night and how you noticed and differentiated this night waking and how you handled this?
Thank you so much!