To schedule or not to schedule…

After asking myself this many times over the past several weeks and weighing out the pros and cons of having baby on a schedule as well as whether or not it would even be possible, I/we have decided that a schedule is indeed what is best for Alder and us. After a couple of week’s adjustment, I am SO glad to have made this decision (however, I realize it is certainly not for every baby/family). I must precedent this by saying that a schedule was not possible in the earlier weeks both because Alder was too young (in my opinion) and my milk supply was not sufficient. But now, I no longer wonder why Alder is crying and he rarely gets delirious and crazy. He eats when he wakes up, is awake for an hour or maybe more and then begins to fuss b/c he is tired – he is now yawning and rubbing his eyes to let me know this – so he goes down for a nap. We have established a routine that we do every time we put him down that involves closing his curtains, checking his diaper, rocking/singing for 5-10 minutes, and then he goes down. He fusses for 0-5 minutes while finding his fist to suck on and then he is asleep. What a wonderful feeling! There are still a couple hours of cluster feeding and fussiness in the evenings, but a bath is a great distraction. He is going to bed at 8pm now rather than 10pm which gives Jason and I time to hang out and he is still sleeping pretty much through the night (to 6am). He has awakened at 3-4am a few times, but then sleeps later so I am not complaining.

Ok, well there are a few cons to all of this…I think it all falls apart when I need to leave the house. Yesterday, we went to run some errands and to the doctor such that he missed a nap and he was a mess. But I am not so sure this is from the scheduling as much as it is from him being so much more aware of his surroundings and not able to sleep while we are running around like he used to a month ago.

So, for now a schedule is working pretty well and I am sure as he gets older, all this will change and change again…on a weekly if not daily basis.

As a reward for reading all of that, here is a pick of Alder: