Eleven weeks. Hard to believe Kylah’s 11 weeks old already, but it’s true. Something else that’s held true is what all of the books say: The schedule is key.
So, how did we set a schedule with Kylah? We didn’t. We’ve embraced hers. We know that during the day she’ll nap for a short while, then she’ll wake up hungry. Then she’ll pee. Then she’ll play for a while. Then she naps for a while and the cycle repeats itself. We’ve learned to embrace her natural schedule in order to keep her happy.
We were reading the book What to Expect the First Year (affiliate link) and it said that there’s two extremes, the “Schedule every 15 minutes” or the “eh, whatever. She’ll tell us when she’s hungry.” We have tried to stay in the middle of that road.
Know her cues
Knowing your baby’s cues are super important when trying to establish a schedule. When Kylah has a dirty diaper, she’ll kick her legs. When she’s hungry, she’ll try to eat her hands. When she’s tired, she’ll scream and not cry.
By knowing her cues, we are able to keep up with her schedule and make sure we’re keeping her happy. The hard thing about waiting until she cries is that she’s crying. And trying to keep a super-rigid schedule is just as hard on the parents.
Make her happy
We make sure we have different ways of playing with her while she’s awake. We’ve also learned what makes her happy when something random is pissing her off or the quickest way to put her to sleep. This was hammered home last night when Kylah spent her first night in her big-girl crib.
We had her ready to go to bed around 9:30 so we figured: Tonight’s the night. And it was. We put her down and within a few moments she was sound asleep.
We win at parenting.
