LILY’S EATING AND SLEEPING SCHEDULE: 8 MONTHS OLD

I’m back with another update on Lily’s eating and sleeping schedule and there is so much to talk about! In 3 days she will be turning 8 months and I definitely think the biggest changes in her so far have happened all at once between months 7-8.

If you’re new here or have a younger baby, you may want to check out my first few posts about her earlier schedules at 5.5 months old and 0-4 months old. I’ll also be talking about solids so if you want to know how and what we started with, you’ll find that here.

To give a very brief recap, we went to Miami a few days after she turned 7 months old. She was on a consistent 7pm-7am night sleep, 3 nap schedule, breastfeeding 4 times a day, having solids for 1-2 meals and taking a bottle of pumped breast milk at night.

Once we got to Miami, she wasn’t sleeping as well. Her naps were getting shorter. She wasn’t so into breastfeeding and all of a sudden she LOVED solids. I chalked it up to her traveling for the first time, being in a different environment and just getting used to all the action and new surroundings. But after a solid week of crappy naps, a few middle of the night wake ups and a couple nursing strikes, we decided to make some changes.

Going from 3 to 2 naps

Her first 2 naps were starting to become less than an hour and she was completely fighting her 3rd so we decided to try and drop her 3rd nap by extending her wake windows. We changed her wake windows from 2 to 3 hours during the day. It was a pretty crappy week of sleep since it was a change to her schedule. She was also teething and got her first fever during this time so it’s hard to know exactly what was keeping her up. Now we are officially on a 2 nap schedule, using the wake window rule below.

Wake windows: 2-3-4 rule

We found she was waking up from nap 2 around 2:30 pm and we were having to put her to bed so early, which sucked! Then my best friend gave me a good rule of wake windows and this is what we are sticking to: the 2-3-4 rule. They go down 2 hours after the morning wake up, 3 hours after the first nap and 4 hours after the 2nd nap. She doesn’t always make it to 4 hours and we really just listen to her cues and will put her down when she looks ready. But it’s helpful to know we can keep her up until after 6 if she has a crappy 2nd nap. I know this might all sound confusing so I have a sample schedule at the bottom.

Formula

For Lily’s last feed of the day we always gave her a bottle. We liked knowing exactly how much she was getting before bed and also wanted the ability to have someone else put her to bed if we had a wedding to go to or wanted a date night for ourselves (also LOL to that, we’ve had one date night so far). So every night, around 10pm I would pump milk for the next night’s bottle. And I hated it. I would complain every. single. night. Just ask DC. I hate pumping to begin with and I also hated forcing myself to stay up late. But for some reason, don’t ask me why I wasn’t ready to give it up.

Finally, after 7 months, I decided I’ve had enough and wanted to give her formula for this last bottle so I didn’t have to pump for it. Luckily for us, my mama friends have done enough research on formula to be able to write a Harvard Medical Journal on it. So I simply asked them what to use. We decided on Nestle Good Start Organic. She had no issues with it and it’s been going great.

Breastfeeding/Bottle Feeding

So my plan was to simply swap out the night bottle of breast milk for formula and continue the nursing during the day. I just assumed my boobs would adjust and my body would figure out what to do, like it had in the past. The first morning after not pumping I woke up super engorged but wasn’t surprised. The next day, however, it felt like my supply was basically gone. I didn’t wake up engorged, I woke up pretty empty. She nursed in the morning but I could tell she needed a top off bottle after.

To backtrack a little, leading up to this point, she was getting really distracted while breastfeeding. As soon as she heard one noise she would whip her head around. I was having to go nurse her in dark rooms with no distractions, which I know is super common. She was also starting to get into solids and refusing to nurse during the day.

Needless to say, when my milk supply dropped after cutting out pumping, she was even less into nursing. I don’t blame her. My mom told me that I completely got over nursing at 9 months old, so maybe the same thing is happening. Either way, I’m happy and sad at the same time. I’m not emotionally ready to be done nursing altogether but I’m happy to know that she loves food and I’ll have a lot more freedom in my schedule now.

Solids

Once we got to Miami, Lily started to get super into solids. Maybe she just knows how good the Florida food is 🙂 She has a huge breakfast and I love sharing my meals with her for lunch and dinner. We’re still not on a set 3 meals a day routine with her. But I love that she loves food and find it so enjoyable to break pieces off of what I’m eating and share with her. Except for the part where she sees me eating first and throws a fit until she gets it.

Example schedule

So now that you have alllll this info, here is an average day of eating and sleeping for Lily Scarlett:

7 am – wake up, breastfeed, top off formula bottle (approx. 4 oz)

8 am – breakfast: usually yogurt, peanut butter and banana

9 am – nap 1

11 am – wake up, formula bottle, snack/lunch: usually a pouch, fruit, whatever we’re eating

2 pm – nap 2

4 pm – wake up, 2 oz formula bottle, dinner

6:30 pm – bath time, 6 oz bottle (we’re using up the frozen breast milk we have and once it’s finished well switch to formula)

7 pm bed

I hope she let’s me continue the morning breastfeed for as long as possible but I will follow her cues. This is such a fun age as she is starting to babble so much, move around and develop a personality.

As always, any questions, you know where to find me!

xoxo