Putting your baby on a schedule

Now from your experience does putting your baby to a schedule help in the future?

If it does what kind of schedules worked for u and does it stay the same as she grows up? I have only a bedtime schedule where she sleeps around 9:30 to 10. Do u think that’s a good time

I do it on her demands so I think am doing the best I can just wanna do a much better job.

 

I’m sure you are an amazing mother doing the best you can and always trying to do better. No child could ask for better than that!

BABY SCHEDULES…

Schedules are a must with children. Otherwise your life will be in continuous chaos. It also gives your child the beginning principles of discipline and order which is important in development.

As a note on this, I believe in feeding your child when they are hungry and letting them sleep when they are tired although if I daughter was getting ready to fall asleep around 7 pm we would usually play with her to keep her up until about 9 so that she then had a nice long sleep instead of waking up at midnight.

A general schedule that worked for us at the start up until she was 4 months old was:

9am feed the baby.

10-12pm go out with baby in the stroller so they get out of the house at least once a day

12pm feed the baby

1pm – 3pm baby nap if she could. Household chores during this time.

3pm feed the baby.

4pm – 7pm dad plays with the baby including helping the baby take steps, crawl, etc… to start getting the baby tired and hungry and give mom a much needed break.

7pm – 730pm wash the baby and get her ready for bed.

730 pm – 830pm feed the baby.

8:30 – 9:00 lullabyes

9:00 baby to sleep.

9:00 pm – 6am feed the baby and put them back to sleep until they won’t sleep anymore which usually is between 6 and 7am.

Once our daughter hit 6 months the feeding got easier because solids came into the equation and less milk/formula was needed and also she was starting to crawl and amuse herself which freed up more of our time.

6:30 am wake up and formula

7am – 9am play time.

930 – 12 stroll and outside time (includes coffee shop and mall time for mom)

12:30 solid food feeding.

1230 – 3pm nap time if they will (otherwise just let them fall asleep whenever they do)

3pm formula and/or solid food feeding.

4pm – 7pm dad play time.

7pm good solid food dinner

7:30 bath time and ready for bed.

8:30 final bottle of formula for the day

9:00 lullabyes

9:30 bedtime.

Hope that helps!

best,

Dare

www.cluelessfather.com

dsw@cluelessfather.com

Baby Breastfeeding Supplements Q&A

hello again dare hw u doing hope u n ur family r doing well n hw is the princess am sure she is all grown up now all the best in the future„„anyways i just want ur opinion on this one.. my daughter is now 15 weeks old and we live in a very hot place so do i need to give her water, she is exclusively breast fed… and from ur experience is it necessary to give baby vitamine drops. tnx – Monica

Hi Monica!
Thanks for writing! Yes, the little princess is growing fast as I am sure yours is as well.

In terms of giving a baby water while still breastfeeding this can be a somewhat controversial subject. Your breastmilk is about 90% or more made up of water and as long as you are eating healthy and drinking lots of healthy drinks such as vegetable juices and water then your baby should be just fine.

In terms of vitamin drops, unless specifically advised by a pediatrician, I wouldn’t add vitamin drops to this. From my experience pediatricians usually advise vitamin drops when babies are being raised on formula and not on breastmilk.

Now there are a lot of mothers who are fiercely independent on raising their child and don’t visit a pediatrician or doctor unless an actual sickness occurs or something they can’t solve with a home remedy.

To mothers with this line of thinking I would advise them to buy a baby chart which shows ideal weight and height growth for their baby and chart them every month to see how they are progressing. As long as they are growing properly then it would seem obvious they are getting sufficient nourishment from the breastfeeding. If the baby wasn’t growing properly, then it would be time to consider vitamin and protein supplements.

Also along the lines of babies and water for these mothers, if you notice that your daughter is getting thirsty a lot then you can do one of several things:

1. If you see their lips getting dry or cracked or if they are not peeing regularly it’s a sign that they are getting too much sunlight and are dehydrating. If you really don’t want to see a pediatrician, then give the child a SMALL amount of CLEAN water or baby tea to start. No more than 1oz or 2oz’s maximum. The key thing is not to interrupt their established feeding cycles.

If you overdo the water, you can cause health problems for your baby. That disclaimer being said, we gave our daughter 1-2ozs of baby tea regularly when she was 4 months old and we were in the middle of a scorching heat wave in Mexico. We made sure it was mid-point between feedings and that her eating cycle was not disrupted and she did just fine with it. http://youtu.be/cgH2TNUm_R4

2. If you can’t do much about them being in the hot weather with a fan or air conditioner, then you can always take wet rags and give them a wipe down regularly, just be sure the rag isn’t cold. Room temperature water works best.

Thanks again for writing! Hope that helps!

Best,

Dare

www.cluelessfather.com

dsw@cluelessfather.com

“cluelessfather” on youtube

When a child is injured…

A parenting suggestion for the holistically inclined based off empirical observation:

When your child is mildly injured (in scientific parenting terms these are known as ‘boo-boos’) instead of freaking out or going on a panic inspired monologue, silently carry them around in your arms and point their attention to objects in the environment or give them things to touch.

They tend to calm faster and return to being happy much faster. Granted it takes a few minutes depending on the severity of the boo-boo, but it seems to cancel out the lingering bad mood side-effect of the injury.

Works with all the kids I’ve tried it on!

Baby Accidents and Parental Guilt

Parental guilt…

The worst sound a parent can hear is a loud crash and then a scream from your baby.

Our daughter woke up and crawled off the bed at 6am. I held her until she stopped crying.

She was strangely cheerful and playful after the fall. But I’m gonna feel like the world’s worst dad for at least the rest of the day.

You are never ready…

You are never ready until the moment itself arrives…

The Beauty of Sleeping

A big part for me of being a new dad is having to deal with the frustration of not sleeping or having it constantly interrupted. Those moments where you have been woken up by the baby crying and for some reason they don’t stop unless YOU hold them can be the most trying.

After several days of this in a row…it can start to push you over the edge. Especially if you are making a two hour trip to work every day way outside the city.

Mom helps a lot, but still it is tough.

However I have found what makes all the frustration and anger go away. Get the baby to sleep in your arms and just hold them for a few minutes while they sleep.

It is amazing. It’s like sunlight shining through rain clouds. Like a sudden moment of calm in a tempest.

It makes you remember why you wanted to be a parent in the first place.

Have a great day.

Best,

Dare

aka The Clueless Father

The Worry of SIDS (Part 1)

I am still gathering my thoughts and talking to other parents on the subject of SIDS before I blog about that, but I had to make a quick comment that last night my wife and I slept for almost 8 1/2 hours straight.

I woke up as I normally do when waking to find sunshine spilling through the curtains: with a certain slight sense of unease. There was not a single sound coming from the baby room.

After 8 1/2 hours? That’s a rarity for our 5 month old daughter.

I try not to think about such things, but there is no fighting the queasiness that hits me when I do. Attempting to force it out of my thoughts and keep thinking “that would never happen to us”, I rapidly enter the bathroom to rescue my aching bladder from having an explosion.

I wash my hands and reach for the toothbrush and stop. I can’t do it.

The queasiness is turning into a panic. I still haven’t heard a single peep from my daughter.

Screw thinking positive at this point.

I lightly step on our old wooden floor as I approach her room. Two feet from the crib a huge creak issues from the floorboard in unfair protest of my relatively meek girth.

But in the silence it sounds like a gunshot.

I see my daughter’s head bolt up as she stares at me blinkingly. I can’t tell if she was asleep or not. It seems like five halves of eternity as we just look at each other. And then she smiles and starts to giggle as I start to breathe again.

I lift her up and hug her and kiss her all over. Her shriek and laughter fill every fiber of my being with joy. And as I listen to it I know one thing that I have known every day since December 15th 2009: Today is going to be the best day of the rest of my life.

And with that, I get ready for my daily two hour walking/taxi/train/taxi/walk to work at the factory with a smile on my face.

I have spoken to a few parents now that have had to face the ordeal of SIDS and I really respect the courage they have had to carry on.

I have lost other people very close to me and I know what gave me the strength to move on was not forgetting about them, but remembering and truly enjoying the moments we had together.

While I know in my heart that my daughter will have the pleasure of seeing me grow old and senile, I still work to ensure that every day she and I share a remarkable moment together.

Not for her sake particularly, but more for mine.

Part 2 (The Rough One) coming soon.

Regards,

DSW

aka “The Clueless Father”

Baby’s first 90 days 4-8: The Daily, Weekly and Monthly Routine

Baby’s first 90 days 4-8: The Daily, Weekly and Monthly Routine

Wow. Alright, here we are at the end of the section on the first 90 days with baby. This video will rapidly summarize the day to day and week to week things you can expect to have to do.

I probably forgot stuff. Please write me and remind me or fill me in.

Thanks so much for watching and hope this has been helpful on your own journey of fatherhood.

Baby’s first 90 days 4-7: How to Pass the Test of Manhood (Part 5 of 5)

Baby’s first 90 days 4-7: How to Pass the Test of Manhood (Part 5 of 5)

No matter how painful the first 90 days seem, you will make it through it. But there is one thing that will help you make it through it a lot easier. Check it out.

Baby’s first 90 days 4-6 The Test of Manhood (Part 4 of 5)

Baby’s first 90 days 4-6 The Test of Manhood (Part 4 of 5)
00:00 – The 6 main reasons babies cry #5: Digestion problems
01:33 – The 6 main reasons babies cry #6: Bad Dreams or shocks
02:30 – Other reasons your baby might be crying
03:38 – What the hell is colic
05:25 – A fairly surefire de-colicer
06:56 – What to do when you hit the breaking point