Schedule for an 11 Month Old

We used Ferber, we used it early. DS's sleep schedule at 11 months was to go to bed at 8pm, and sleep till 7am. He would take a morning nap at around 10 for 45 minutes, and an afternoon nap around 2 for 1.5 hours to 3 hours. He was offered food 6x a day, and the ped had us limit the amount of formula he was on so he could get more solids in. At 11 months, he was eating probably 1.5 -2 jars or the equivalent at least 4x a day.

At around 15 months, he was moving towards one nap. At around 18 months, he was solidly into one nap, had after lunch for about 2 hours. He's now 29 months, and the sleep schedule remains unaltered. In bed at 8, rouses at 7 and an afternoon nap for about 2 hours. He still gets offered food 6x a day, which he sometimes accepts and sometimes refuses.

I mention Ferber because, it taught him to self soothe. DS would get into a light sleep cycle, or even rouse in the middle of the night. He would stand up, put his mobile on, lie down again, and go back to sleep.

If he woke distressed, or sick, we would attend to his needs. If he roused and made noise and wanted to play, we would go in, pat his back, say "its time to sleep" and walk out of the room. We did this at graduated intervals, and he came to learn that 1. we hadn't disappeared. 2. his needs could/ would be met. 3. waking up in the middle of the night did not constitute an emergency. 4. night time was not play time. 5. we would not be varying our response.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

My son will be 11 months old this week. He has a consistent routine but not a set schedule. He wakes between 6:45-7:30am. Two hours later I put him down for a nap which lasts between 1 1/2- 3 hours. Two hours after he wakes from his morning nap he will go down for an afternoon nap which lasts between 1-2 hours. He goes to bed at 7pm and still wakes once (very occasionally twice) to nurse during the night. He nurses a lot during the day on demand but always before and after sleeping. I offer solid food breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. My son eats table foods, not baby food, even though he only has six teeth. Some days he eats a lot, other days he barely eats anything.

When my daughter was 3 months old, I began taking care of a little boy while his parents worked full time. They were born exactly 30 days apart so it was like having twins, except for the fact that he weighed twice as much as she did. For the sake of everyone's sanity, I kept things fairly structured. By 11 months, we had things down like champs. Of course there was teething and growth spurts and my daughter was walking at 7 months.
I had that little boy for over 4 years.

You know....schedules are a relative thing and not the same for all families.
My kids are 10 years apart. When I was a stay at home mom, my newborn son was with me in the car every morning to take my daughter to school in the morning. We lived in the country, so, I also discovered that was a super convenient time to do the grocery shopping since there was hardly anyone in the store at that hour. I got home, nursed my baby, put him down for a little rest then put the groceries away, threw laundry in, etc. Then, in the afternoon, we had to go pick my daughter up from school so it was back in the car again. We didn't always come straight home. My daughter was able to help with the baby while we did errands and things or went to the library or she had sports or play practice. My son just had to be along for the ride basically. I mean, he didn't know any different and it just worked. I got him on a schedule that coincided with all the other things I had to juggle.

Kids sleeping and eating patterns can change quite a bit, but what time my daughter had to be at school and picked up didn't change. I'm not going to lie and say all days were perfect, but we clearly had to have a routine.
Plus, we also traveled A LOT and thank goodness, my kids could sleep anywhere. I believe in routines, but I was never so rigid that we couldn't go anywhere because it might interfere with my "schedule". We had deaths in the family and so many curve balls thrown at us that sometimes we just had to wing it.

When I had to go back to work outside the home full-time after my divorce, obviously, schedules changed. When my son started preschool, schedules changed. When he started kindergarten, his schedule changed.

I guess I'm trying to say that kids can adapt to routines and schedules. You kind of have to base it on your own timelines and the schedules of your other child and your family as a whole. With each of my children, our schedules at certain ages likely wouldn't have worked for anyone else, but they worked for us.

I think routines are important. Just my opinion.

Best wishes!

Get up in the morning. Eat breakfast. Play time. Morning snack. Play time. Lunch, clean up time. Nap for about 2-3 hours. Get up, snack time. Play time. Dinner. Play time. Evening snack, bath time, clean up time etc...., go to bed. Wake up less than 2 times during the night is the goal....lol.

You just asked about co-sleeping, so I think there might just be a need of more patience, or more structure.

But you have to pick, or your daughter will continue making the decisions.
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You're right, not a very detailed answer. :)

I meant that the co-sleeping changeover just happened a month or so ago. And it doesn't sound like she's really got that part down-pat yet. So, before starting with a schedule to fix her sleep (it will help some) - maybe keep practicing on the sleep through the night part.

She's looking for comfort or playtime, not a feeding in the middle of the night. Have you tried just letting her be?

Secondly, a schedule will do wonders for naps, eating, behavior, mood - everything. But again, with the sleeping thing just in our rear-view mirror, maybe ease into a bit. She'll eat - and she'll eat on time, but that's going to take a week or so of you sticking to a routine.

Once you start waking her at the same time, feeding her at the same time and then laying her down (alone) for a nap at the same time....she'll start picking up the routine.

But it's not her that has to change. You're the mom, you set the schedule, you set the rules - so it's solely on your shoulders.

As for the amounts - should be 2 servings of the baby food per meal, plus about 6oz bm/formula. Then an 8oz bottle for the afternoon snack.

So 20-24 oz bm/formula per day. 5-6 baby food containers per day. And about now is when you start intro'ing finger foods as an offering to get her interest and dexterity going.

About 14 months she'll likely give up baby food (and JUST after she gets good at being spoon fed with no drips!) and move entirely to solids.

Hi, S.:

#1 Stop comparing her to your son.
#2 "Haven't really bothered with her."
This statement concerns me.
#3 Obtain an appointment book from at a glance.com
for the number of people in your household.
Write in your schedule and others in the book.
You fit everyone's schedule to suit your own.
You are in control not the children.
Good luck.
D.