All your baby questions answered (from a new mom still trying to figure it out)
Before I jump into it, I have to first say that I am for sure, not an expert when it comes to having and raising a baby (what first time mom is!?) I do feel like for the most part we now have a handle on the flow of things.. at least for the moment being - until something shifts again and we find ourselves having to learn and adapt to something new. What I have really found helpful along the way is talking with other moms - even if they too are a new mom with a baby about Jett's age. I have learned A LOT from just asking questions to others and so I hope that those of you reading this find something helpful too - even if its just to relate and say "hey thats us too!" So here you go! All the questions you've asked!
SLEEPING
Does Jett sleep through the night? /When did he start sleeping through the night?:
Ok so for this one, I have to say that we are SO blessed to have a baby that is a good nighttime sleeper. I have had many conversations with others about whether or not this is a product of his genes, or what we do to enforce good sleep habits. I do think its a little of both, but I just have to preface by saying Jett has always adapted well to sleep habits we have introduced!
Since about 3 months, Jett has slept through the night (at 3 months he was waking up at 5/530 and now he will sleep in to around 7 or so) At our 2 month checkup our doctor told us we should give him a chance to "settle" when waking instead of just assuming he needed to be fed. He responded to this really well and unless he was wailing (and obviously hungry) we let him fuss a bit and would settle down and go back to sleep - reducing the number of nighttime feedings by 2 right away... until when we reached the 3rd month he was sleeping through the night! One of my mommy-blogger friends Jess from letsjessup.com really helped ME during this time when I would ask her a bunch of questions because her daughter was sleeping through the night pretty early as well. She wrote a great blog post on it: HERE if you are interested in some of the things I learned from her that really helped us!
Swaddling: what did you do and what was the transition?
I wrote a separate post all about what we did for swaddling and transitioning him out of the swaddle HERE.
ROUTINE
Is Jett on a schedule?
Yes and no. I did read Baby Wise, the ultimate "baby scheduling" book, which I did get some takeaways from, but I also didn't feel like it was feasible to be SO STRICT on where and when Jett should sleep. It advocates for only napping in the crib at specific intervals, which YES, napping in the crib rather than in the stroller or car is probably optimal, but also - if we were out and about and Jett was tired, I wasn't about to drive home just so that he could nap. He frequently took naps in his stroller - for the early weeks - lasting through 3 months or so I actually would have to do a LOT of walks in the stroller just so that he WOULD nap. Napping in his crib took some work (also I don't think I did the best job of training him to nap in his crib.. he would cry a lot and sometimes wouldn't even sleep for 45 - min to an hour of fussing, and I would give up and take him on a walk to just get SOME sleep) Looking back I really could of done a better job of being more persistent about napping in his crib. But you live and learn! It was around 3 months where we started to get more in a rhythm of napping during the days.
So as far as a schedule goes somethings we just feel out and others are more rigid. Here is what our schedule looks like now and has for about 2 months now. (Since Jett was 5 months)
7/7:30: Wake up/ feed (bottle)
8/ 8:15 ish: Eat some kind of solids - a pouch or something I have blended for him
Play until he gets tired - usually around 8:30 or so (although we are starting to see that extend longer now).
8:30/8:45 Nap - usually lasts for anywhere between 1 and 2 hours.
Wake - sometimes we feed him right away, sometimes he isn't hungry for a little bit after waking. It depends on how long the nap was.
Wake time is usually about 2 hours after his morning nap. We play, jump in the jumper, sit on the floor to play with toys. more solids for lunch.
Anywhere from 12-2ish: Afternoon Nap. This is different everyday. It depends on how long his first nap and we really just feel out for when he is tired.
Wake, bottle, play
3-4 ish, SOMETIMES another nap, sometimes not. We are sort of transitioning to just two naps, and sometimes he will go down for a nap for that third time, sometimes he doesn't.
5:00: bottle - this one usually isn't his normal 6-7 ounces but smaller - around 4 ounces
5:30 /6 ish: Solids
6:30 Bedtime routine begins! This is where we are typically pretty "rigid" about the schedule. Bedtime routine is the same every night and usually starts around 6:30 or so.
Here is our routine:
Bath - Jett LOVES his bath. He could be so tired and still light up to jump in the bath. We usually fill up the tub just a little bit of water - to right under his ears and he will just kick and splash for about 10-15 min. We use soap only every other day or every three days.
Change into our PJ's, put on an overnight diaper (game changer or Jett will wet the bed) and stories for 5- 10 min. Sometimes we do one book, sometimes two or three. It depends on his mood and if he is fussy.
Bottle with the lights off rocking in his chair in his room. He drinks the bottle and sometimes is very drowsy, sometimes still a bit alert. We put him down in his crib, awake/drowsy but not fully asleep. We pray, tell him we love him and Jett will typically fall asleep after chatting/kicking around for about 10-15 min.
Sleeps through 7 or so, and the day starts again!
SOLIDS
When did you start Jett on solids and how did you introduce new foods?
We got the okay from our doctor at 5 months and we started then. We were given the okay for him to try anything except honey.
How often and what does Jett eat for solids?
We try to get him to eat solids three times a day - right around the times of Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, although sometimes we skip it if were out and about - or if Jett gets tired early for a nap - etc. Morning solids are around 8/815. Lunch is 30 min or so before his second nap, and Dinner is usually at 5:40 or 6.
We are a big fan of pouches - Plum Organics or Sprout. We have tried a wide variety from fruits, to veggie/fruit mixes, to ones with oatmeal or quinoa, or beans in them. I also like to make him a "baby smoothie" which consists of fresh fruit, greek yogurt, oatmeal, and spinach. He loves it! (who wouldn't!) I typically blend enough together for a couple of servings to last a few days. We also just give him very small pieces of real food - banana, sweet potato, avocado, even salmon (we have even tried peanut butter - which made me nervous but Jett did just fine!). If we are out at a restaurant we will typically let him try something we have ordered that is baby friendly. Mashed potatoes, guacamole - anything soft. We want him to get used to eating together- all of us- whenever we sit down for a meal. TIP! (maybe this is an obvious one, but we learned the hard way) Our doctor told us to give him some water after eating solid food - to help wash things down. Jett hasn't been the biggest fan of water and we didn't do a great job of enforcing that. But Jett gets really constipated with lots of solid food and not enough water - so drink that water!)
GEAR
What baby monitor do you use?
We use the 1080 p Yi Home Camera and I would highly recommend it! It connects to an app and we can set it up to notify us if he cries or if there is movement (we don't have movement notifications on because he moves around quite a bit). You can put an SD card in it and record all the video, so you can look back through the night - like for example if you wanted to see how much he was awake in the night, or whatever reason you need to look back. I can also look in from wherever I am- so if we have a babysitter and are out to dinner, we can look in from our phones to see him sleeping.
What Jogger do you have?
We have the City Mini GT Travel Jogger which we also use as our car seat. You can click in the car seat to the stroller, or now that Jett is big enough, I can jog with him facing out. We also travel with this one even though it doesn't pack up to be the most compact (still doable, easy to break down) because it is great on the go and he naps pretty well in it.
What brand is the jumper in your Insta-stories?
Jett LOVES his jumper! We actually have two- both gifted and so we have tried out both. In the beginning he loved this one as it allowed him to spin and "walk" around. We then tried the second one: the Graco bouncer and now he prefers it because it has more spring and bounce!
TRAVELING WITH A BABY
We have traveled several times with Jett in his 7 months of life - once internationally! I wrote a post about traveling with Jett HERE
WORKING OUT WITH A BABY
When do you find time to workout?
I usually do one of a few options. Ideally, I like to go early in the morning around 5:30 or 6 before Jett wakes up (when Brandon is home and not out of town for work) but also if thats not an option, I will go over lunchtime when I'm working and Jett is with our Nanny. If neither of those work I try to workout at home! Lots of options if you search workouts on youtube. Or I just like to make up some HIIT moves and do intervals just on my yoga mat while Jett is napping or playing. But also, there are definitely days where life is too busy and I can't fit it in too. But I like to workout at least 5 times a week!
Does working out affect your milk supply
I am nearing the end of breastfeeding Jett (still feed him once a day - when he first wakes up) but I breastfed (and pumped during the day when I was at work) until Jett was 6 months. I personally didn't see a drop in supply when I worked out, but I know women who said they have. I just made sure to drink a TON OF WATER to make up for anything I may have lost working out.
PHEW! Lots of info.. Hoping you find some of it useful!
Let me know if you have anymore questions, always happy to answer anything you have for me!
Meg