Why did i choose night routine over the fixed hourly feed routine?
Every option has its pro and cons, its supporter and opposers.
Meaning, i think there's no right or wrong method, just the preference of the parents.
Many people belief that you should feed on a 2/3/4 hourly basis depending on the age and feeding habits of the baby and keep it constant through the day, including the night hours.
As feeding and food is a very important of growing and development, this method is believed to provide a consistent amount of nutrients for the growing baby.
This method of feeding will cause the baby to develop and fixed routine of feeding, including the night feeds.
I wanted to try this in the day for Zara at first, but due to her growth sprout, it seems like her feeding time and amount are not consistent as much as i want it to. For those who believe strongly in the fixed timing feeding routine, does it mean that i shouldn't feed when she is hungry because i want her to fix in the routine? For me, i feed when she is hungry.
So how do we set the night routine?
What we do is, we usually will shower her around 3+pm and feed her after her shower.
At this point, she is quite fresh so we will play and interact with her more.
Then we will feed her again and put her in bed just before sunset.
Usually by this time she will be very sleepy after the feed.
All activity stops, no switching on of lights in her room.
If she needs to change diaper or anything, it will be done in the dark.
No switching on of lights is a very or the most important step i feel. Because the light causes the baby to be confused thinking that it's day time again and their body automatically become more active in the day.
Do we ignore her cry for milk at night?
Of course not. If she is hungry, she is hungry. Once the sunset and everything is dark, her body automatically tells her that it's night time and it's sleeping mode. She will sleep from evening all the way till 3am and she will wake up crying for another feed. Once day break, she is back to every 2-3 hourly feed.
How do you know the pattern of your baby feeding habit?
Do up a daily time log. It helps to keep track of how much she drank earlier and for you to roughly know what time she will be hungry again.
How can knowing the habit work for our benefit?
We noticed that the longest she can go is to sleep 9 hours straight, hence we introduced another feed at 11pm every night (without her crying for it) so that she can sleep right through. Currently, she will feed at 7+pm just before sunset, 11pm feeding in the dark and most of the time after introducing the 11pm feed, she will only wake up at 6+ or 7am for her morning feed :)
What is other factors that may affect the results?
Personally, i feel that not having the baby sleeping in the same room as the parent makes this training a lot more possible. Firstly, if the baby is in the same room as you, it is very very hard to not on the lights after sunset every night. Secondly, i think most parent will not be able to help it to keep checking if the baby is ok, sleeping well, too warm, too cold.......... and the list goes on........... We need to know that sleep cycle happens every 45mins as we go from light to deep sleep. So you will expect to see that your baby tend to stretch a bit, move a bit, make a bit of noise in the intervals of these cycles. If you can't help it and attend to the baby during these intervals and talking to them and asking them questions, you might end up waking them up from their sleep -> which often leads to the baby feeling hungry and wants a feed or becoming cranky because their sleep is interrupted.
Every baby is different and hence the method may differ too. Like i say in the beginning, there's no right or wrong way. I'm just thankful that this worked for us and Zara. I hope it works for you too! ;) It's never too late or too early to train or develop a routine :)
P.S Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
