Do you have a 6 month old? Here’s a sample 6 month routine or rhythm you can adopt for your own family.Sample Routines:.Congratulations, you’ve!This is truly one of my favorite ages. They are still babies, but smiling all the time. Learning to sit up and move and getting their own personality.I hug my baby every day and say, “Don’t grow up no wait you have to.
But I just love you so!!”Very nauseating around here.Anyway, here’s the 6 to 9 month routine I used for all of my babies. Note: These are the times I aimed for.
Your 6-month-old's development. Follow the links below to read development information tailored to the specific week of your baby's life. Your 6-month-old's development: Week 1 Your 6-month-old's development: Week 2 Your 6-month-old's development: Week 3 Your 6-month-old's development: Week 4. Jun 04, 2019 There are many examples of poor grammar, punctuation and vocabulary on the internet, so you must be wary when using Google to find answers. The possessive form (3 months' time) is the correct practice. 'The time' = 3 months; it is 3 months' worth of time, or the time 'belonging to' 3 months.
Some thoughts on this 6-9 month age. Routine or RhythmResearch overwhelmingly supports a good routine for young ones. A routine does not, however, necessarily mean you follow the clock per se.If you prefer to have a rhythm where you do one thing after the other, but not necessarily watch the times and that’s fine.
Whichever works best.At any rate, using a routine will be a sanity saver for both you and your baby. With different times that also have baby/toddler combinations.Read:Eating is very importantWhether you waited until the 6 month mark to introduce solids, or started in the 5th month gradually, solids are very important.At 6 months of age if your baby has trouble napping they are likely hungry.If your baby starts waking up frequently at night, check the amount of solids.Read:Getting ready to drop a napRight now your baby likely takes 3 naps a day, the third perhaps being the shortest. The goal is to shorten the third nap so the first two naps of the day remain until around 15-18 months.If you notice your baby naps shorter during the first or second nap, but longer on the third, you can wake the baby early in the third nap.Too long of an evening nap may mean getting to sleep at bedtime is harder, so best to shorten the nap that will drop soon.Floor timeWhile an, in my opinion, I like to give my babies any and every opportunity to be on the floor. They’ll roll, sit up, commando crawl, and start spinning in circles. Bath timeI waver between giving the baby a bath in the morning or in the evening.
Some days it’s the morning, some days it’s the evening. I try to just fit it in when I can or when it’s most convenient. Growth spurtA growth spurt often happens at this age so make sure the baby is getting enough milk. I’ll often feed, give solids, let the baby play, feed again briefly before putting him in the crib (awake but drowsy).This helps make sure they’re getting enough to eat during the day.Read:The Key to a Good RoutineThis may be so simple it goes without saying but the key to a good routine is keeping the routine. It can be tricky to remember everything in order when you’re beginning, but once you get the hang of it, routine will be second nature.It can seem very difficult to get started doing or keeping a routine when you do not have one at all.Here are some ways you can learn to keep your routine.
Hang it up.In my Rhythms, Routines, and Schedules ebook I have 25+ sample routine printables from babies age 6 weeks to 5 years. You can take these printables and hang them in your nursery, on the fridge, or keep them in your planner.Whatever works.You can hang the routine cards as well and pretty soon you won’t need to reference anything, it’ll be second nature.Set alarms.While you don’t need to live and die by the clock, setting your phone, watch, or a timer will help you keep aware of routine transitions.We can often get so wrapped up in what we’re doing we forget we’ve let the baby sleep 4 hours. Why is that bad? Because 4 hours is a stretch littles ones should only sleep at night!I set alarms on my phone that show on my watch and this works for us. Practice.As with anything, if you want something to work then work it.
Keep pushing what you’ve decided to do. If it doesn’t work then change it up a bit and keep going. Move forward.I assure you 100% that a routine will work if you keep at it.If you’d like to get this sample printable to your inbox, you can sign up below and use it freely! Want Printables to hang up?If you want routines and schedules for not only the 6 to 9 month age, but for the 12 month, 18 month, and on I’ve got great news. I’ve created a that work.Routines that keep babies well rested, happy, and content.
Routines that account for all the things you need to do and they are mom tested. The best part?The book comes with printable routines (3 choices for each age) that you can hang up and use!So instead of having to reinvent the wheel every few months, you’ll have tried and true mom tested routines right at your fingertips.Get your own!:. I’ve created a free email series just for you! If you struggle with creating an easy flowing routine or rhythm in your home this is it. I’ve gathered all my easiest routine hacks into one free series and, best of all, you can get a big sneak peak into our book that has over 25+ routines for babies ages 6 weeks to 5 years. This series will help you:.
find a routine and rhythm for your child. learn how to juggle multiple routines (for 2 or 3+ kids). know what is and isn’t working so you can make one tweak that’ll change your dayClick here to sign up for my free email series or simply click on the image below. Thanks for sharing your routine for a 6 month old. My son is almost 6 months, and I’m wondering if he’s getting enough sleep. Your schedule suggests them getting 5.5 hours of sleep during the day and then 12 hours at night. My son won’t sleep even close to that much.
He takes 3 naps at about an hour each and sleeps from around 8 until 5:30 or 6. Do your babies really sleep that much? How could I get my son to sleep more, especially at night? I’m not complaining about the 8-5:30 because sleeping through the night was a struggle to begin with, but the 5:30 wake time and short naps during the day make it a very long day for him!Thanks! Your 6 mo routine suggests them getting 5.5 hrs of sleep during the day and 12 at night. I can’t get my son to sleep anywhere near that much! Is that just a difference in personalities or is it something I’m not doing?
Right now, he takes 3 one hour naps during the day and sleeps from 8-5:30. I’d love especially to see him sleeping more at night. I can’t complain about the 5:30 wake time bc goodness knows it was a struggle to get him sleeping that much, but it does make for a very long day for both of us! He’s usually pretty cranky right before the nap times and before bed. What can I do? I just stumbled on your blog and I’m not sure if you’re still active or not (but I’m hoping you are!). I’m wondering if you ever had to deal with contrasting schedules for preschoolers and babies.
I have a preschooler (4), toddler (2.5) and baby (5 months) and I’m struggling with the sleep schedule for our littlest guy. The older two go to preschool in the mornings (one goes MWF, the other goes TTh so we’re there every week day). We’re in the car at the exact time of my baby’s first two naps – 9:00 and 12:15/12:30. He’s not a fan of the car, so instead of sleeping at this time, he just screams.:( I’m completely out of ideas for how to shift things or adjust things to get him more sleep. If you have ANY ideas, it would be SO appreciated.:).
Hi Rachel,I’m just wondering if you pump at night because baby doesn’t eat from 730pm until 730am? My baby will be 6 months next week and I plan to start introducing solids and hope to have his night feeds stop. Right now he goes to bed at 630pm, wakes at 9pm to feed and then sleeps until 4am-ish. I feed him again and he sleeps until 630-7am each day which works best with out schedules as I work 3 days a week. I want to continue to breastfeed by am worried when he starts sleeping longer about my supply.Thanks! I’m floored that your baby will nap for that long during the day.
My baby is 6.5 months now and he will very rarely nap longer than 35-40 mins. He still takes 4, sometimes 5, naps a day.
I have tried to lengthen them by trying to soothe him back to sleep but he is wide awake after that half hour nap. His naps have not consolidated and I get so frustrated and discouraged when I have read that this “just happens” around 3-4 months. This is my first baby. Did you do something special to get your babies to take long naps or are you one of the lucky ones where your babies just naturally sleep longer?:). Hi – I’m just searching the internet for sample 6 month old schedules to try to get my third baby on a better routine, and I’m reading through these comments. Diane – I’m no expert (hence searching for sample schedules, ha!), but I do have three children and eventually have had all my babies on nice routines and well rested.
Rachel’s children sleep A LOT. If you read some baby sleep books and/or websites you’ll see 14-15 hours in a 24 hour period is widely cited as the average amount of sleep. It also is normal for 6 month old babies to still take short naps (although frustrating).
They will consolidate. By 9 months you’ll probably see 2 nice longer naps. At 6 months, still having three or even four naps is common since not all babies will do that nice 1.5-2 hours. First, I’m so glad I found your site!
I have a 5 month old and have been struggling with the lack of predictability during the day. Your sample schedule is the first I found that actually looked realistic and after trying for just a couple weeks I can already see a difference. I was just wondering what you do if the schedule gets thrown off for some reason. Do you stick with the times and just move on to the next part, or do you adjust the timing of the rest of the day? For example my son slept for 2 hours durning his 8:30 am nap and then was of course not ready to take another nap at 11:30. Should I have woken him up sooner, or should I skip the 11:30 nap? Or sometimes he fights the 5:30 nap so we skip it.
In that case would you move bedtime up by half an hour? Just wondering your thoughts on adjusting when part of the routtine gets interrupted.Thanks! First, I’m so glad I found your site! I have a 5 month old and have been struggling with the lack of predictability during the day. Your sample schedule is the first I found that actually looked realistic and after trying for just a couple weeks I can already see a difference. I was just wondering what you do if the schedule gets thrown off for some reason. Do you stick with the times and just move on to the next part, or do you adjust the timing of the rest of the day?
For example my son slept for 2 hours durning his 8:30 am nap and then was of course not ready to take another nap at 11:30. Should I have woken him up sooner, or should I skip the 11:30 nap? Or sometimes he fights the 5:30 nap so we skip it. In that case would you move bedtime up by half an hour? Just wondering your thoughts on adjusting when part of the routine gets interrupted.Thanks!
Hi Rachel,My 8 month old son usually wakes up around 6:00 am, but I would really like him to start his day at 7:00/7:30 so I have more time in the morning to do a few things before he gets up. Typically I nurse him when he wakes and then put him back in his crib; some days he falls back asleep and other times he doesn’t and I eventually go get him. If he doesn’t go back to sleep our daily schedule is off. Do you have any suggestions on how I can get him to a little sleep longer?Our schedule is typically like this8:00 am Breakfast9:00 am Nurse, nap11:30 am Lunch1:00 pm Nurse, nap3:30 pm Snack4:30 pm Nurse, nap (we struggle with this nap time a lot. Most times he is awake and fusses for 30 minutes and then I go get him. On good day he has a 30 min nap to recharge himself and then is able to stay up until bedtime without getting “crazy”)6:00 pm Dinner7:00-7:30 pm Nurse, bedtime (his bedtime has been at 7:00 and we are trying to move it to 7:30/8:00 so he wakes up later, but it’s hard if he doesn’t have his afternoon catnap).Any suggestions you may have would be appreciated!
Thank you for all the wonderful information you provide:). Helpful schedules! My 6.5 month old is taking three naps a day with apx 1.5- 2 hours between each. Each nap on average is only about one hour. I give him solids about twice a day.
He is still waking a couple times at night. It’s hardto tell if he is truly hungry or if it’s just to soothe; I think probably the later. I often feed when he wakes and sometimes again before his nap and usually also nurse before bedtime. I notice you have this in your schedule as well. He always goes down drowsy but not asleep however I wonder if nursing so close to sleep time is still creating a strong association between food and sleep? I’ve often read that for bedtime especially you should nurse then do something in between i.e. Read a book, and then put them to bed.
What are your thoughts? You rock btw! My son will be 1 on the 21st of this month. He has been sleeping all the way through the night up until now. Couple weeks ago he was on his set schedule of going to sleep around 11.
But now I am noticing he is going to bed around 1 am. And waking up around 7. Sometimes 5 or 6 am. I’m worried his sleep schedule is messed up.
He doesn’t eat solids. Mostly all formula and lots of purreed fruit. He has snacks throughout the day like the Gerbwr rice puff stars and the cheese puffs and hose fruit and veggie pink bites. But I’m thinking he’s not getting enough food?
He tells me no and pushes the bottle away if he’s had enough of formula (usually 6 ounces. Sometimes 8). And will also tell me he’s had enough purreed fruit as well.
I like to stir in oats to make the fruit lumpy and thicker. What am I doing wrrong???! I want to get him back on his usual sleep time at 1030 pm. He usually sleeps in until 930 or 1030 am when he was on this schedule.
But lately he’s waking up early early in the amDanielle. Hi, my son is 6.5 months old and we are still trying to establish a routine. He is going to bed around 6:30-6:45ish and is waking up every morning around 4:15. I’ve tried an earlier bedtime at about 6 as well as later like 7ish but still wakes up at the same time. We are not feeding him until about 5, we just let him cry it out until then.
His naps during the day are only 30-45 minutes and he wakes up screaming. I know he is still tired so I let him stay in his crib 30-60 minutes but he cries and just won’t go back to sleep. Any suggestions would be much appreciated! Yes we are eating solids 2-3 times a day. The nights have been a little better the last few nights but still struggling with these 30 minute naps.
I’ve tried keeping his awake time longer (2.5-3 hours) as well as shorter and it just doesn’t change anything. As soon as he wakes from a sleep cycle he’s up, even if I go in immediately and try to get him back to sleep he’s wide awake. I’m having to do 3-4 short naps a day just to get through our day as he will get very fussy. Thanks!!.Susan says.
I am having a hard time getting my 7 month old down without nursing. I made the mistake of nursing her to sleep and now the transition to her crib is so hard, sometimes we cave and let her nurse and lay with me while my guy stays awake and watches over us. This leaves him exhausted, me exhausted because I never get to go into deep sleep with constantly worrying about the baby next to me and our lo not knowing her crib is where to sleep.During the day she naps in her crib, and it’s really been more so the last month she’s reverted to this need to feed and be with me at night.We’ve tried different things but nothing isn’t working and I feel like I’m failing at something I always want to do my best with.Please help!I want a healthier setup for us all all tips are welcome and I can use the help. I just found this as I have been struggling with my soon to be 6 month old, next week. Naps and sleeping have been off since 4 months and feel like I’m drowning. I have been doing a small amount of solids at dinner time and wondering if I should amp it up as well as add more solids throughout the day.
He is getting up every 3-4 hours at night. I take him off after 5 minutes so that he doesn’t fill up as his day time feedings have been less and less. Also, during naps (usually around 9 and 130, I get him down either rocking him or he goes down by himself but then he wakes anywhere from 30-60 minutes. I can get him back down usually but how do I get him to stay asleep. I feel like his nervous system is always going. My boy is exactly the same! I thought you were writing about my guy for a second!
He slept 5 hours at night ONCE since he was born. I don’t understand the magic of how to get a baby on a schedule because I always see that they say naps are 1 hr or more! My guy doesn’t sleep more than 45 minutes! I’m like how am I supposed to handle that? I’m going to try to adhere to this schedule as best I can since my guy wakes around 6:30 to 7 anyways, its just the naps that are a battle!I give up on sleeping through the night honestly! Just want solid naps!
He’s always groggy and tired and has trouble focusing on tasks because he’s always tired! Hello!Thank you for this blog!
Very useful!!I’m a first time mom and my little miracle will have tomorrow 6months. Until 4 months she slept 5-6-7hours during night time. I guess that was also because a was swaddling her. From 4 months I don’t swaddle her anymore because I am afraid she will turn on tummy and cannot turn again on back anymore. Also from 4 months she got teething pain.
Now we have 4 teeth and seems a pause for now, but she cannot sleep anymore during night. We have a routine from first day home, but the last 2 months it doesn’t help.
She has 3 naps during the day for 30min to 1 hour. We start bed routine at 7.30-8pm but she sleeps one hours at a time till 2-3am and after that she can sleep 4-6hours without wailing up. I don’t understand why is that and how to help her sleep better also in the first part of the night. Do you have ideas? Thanks again!
Hello, you r an inspiration for me. I am mother of 2 yr old and 7 month old girls.
It always surprises me how you manage household chores and babies. I am indian and in india living with inlaws and maintaining routines is bit difficult. With my first child I maintained her routine till my second baby arrived.but now she is 7 month old and I am struggling. Hope u understand my concern. Most of the time my toddler and making meal for whole family takes my time.and what i could do for my 7 month is just her meeting her basic needs.breastfeeding, diaper changing, bathing. No fix play time and no fix solid schedule.i feel so guilty that the time i spent with my first i am unable to give to my secondI will be grateful if u help me out. How to handle things when living with inlaws, preparing for office lunch box and all that cleaning.and above all in laws taunting.
Hello,I forgot to maintion that I am stay at home mom. And needs to prepare my husbands office lunch.then for me, my 2 yr old and in laws.
And now for my 7 month old. Which follows with daily washing clothes, cleaning mopping and all. And then evening snack and dinner. With my first i took every effort and maintained her routine almost same as yours.
But now a days everything is chaotic and it always take 11 pm for my babies bed time and then i have to stretch for another 2 to 3 hrs to complete remaining work.Awaiting for your reply.Thanks. Hello!My baby will be 6 months this week. She has been sleeping from 6/630-5/530. Her first nap is usually at around 730-8 and will almost always be 30 mins. The following nap is about two hours later and will be her longest nap of the days, about 1.5/2hrs.
Then, the third will be a catnap that I will wake her from since she tries to sleep longer. It seems she progressively gets more tired throughout the day and WTs are getting shorter. Im not sure how to get her on a solid nap schedule and would also love for her WT to be at least 6/630am.
Any suggestions please? Thank you!Also, she was waking at 430am before and now it’s been 5/530 am for a few weeks, even with early or later bedtime. You mentioned that if my baby is waking frequently at night after 6 months that I need to check the amount of solids my baby is eating. I have tried to get my now 7 month old to eat solid foods since 6 months, but she just doesn’t seem to like it. I don’t want to force her to eat because I want meal times to be an enjoyable time. Recently my baby has been waking up anywhere between every hour to every 3 hours after putting her to bed at 7pm.Any tips on how to help my baby to eat solids would be greatly appreciated.
I just came across your site. I have a 7 month old, & no real routine. My husband & I both work full time, so that in itself is a routine, but then evenings & weekends are all over the place, dictated by baby’s behavior. But it’s chaotic & driving me crazy. I feel like a bedtime routine would help but don’t know how to implement it. I try things but she doesn’t really respond to it, & I’m not sure if I should keep going with it or find something else that may work better.
I used to be able to rock & nurse her to nearly asleep & then lay her down in her crib. Hower she’s on the verge of crawling j I feel since then, everything’s out the window, she wakes as soon as I lay her down & she’s up for hours, but tired & cranky. I’m slowly loosing it (not to mention house & everything else is totally neglected when dealing with a cranky baby).
Any advice for working mom’s? Hi Rachel,Your blog is beautiful. I’m having a problem with my 7 months old baby, she’s sleepy but sometimes she doesn’t want to sleep.
I’ve tried everything from rocking, nursing, dimming the light until putting white noise; none of them can really work. It’s difficult for her to nap and sleep at night.
These days she woke up at night almost every hour or two hours. Sometimes the only thing that can make her go back to sleep is being nursed. I think she’s overtired, but how can I put her to sleep when she’s tired?
First of all, remember that at that age, breast milk or formula is still the prime source of nutrition for your infant.Solid food is just a supplement at that age, and you should still feed your baby plenty of breast milk or formula.Often, the first food is baby cereal, like rice or oatmeal. Some babies won’t take cereal, and that’s OK.There’s no harm in your baby skipping the cereal stage and going straight to pureed foods, but we do suggest trying cereal first. It has added iron, which your baby needs at this age.Plus, it’s a nice bridge from the pure liquid diet of breast milk or formula to more solid food.Don’t put cereal in the bottle. Mix it with formula or water and give it with a spoon.If you’re breastfeeding, don’t mix your breast milk with the cereal for the first few attempts at eating.
Until your baby shows that they really will eat it, most of the cereal will wind up somewhere else besides their stomach, like on the floor, their head, or the tray.Your breast milk is too valuable to throw away, so mix the cereal with a little water at first. When your infant is taking it well, then you can mix it with your breast milk.Make the cereal a little runny at first, closer to the consistency of a liquid. If your baby is taking this well, gradually thicken it to the consistency of oatmeal.Start by offering just a few spoonfuls at a time.
When your baby has gotten the hang of it and seems to want more, work up to about 3 to 4 tablespoons per feeding.Once your baby has been taking cereal reliably once a day for a week or two, try twice a day feedings. Once they’ve done that reliably for a week or two, then you can start pureed foods.Traditionally, orange and yellow vegetables have been the first foods to give a baby, but other good foods to try first are bananas or avocado.When giving a food your baby hasn’t had before, give it at least three days in a row before trying another new food.
This is to help identify which foods your baby may be allergic or intolerant to.Also, be aware that many of your child’s later dietary habits often have their beginning in infancy. One found that babies who didn’t eat many fruits or vegetables in the 6- to 12-month period probably wouldn’t eat many fruits or vegetables as older children. There are only a few foods you should not give your baby at this stage: Raw honeyThis can cause botulism in an infant. Wait until 12 months to give your child honey. Cow’s milkBabies shouldn’t be drinking cow’s milk at 6 months. But once they’re a little more advanced with solids, they can have some yogurt or soft cheese.They may not be able to digest it properly, and it may cause microscopic bleeding into their stool.
Choking hazardsYou can give your baby pureed or soft, cooked carrots, but not a big, round, chunk of carrot that they might choke on. This is true even if the food is not hard, such as whole grapes. Certain types of fish in excessAvoid giving your baby certain types of fish that contain higher amounts of mercury more than once a month. This includes some forms of tuna and a few others.Whitefish, salmon, and light canned tuna are usually safe to give more often. Talk to your doctor if you’re unsure of which kinds of fish are safe for your baby. What else?Unless there’s a very good reason — sometimes there are medical reasons to do so — it’s best to avoid giving your child juice at this age.Even 100 percent natural fruit juice has a lot of sugar in it.
Excessive sugar intake at this age has been linked to problems later on in life. Intake of sugar-sweetened drinks in infancy has been associated with double the at 6 years old.You will notice that there are very few foods to avoid.
Notably absent from the list are foods like eggs, peanut products, and strawberries.Traditionally, pediatricians told parents to delay these foods, in hopes of preventing food allergies. But new has shown that early introduction of these foods may actually help prevent allergies.Remember, the foods need to be in a form that’s not a choking hazard. A tiny smidgen of creamy peanut butter on a banana, for example, is appropriate — but not a whole peanut.Talk with your doctor if you’re worried about potential allergies due to a family history, or if your child may be having an allergic reaction (signs include a rash, vomiting, or diarrhea).Call 911 immediately if your child is having severe symptoms such as trouble breathing. The recommends delaying solids until 6 months old.Starting on solids much earlier may cause your baby to breastfeed less, causing your breast milk to dry up sooner. Starting too early may also lead to a diet that’s low in protein, fat, and other nutrients.On the other hand, don’t start solids much later than 6 months, as waiting too long can cause some problems with eating.For some children, there’s a window of opportunity.
If you wait too long to start solids, they don’t seem to “get it,” and may need a speech or occupational therapist to help them learn how to eat solids.Remember that you’re slowly introducing solids to your baby, so there’s no need to move too fast.Your infant is probably drinking breast milk or formula six to eight times a day at this stage. The goal, by age 1, is to get them to eat about six times a day:.
breakfast. midmorning snack. lunch.
midafternoon snack. dinner. pre-bedtime snackParents typically feed their child solids in the morning in the beginning, then add solids to the evening meal a little later.
But, of course, you can feed your baby whenever you want.We do recommend that if you’re giving a food for the first time, that you give it earlier in the day so you can see any reaction the child may have.And don’t start the solids when the baby is famished and crying. If they’re in that state, feed them the breast milk or formula, but maybe not a whole feeding.You want them to still have some room for the cereal. Then after the cereal, give them the rest of the breast milk or formula.You can also try feeding them a little bit before their breast or bottle, at a time when they might be hungry enough to try solids, but not too hungry to be fussy.There’s no wrong way to do this, so experiment, and see what your baby likes better.
When giving your baby solids, make sure they’re sitting upright in the high chair, belted in place. Make sure the tray is secure.When giving cereal or pureed foods, put a little on the spoon, and put the spoon to the baby’s mouth. Many babies will eagerly open their mouths and take the spoon.
Some may need a little coaxing.If they don’t open their mouth, put the spoon to their lips and see if they respond. Don’t ever force the spoon into their mouth.Mealtimes should be pleasant, so don’t force your baby to eat if they don’t want to. If they refuse at first, it may be a sign that they’re not ready.If they’ve been eating solids for a while and then refuse something, it may be that they don’t like that food or just aren’t interested.
So follow their cues.Talk to your doctor if your baby does not have an interest in taking solids after trying for a few weeks, or if they’re having problems with feeding such as choking, gagging, or vomiting.Try to have the whole family eat together, as this has been shown to have positive effects on a child’s development and bonding with the family.