Babywise schedule month 8: for baby around 8 months of age. On this page you’ll find schedules, information on naps, nighttime sleep, and more!
MONTH 8:
Cycle length: 4.5/5 hours
# of cycles: 3
Wake time: 3-3.5 hours
Nap time: 2 naps
MOTN: 0 feedings, 0 wakes
Month 8 was again very similar to the previous month. Caroline is still taking 2 naps, and her wake time has slightly increased. Because of these small schedule changes, her bedtime has also been pushed out a little bit.
This was a month that was packed with learning. Leap 6 was a big one! She learned how to pull herself up, how to take assisted steps, how to sit up on her own, and is starting to learn how to crawl.
As a result, her sleep was slightly interrupted this month during naps, as she was eager to practice her new skills.
Babywise Schedule Month 8
A typical schedule might look like this:
7 am nurse & solids, 12 pm nurse and solids, 4:30 pm nurse, 5:30 solids, 6:30 pm nurse, 7:30 pm bed
Naps from 10-12, 3:30-4:30
Solid food schedule:
Caroline now insists on feeding herself, and Mama loves this! I still spoon feed her some yogurt in the mornings, and some applesauce here and there. Other than that, however, Caroline is completely on bite-sized food and eating the same food that we eat.
In fact, if she notices that she has something different, she refuses to eat it and points at our food instead! She does not have any teeth yet, so I still cut everything up into bite-sized pieces. She eats half sandwiches for lunch now (I even put a little mayonnaise and mustard).
I have been busy finding dinner meals that allow for Caroline to feed herself. This is what she prefers, and it is a huge time saver for me to not have to feed her- I can feed myself instead! I am recording the meals on this blog for future reference!
They are all very easy and very finger friendly! She is also using plates and learning not to tip them over and not to throw her food. She’s doing great with the plates, not so great with the throwing of food! LOL!
Usually, when she starts to throw food, it seems to be an indication that she is all done eating and ready to play. I go ahead and get her down, after a few tries of asking her to stop and offering more food. She is then happy and content to play on her own.
Wake time:
Caroline is busy, busy, busy! She likes to be left alone to practice her new skills. She practices pulling up, trying to crawl (she’s had limited forward motion so far), and getting up into a seated position on her own. If Mama is in the room, she whines and whines until I help her.
Some favorite toys this month are her wooden puzzles, this amazing ball popping ladybug, board books, balls and blocks. She flips the pages of her board books all on her own!
If I leave, however, she focuses in and practices very well. So, I have been leaving her to do her thing and keeping an eye on her from a distance. Some favorite toys this month are her
Nap time:
Naps have been very straightforward this month. She takes 2 naps. The first is typically 1.5-2 hours, and the second is 45 minutes to 1 hour.
When she is learning new skills, her naps get cut short for a couple of days, but then return to normal. At this point, I let her sleep as long as she wants/needs. She is old enough to flex her schedule in this way without it negatively impacting her evening.
We simply push bedtime up a bit, if need be. If she wakes early, I leave her in her crib until nap time is over, and she is content to play on her own.
Nighttime sleeping:
Caroline continues to put herself to sleep and is sleeping for 12 hours at night. Towards the very end of this month, she has decided to stay up and practice sitting up, crawling and standing. She gets overtired and cries for a bit.
She does eventually lie down and put herself to sleep, though. I’ve noticed that if I get the timing perfect, she only does this for about 5 minutes. If I put her to bed too early, however, she stays awake for quite awhile and has a harder time putting herself to sleep.
Right now is all about reading her cues perfectly and giving her enough practice to be able to sleep, but not so much that she is overtired and overstimulated.
My personal experience-
Caroline did SOOOOOOOO much learning this month. She is wanting to be a baby on the move, but isn’t quite there yet. Any day now, I am going to blink, and she’ll not be where I left her! She understands how to point to objects in order to tell us what she wants, she is waving hello and goodbye, and she is doing a fair amount of babble- all starting with the sounds “ba” or “ma”.
She wants so badly to walk that she doesn’t realize she can crawl. As I watch her practice, her goal is to stand and use her feet, not to get on all fours and crawl. Once she figures out, however, that getting on her hands and knees can help her to get places, I know she’ll be on the go!