Sleeping/eating Schedule for 11-Month Old

so I have a 1 yr old son & his routine is as follows. He goes to bed around 8 to 9 pm, wakes up at about 9ish. We have breakfast then play, we have a snack around 10ish... @ 12 pm he eats lunch & is ready for his nap by 1pm sharp! He wakes back up around 3ish ( he's a good sleeper) once he's up we go to park, run errands etc... He has another snack at about 4 pm.... @ 6:30 it's dinner time for him... After dinner it's relax time. He plays with his toys while I watch the news or we hang out side if the weather permits. 8pm is bath time& after that he is ready for bed. Took me awhile a get this routine down packed but consistency works. I also have a 3yr old that follows the same routine and it so helpful to have order in the home. Of coarse there are days when my routine falls apart but for the most part it works. I hope this helps you out!

An awesome book that helped me to get a handle on what my son's sleep schedule should look like was Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Habits For Life by Dr. Weissburg. After I knew what his sleep schedule was naturally then I could better gauge when he was hungry and when he was gettign tired

I think at that age most kids are taking two naps, one mid morning and one mid afternoon.

One thing you can try that is effective for us (we have a 13 month old) is sign language. If you teach her the signs for "milk" (nursing) and "sleep", and how to nod yes or no, she will be able to respond to your question herself!

My daughter is almost always willing to nurse, so it's not a signal she's tired, for us. Of course she nurses to sleep so when she is tired enough to go down for a nap, she falls asleep quickly at the breast.

So we figure out if she's ready for sleep by a process of elimination: if it's been about 4 hours since she woke up, isn't happy, doesn't want to play doesn't want to eat at her high chair, doesn't need a new diaper, then I'll try going into a dim room and nursing her down, if she falls asleep, she's ready, if not, I try again in about a half hour or so.

Hm, if she is nursing at night, the issue with cavities is easily solved by making sure that after her last solids meal of the day, you thoroughly clean her teeth. Research is pretty clear that breastmilk alone isn't the culprit, but when residue from solids or formula remains on the teeth all through the night, it can encourage cavities. Check out www.brianpalmerdds.com for a dentist's opinion on bf and cavities.

Hi H.,
I HIGHLY recommend reading "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth when it comes to natural sleep rhythms/schedules. He talks alot about age appropriate sleep schedules and needs. I have used this book as a guide for my daughter's sleep needs since she was born and she is a great sleeper. Per Dr. Weissbluth, at 11 months most children should be going to bed early (around 6-7pm) with a morning nap around 9am and an afternoon nap around 1pm. He says sleep begets sleep and I have found this to be true.
Sincerely,
L.

PS If your daughter has teeth and you are feeding on demand at night you may want to consider the potential risk of Early Childhood Caries. I know there will be ALOT of moms who disagree with this but it is still the stand of the American Dental Association and most dentists I know.
Here are some links to current studies:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051007092923...
http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/tdcpublication/47/4/4...

I can't help with the sleeping as my two children we notorious at being anti-schedule about their sleeping. But we did do very well with scheduled feedings. At that age, they were eating at approximately 8 am, 12 noon, 4 pm, and 8 pm--4 times a day. I nursed, then followed with solids at most feedings. Hope you are able to work out a schedule that works for you.

My son is soon to be 1 years old so I'll tell you what kind of schedule he is on now. He goes to bed at 8pm and wakes up anytime between 6 to 7 am. Unfortunately he isn't breastfeeding so I can't help you in that department. But as far as his feeding schedule goes, he eats when he wakes up (sometimes between 7 and 7:30am) and then takes a nap at 9am. Then he eats again around 11am and then takes a nap at 2pm. Before his 2pm nap, he eats. Then he eats again at 5pm and then at 6pm, solids. Then at 8pm, he eats and goes to bed. I don't know if this will help. But that's his schedule. He pretty much eats when it's time and I've tried the on demand feeding and schedule feeding and I like schedule feeding. Good luck.

Hi H.;
We also feed our twins on demand and follow their needs. So I noticed around 10 - 11 months they were sleeping twice a day, but around one year, it became once a day but a longer one. They have been wakingup at 6:30 - 7:00 every day and falling asleep around 8:30 - 9 pm, and would have two naps during the day (1-2 hours at 11) and 1 hour at 5. Now they are 14 months, and in the last couple of months it changed to one long (2 hours) nap around 1 pm. Still there is no consistency. Sometimes they fall asleep at 11 am, other times at 1 pm. It has to do with their teething, growing, nervous system, how many times they woke up at night (or not), etc. It is natural, I'd say. We are just going with the flow.

My daughter is 13 months and she goes to sleep at night about 7pm, wakes up between 6-7. Eats breakfast around 7:00am. Has a bottle before going down for nap at 9:00am. Has a snack around 10:45. Lunch between 12:00-12:30. Bottle before going back down for a nap around 1:30. Snack at 3:30. Dinner at 5:45.
It seems like she is ready for a nap after about 3 hours of awake time, so I try to use the "3 hour" rule as I call it. I would try 10:00am and 2:00 pm for naps for your little one and see if that works.
Hope that helps.

I had a really hard time figuring out when to do what with my son when he was that age - until I saw him consistently rub his nose around nap time. He hated to go to sleep (didn't want to miss out on anything), but if I put him down as soon as he started rubbing his nose, he'd take a good nap.

I always fed him a short while after he got up, allowing him to wake up all the way, so this was his basic schedule - usually get up around 7am, eat, nap from 9am-11am, eat, nap from 2-4pm, eat, eat a light meal/snack around 7pm, then go to bed between 7:30 and 8pm, and sleep through the night.

He's now almost 2, and is just now transitioning to only one nap a day, usually around 11am.

Hope that helps!

~K.

I have to chime in because the schedule thing was soooo hard for me for the first year. I also nursed on demand and I had a hard time getting my daughter to sleep in her crib for naps. Often I thought she was tired, would nurse her to sleep and then she'd wake up the second she hit the pillow. At night she always went right down though. Finally, I decided to stop the battle and give her one nap so now she usually sleeps a good 2-3 hours during that time and is ready for bed when night comes. Here is our schedule:
wake up b/w 6:30-7:30
breakfast
snack 10:30
lunch 11:30/12
nap 12:30-2:30 or 3:30
snack
dinner 6
bath/bed between 7-8

She is 14 months old and has been doing this since she was about 12 months. The one nap was kind of hard at first, but since I still nurse her to sleep and I had to work in the mornings for a few weeks, she was left with a sitter. Sometimes she would still sneak in a 15/20 minute stroller nap which gave her enough so she wasn't cranky, but would still go right down for the pm nap... even if it was a little later (1:30)

She still wakes up once at night to nurse.. don't know how to deal with that one! Just waiting for her to be tired enough to keep sleeping all night. She does it every now and then.

Hi. I have a 11 month old born Sept. 1st. She goes to bed at night around 7-8 and sleeps till 4-5 when i feed her b. milk then she sleeps untill about 7. I give her breakfast at around 7:45-8ish then b.milk at 9am when i put her down. She sleeps anywhere from 1-2 hours. when she wakes we play or whatever then lunch (food) and then B.Milk before going down for 2nd nap. I judge this nap 3 hours from when she woke from the first. I judge the first nap 2 hours from when she woke in the morn. When she is up from 2nd nap, We either play, have a snck, sometimes b. milk or whatever. She has dinner at 5-6 and bath 7 and b. milk and to bed. I basically just give milk in the morn and before sleeping. Or if we are out and off sched or gets hurt, you know..?
Anyway, I think the timing of naps is crucial and she knows what to expect. Good luck. Maybe stop demand feeding as she is getting older and can fall more into a routine/rythym...

Hello,
I have a daughter about the exact same age. She too goes to bed around 8 and wakes up around 7. She still takes two naps, one around 10 and one around 2 usually for 1-1 1/2 hours each. She is eating three solid meals and a snack and she uaually breastfeeds before both naps, around 5 and before bed. I have been struggling with her sleeping at night though, because of teething for the last 2 months. She wakes up every 2-3 hours and wants to nurse. If you have any advise for me on how to get her back into the routine of sleeping through the night please let me know.
Thanks, M.

At that age my son was a very challenging sleeper at night. Would get cranky in the evening then wake up in the mornings still tired. I finally decided that letting a 1 year old set the schedule was insane and wasn't helping any of us. I decided a schedule that made sense and just told him "Mommy's the boss, so from now on you go to sleep at bedtime and eat at eat eat time." I moved some things around so that he went to bed before he was tired and ate before he got too hungry and the crankiness disappeared. The schedule he had was this (ish):

Bath/bedtime routine/nurse: 7pm
Lights out: 7:30
Wake up/ Nurse: 7am
Breakfast:7:30
"Second Breakfast": 8:30
Lunch: 11am
Nap: 12-3
Snack: 3
Nurse/bottle on demand
Dinner: 6pm
Back to bedtime routine

HTH
T.

Hi H.-
I have a 15-month old son, but he's been on the same schedule for many months now.

Wakes up between 8:00 and 9:00.
Breakfast is about an hour later.
Bath time
Morning naps at 11:00.
Depending on how long he naps, lunch can be anywhere between 1:00 and 2:00.
Afternoon nap is around 4:00.
Dinner between 6:00 and 7:00.
Bed time is between 8:00 and 9:00.

Have you tried to teach your daughter sign language? Our son is able to sign to us when he's hungry, wants more and when he's done. We've also never let his binky or blanket leave his crib. When he is tired, he heads to his crib and reaches in for his blanket. Hope this helps! :)