6.5 Month BabyWise Update

I really want to get better at posting my BabyWise updates. I plan to once a month. Here's where we're at now. Elijah had a growth spurt around 5 months old. It felt like it lasted FOREVER. He started waking up one to two times at night. My middle of the night(MOTN) pump went out the window, but luckily I was able to get enough milk for Elijah's bottles until I was done at my old job.

I took two weeks off and was basically pump free. During this time, Elijah stuck with his normal schedule:
7 a.m. WEP
8:30 a.m. Nap
11 a.m. WEP
12:30 p.m. Nap
2:00 WP (When we pick him up from the babysitters)
2:30 BF
3:30 Nap
5:30 WEP
7:30 BF, Bed

Around 5.5 months we started solids. Slowly, but with Elijah's growth spurt and waking up twice at night-I was hoping solids would help. They did a little. I quickly increased solids from once a day to 3 times a day, about 1-2 ounces per feeding (usually 4-6 oz. per day).

Right now at 6.5 months, we're in a transition phase. I'm researching appropriate 6 month schedules. Elijah was still waking up around 3 a.m. until last Friday. I decided that it became habitual since it was the same time every night and we let him cry it out (CIO). CIO lasted about 30 minutes then he went back to sleep. The next night, he woke up around 3 and only cried 5 minutes before going back to sleep. He's been sleeping through the night (STTN) ever since (about a week now)!

Now that that is fixed, I'm working on fixing his bedtime/morning wake time. I need him to wake up around 7:30 so that his 1st wake time isn't over 1.5-2 hours. Sometimes he'll wake around 6:20, and we don't get him down for his nap at his sitters until 9:10 (that's almost 3 hours!). So I'm trying to put him down for bed at 7 p.m. I have to admit for this working mom-that's tough. I'll try this for a week and see what happens. If it doesn't fix it, I'll try 8 p.m. and see if that works.

Once that is fixed-hopefully soon-I'll work on his wake times (WT), so I can drop his late afternoon nap. We have a lot to fix! Here's his messy 'routine' now:
6:20-6:30 WT (this is supposed to be 7-7:30) I BF at this time.
8:45-9:10 Nap (this depends on his sitter)
10:30 WT (This is supposed to be 11). I go to his sitters at 11 to BF.
12:00 Solids
12:30-12:45 Nap (we're going to try to extend this a little later to hopefully get him to sleep longer)
1:30 WT (This is supposed to be 2:00).
2:30 BF (I think I'll extend this to 7)
3:00 Solids
3:45 Nap
5:30 WEP (He'll usually actually sleep until this time!) I BF when we wake him up.
6:30 Solids
7:30 BF and Bed

As you can tell-it's really messy! When we created the first schedule listed, it was completely 100% accurate. It's crazy how a growth spurt and a month can switch everything around. It's true that as soon as you get used to something, it changes!!! I'll post soon once we get a good 6-7 month schedule in order. Wish me luck!