A day in the life of a 10mo old baby?

[springbride]

Hi Mamas,
So DD is 10mo old now (Where did that time go!?!?). I feel like I am not meeting her needs all the way. The last 2 weeks she has gotten much fussier and just seems bored. She has also been fighting sleep quite insistently and I am starting to wonder if she just does burn enough energy to actually warrant 2 naps/day?
What do you do with your almost walking LOs to give them enough stimulation, activity etc.
Also, do you schedule them?

TIA

[femalephish]

Originally Posted by springbride

Also, do you schedule them?

Schedule? Yeah, right! My DD and I just do what feels right day to day. I really can't 'make' her do anything. Especially sleep! It does seem like she is napping less lately. Sometime she doesnt take a nap in the morning and other times she stays up in the afternoon with no nap.

I try to get her to eat some solid food during the day. And we try to get out of the house nearly everyday. But generally my daughter is just happy to climb around the furniture carrying her toys!

[lizzylou]

I've always had a loose schedule with my son - it seems to help him. At that age I we were still doing two naps on most days, which he really seemed to need even if he did often fight it. We didn't drop to one nap until several months past his birthday.

Anyway, for activities/stimulation - do you spend a lot of time outside? That has always been my son's favorite thing to do. He loves going on walks in the stroller or hiking in a carrier.

[springbride]

I ask about scheduling because I recently went back to work and I wonder if having more of a schedule would help DD adjust to the varying caretakers.
I should probably take her outside more though! Thanks for the suggestion.

Any other thoughts You ladies are a wealth of good ideas!

[jammomma]

I have a 10 month old boy and he does seem to get bored and fussy if we just stay home all day. So we try to get out every day, sometimes several times a day.

We don't have a schedule, but we have a daily routine that can change a little bit from day to day.
We get up anywhere from 6:00-8:00am, we eat,play, get changed and then about 2 hours later he naps for an hour or two. He is always nursed down for naps.
Then when he wakes up he nurses briefly, and then he plays some more while I fix lunch, we eat and then change clothes and then we usually go out to do something. And then he naps in the afternoon, sometimes it's a short one, sometimes he'll be down for about 2 hours, then he gets up, we play, I get dinner ready, daddy comes home and we all eat. Then we usually go for a walk or maybe we will go shopping.

Around 7pm we have naked time for at least a half hour and then we have a bath. Typically by 8pm he is nursing to sleep.

I have started him at Gymboree to help him meet other babies and kids and this has helped him burn off excess energy tremendously. We also go to the park frequently and go swing on the baby swings, which he just loves. We go shopping, he loves riding in the shopping cart or sometimes he will be in his Ergo carrier. We go for daily walks. He loves watching us do things around the house and being involved as much as he can.

[MaddieMay]

We have a very loose schedule, but it goes something like this:

Nurse (he usually nurses between 4 and 6 am)
Wake up
Eat breakfast
Play
Nurse/nap
Run errands, playgroup, walk outside
Lunch
Play
Nurse/nap
Outside time, get dinner ready
Dinner as a family
Play/walk
Bath
Nurse/bed

[JacqNS]

Sorry, wrong post.

[Peachthief]

Interesting that you post this- my DD (same age) was having some huge sleep fighting issues recently, especially for naps. It turned out that she was getting ready to drop the morning nap. I know it's awfully early- it wouldn't surprise me if she switched back later- but she's pretty insistent on not sleeping until after lunch, and things are working much better now. She is getting ready to walk, which I've heard can correlate with going to one nap.

[colsxjack]

We keep a loose schedule with DD who is 10 months.

7:00-8:00am wake up
play for a bit
breakfast
play
2 hours or so after waking she takes a 40-80 min nap.
get dressed
lunch
play a bit
go outside for walk/park/errand, playgroup, etc
3-4 hours after waking from last nap she goes for another 40 min nap
eat snack
play
sometimes walk
make dinner together. She plays on floor while I cook and talk with her and tell her what Im doing, etc. Sometimes I put her in her highchair and give her cheerios or something to snack on while she watches me stir things etc.
play/read/sing/chill out etc
bath/bedtime routine
bed by 8:30

[ElliesMomma]

what really helps is to have an older child (haha, but true). DS is 8 months, and his sister just turned 4. she's a super high energy kid and we are always going places. so he's along for the ride (and an integral part of things too i might add. he's always in the moby wrap.) by the time we get home, he's super ready for his naps.

so we're out and about and there's really no time for boredom. when we're home, he's on the floor exploring his toys (and her toys too). the only schedule i have for him is to generally put him down for a nap after he eats solids. he nurses on demand throughout the day and night as well of course.

oh, and we have a routine at the end of the day to go for our "dog walk" around the block (it's a half mile walk). DD rides her bike, and i carry DS in the moby. this is after dinner. when we get home, it's straight upstairs for showers, nursing, books and bed.

the first child is harder on the mom than the second in a lot of ways. it is really taxing to be your child's one and only. hang in there!