Teacher Schedule

[@llli*blubell7877]

I have tried to look for this answer and many different sites and all around....

I am a teacher and obviously the school year is ending soon. My question is....do I keep his schedule the way it has been or change it a little. He current is 9 months old.

6:15 Wake/BF
7:15 babysitter (we will continue 2x a week)
8:00-9:30 nap
11:00 bottle
12:30 food
12:30ish-2:00 - nap
2:30 bottle
4:30 Pick-up
4:30 BF
5:30 dinner
7:30ish - BF/Bed
STTN

I know a lot will depend on what we do during the day. I really want to try to eliminate the 4:30 time if possible, do you think that I should? This time is hard because sometimes we are out. He doesn't like to BF out. By the time he goes back full time to babysitter, he will be a year. I know schedules change and all that....but I am a schedule person. Not sure what I am looking to change other than the 4:30 time. I think I BF at 4:30 because he eats at 2:30 and then won't eat again till 7:30, I have been doing it since I started working back in December.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[@llli*mommal]

No, I don't think you should eliminate that 4:30 nursing session. If I counted right, he's getting breastmilk just 5 times a day, which is about right for a 9 month old, or maybe just a hair on the low side. Until a year, a baby's majority source of nutrition is supposed to be breast milk or formula, not solids. Cut out the 5th session, and I think you probably wouldn't be nursing enough to make that happen. I could be wrong... But I think the safest course of action would be to keep that session.

Once you're out of school, nursing will probably feel less exhausting. I know that after the close of the school day teachers are beat (my parents are both teachers), and want some level of release from the demands of children. Even their own!

[@llli*lllmeg]

I agree with mommal, eliminating a session when you nurse so infrequenlty as it is may cause supply issues or cause baby to not get enough breastmilk. If you want to nurse until at least a year, that is still a few months where you want to keep a good milk supply.

Just reading that scedule made me exhausted. Great it works for you but for me I find strict feeding scedules overly complicate things and eliminate options.

For example, you are concerned what will happen when you are out in the afternoon and baby will not nurse. OK, so baby nurses or has a bottle at 2:30. If you are not stuck in a strict scedule, you have many options. If you go out right then, and baby will not nurse while you are out, you could nurse as soon as you get home, rather than waiting until 7:30, and then nurse again at bedtime. Alternatively, if baby is fed at 2:30, and then you go out at 3:30 or 4, you could offer to nurse right before you go out. Or when you are out, if baby will not nurse well, you could nurse 2 or 3 not great sessions to make up for one solid nursing session. See what I mean? You have more options if you let go of the idea that baby has to nurse at 4:30 and only at 4:30.

You COULD toss the scedule entirely and relax and enjoy this time with your family while simply nursing on cue. It's Summer! Even your baby sitter could learn to feed baby on cue. But if sceduling is your thing, that is fine. Just don't worry about changing it up a bit to work better with your summer scedule.

Thanks to you and mommal for reminding me how hard teachers work. I love my kids teachers and will let them know how much I appreciate them!

[@llli*scienceteachermommy]

I am a teacher too and, according to DH who cares for Glowworm when I am working, I completely mess up the baby's schedule when I am at home. He would nurse more often than he would take bottles, his naps would be at different times--generally everything was higgledy-piggledy. I also have two other kids so trying to keep things on a schedule is very tricky during the summer.

I would enjoy your summer, enjoy your LO, and let your schedule relax. I know I am looking forward to it--although I did get roped into working on developing an online course this summer.