Do you have a 6 month old baby? Wondering how to set up a routine for your day? Then this is for you! Here’s what a full day looks like for us with a six month old baby!
A little bit of solids, a lot of nursing, keeping busy playing and more! Read on for the hour by hour detail of a daily schedule for a six month old!
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Daily Schedule for a 6 month old
7:33- Baby Boy wakes up. If I’m lucky I take him out of his crib, if not then he’s already in our bed by our side. He has his first milk feeding in the bedroom, a diaper change and some hanging out in our bed, until I can muster myself to go downstairs.
8:15- Baby Boy hangs out in the kitchen in his chair, or in the doorway jumper, while I make my breakfast. Then we move to the living room for some play time in the activity center and on the floor, until he seems tired.
9:15 ish – Nap
9:45/10:00- Baby Boy wakes up, has a milk feeding, and we begin our day. If I have errands to do out of the house or social gatherings then this is the time. I get us ready, which is a whole production: diaper change and “real clothes” for Baby Boy. I get dressed; I pack up the diaper bag/ stroller/ car, and we’re off. If there are no plans, then we play at home: singing songs, reading books, tummy time, playing in the Bumbo etc.
12:15- A short nap.
12:45- Baby Boy is up again, has another milk feeding and hangs out while I get us some real food ready.
14:00- Time for solids, while M and I have lunch. Baby Boy joins with some fruit or vegetables, and we’re happily amused to have some entertainment.
14:45- Another nap time; hopefully it’s a long one.
16:00- Up again and another milk feeding. If we had been on a long walk in the morning, then we just go for a short walk around the neighborhood. Otherwise, it’s time for our long walk, where I pick up a few groceries or do some other errand. Baby Boy loves staring up at the trees on the walk.
18:00- Tickle Time
18:20- Bath time: I turn on the water, M moves the full bath to the sink, while I finish undressing Baby Boy. M does bath time, while I lay out a towel, diaper and pajamas on our bed. M dries and dresses Baby Boy while I finish up some random task (collecting laundry from the dryer, or putting clothes away, or tidying our room).
18:40- When he’s all set, M hands over Baby Boy for a final milk feeding in our bed. When done he gets a serious burping, I put him in the sleep sack and give him my nightly speech (Cliff notes: It’s night time, everyone goes to bed at night, sweet dreams, I love you, see you in the morning). Finally Baby Boy gets put in his crib, stuffed dog in hand, and sleep sheep on.
19:00- Bed
01:00- Night feed
04:30-Night feed
*Well this was true for about a month, up until 6 months…now Baby Boy is changing things up again, and I have to re-learn how our day should go.
Schedules for a Different Babies (better naps)
Baby #2
As you can see in this post– our second baby was a better sleeper! His nap schedule was much better: 1.5 hours in the morning, 1 hour in the afternoon and sometimes a catnap!
Baby #3
Our third baby was this age when I had a kindergartener and a preschooler in the house. That meant that I never kept track of her schedule! Not only that, 90% of her naps were in the stroller.
Often I would put her to nap in the stroller while we were still home, because I knew that in a short amount of time I would have to leave for a pick-up. This way I wouldn’t have to wake her!
In this case it was really nice to have a good stroller. I used the Bugaboo cameleon, and then the UppaBaby Vista!
Baby #4
Our fourth baby, has been a much better sleeper at 6 months. He also has a couple of night waking for feedings but his daytime naps are much longer.
Usually he sleeps an hour and a half in the morning, another hour to hour and a half in the afternoon, and often times another short cat nap in the evening!
Putting him down in the crib has been an awesome advantage of homeschooling the older kids.
If I had to give new parents one tip of advice, this would be it:
Download a chart of awake times, to know how long a baby should be able to stay awake. Then it is easy to glance at the time and know roughly when to put them down!
If I had to give a second piece of advice about baby sleep I would say: know that baby is the most tired first thing in the morning. As the day goes on they can stay awake for longer and longer!
Do you have your baby on a schedule or routine? How is yours different than ours? How is it similar?
Baby hasn’t arrived yet or just a newborn? Save this post for later!
