How To Prevent Cat Napping, Snacking and Create a Healthier Schedule For Your Infant! We repeatedly experience these behavior patterns with infants and young toddlers who join our daycare.

Somewhere between five months and eight months, your infant should be having three meas a day with a light snack mid morning and mid afternoon. They should also be napping one to one and a half hours in the a.m. and 1.5 hours in the p.m.

So what is happening that we rarely see this pattern when these age groups join our daycare?

Let’s talk first about the snacking.

1. A four to five month old is very different than a newborn. Realistically, most one to three month old infants need to be fed whenever they communicate with a hunger cry. Three to five month old infants should be expected to wait awhile between daytime feeds. They can have more interactive communication and playtime so they can begin taking eight oz feeds and reduce the number of times they are fed. For example, they will have 3 eight oz bottles during the day and one 8 oz night feed.

2. At five to six months you will be adding in cereal and creating three distinct meal times.

3. The two snacks in between one in the a.m. and one in the p.m. can be banana/applesauce etc.

4. They will remain on this schedule for the rest of their first year, during which you will be adding in more solids and keeping the milk intake to three daily and one night. Part of their milk intake will be provided in their cereal.

5. They will be satisfied to take five to six hours between meals when they are fully fed.

6. The most common tendencies we see is for the parents to give them a milk feeding or a snack every time they seem distressed instead of occupying them creatively at those times.

7. This fear year is super important if you want to have a healthy, well nourished child with good habits forever.

Now we get to cat napping.

1. Cat nappers are infants or toddlers who have created a pattern of very short naps, morning and afternoon.

2. Very often this occurs because they are away from home during nap time and fall asleep in their car seat or stroller and are awakened when arrive home. If this situation is frequently repeated, it becomes their sleep pattern no matter where they are.

Your child is awaked during his nap approximately thirty to forty minute into their nap. This often happens in the afternoon nap. It is unlikely they have had enough rest. What happens I that you pick them up instead of putting them back to sleep. This timeframe is hardly ever enough sleep. It may take some of your time, a calming touch, to make them fall asleep again. Trust me! It is worth it.
Speaking to any experienced parent, you will find that they agree: when you child is a good eater and a good sleeper, you can probably handle anything that happens during the rest of the day.

Invest your time now, because the payoff is great!

Good luck!