Keldon’s 4 Month Schedule & Update

By popular demand, I am sharing a 4 month schedule & update for Keldon in today’s post! It actually blows my mind how many mamas-to-be and mamas there are in the same stage in life as I am with their little one. I never thought you guys would have such an interest in updates like this, but I love reading these types of blog posts from others too, so I am more than happy to share them!

Tom and I are certainly not experts in the parenting department, but we have learned so much along the way and have found what works for our family. Every baby is different, and so what works for us, may not work for other babies. Just understand that consistency is key, and that it takes a little bit of time and effort to establish a routine that your baby will thrive on. And that routine likely won’t be realistic for your baby to follow until around the 3.5-4 month mark or later… babe will demand the schedule until then!

Fun 4 month updates and milestones:

• Laughing and big, gummy smiles
• Reaching and grabbing everything
• Spitting/bubbles when upset/tired
• Putting all of his toys in his mouth
• Tummy time champ – we love the squeals he makes during tummy time, and he has so much neck strength!
• Started a routine/schedule and is sleeping through the night and taking solid naps (bless! More on that below)
• Working at sitting on his own (and killing it!)
• Favoring his right side and has developed a bit of a flat spot on his head because of it, so he is seeing a PT and we are working on stretches to help with it – he is already doing so much better after 2 weeks! He even started sleeping on the left side here and there over the past few days. Yay!
• Loves his activity center, his baby Einstein toys, going on walks (especially with this carrier), and still loves car rides
• Starting to chat and “sing” more, and we hear it most when he’s starting to get tired or right when he wakes up; it’s the cutest
• Transitioned out of his Dock-A-Tot for sleeping this weekend!

Keldon’s Schedule

• 6:30-7AM: Wakeup (typically Keldon will wake on his own around 6:15 and will chat in his crib until 6:30 when I will go and get him. Sometimes he will sleep until 7 though (and I won’t let him sleep any later than that)
• 7AM: Eat (nurse for 5-10 minutes, followed by a 6oz bottle)
• Play! Our favorite play activities:
  • Activity center
  • Tummy time on this mat and/or this gym
  • Practicing rolling over from front to back and back to front
  • Playing with toys (a couple of his favorite toys are this and this)
  • Watching and petting Bruce
  • Hanging out on the egg chair, reading a book or singing songs
  • Going for walks (either in this carrier or in our stroller)
• 8:30-9:30/10AM: Morning nap – Keldon will typically sleep until 10AM, but some days he will only sleep for an hour. If he wakes before 9:30, we will keep in his crib until 9:30AM. We have black out curtains that we shut and we play this bear and this white noise machine for both naps and sleeping at night (the bear only plays lullaby music for about 5 minutes). Setting up a good sleep environment like this is so important! We also usually put him in this sleep sack for nap times.
• 10AM: Eat (occasionally nurse prior to 6 oz bottle)
• Play
• 11:30AM-12:30/1PM: Afternoon nap
• 1PM: Eat (occasionally nurse prior to 6 oz bottle)
• Play
• 3-4PM: Catnap (last nap of the day, we don’t let him sleep past 4pm)
• 4PM: Eat (occasionally nurse prior to 6 oz bottle)
• Play
• 6-6:45PM: Bedtime routine of bath, books, lullabies
• 6:45PM: Eat (nurse prior to 6 oz bottle)
• 7PM: PJs and bedtime! We play the same bear and white noise for sleeping at night. Keldon has just been sleeping in his footie pajamas (we love these and these) and no sleep sack, and has been sleeping through the night!

How and When Keldon Started Sleeping Through the Night

I’m sure a lot of you mamas are curious about how we got Keldon on a schedule and started sleeping through the night! When Keldon hit about 2.5 months and the 3rd leap, sleep regression hit hard. And it lasted for what felt like forever. I literally researched everything and tried everything (one week, I wrote down 3 different schedules from Mom’s on Call, Babywise, and other successful schedules for other babies, but none of them seemed to stick. Keldon still wasn’t sleeping, and mama was going crazy (being sleep deprived is literally one of the worst things in life)! I would do so much research during those middle of the night wakes, and was starting to drive myself crazy!

At the perfect time, I had received an email from The Cradle Coach, which entailed information who they are (award-winning, certified sleep professionals), what they do (provide personalized sleep services with one-on-one attention and guidance & support throughout the sleep training). While I had tried many other different options and was starting to lose hope of getting a good night of sleep again, I figured, what was there to lose? Plus, I really wanted the confidence of hiring a professional that would ensure what I was doing was right, and essentially holding my hand through the process. Long story short, Rachel from The Cradle Coach changed our lives!! After just 1.5 days of sleep training with her, Keldon had a customized schedule and routine that was suitable for him, was taking solid 1-1.5 hour naps, and sleeping through the night. Hallelujah!

The Cradle Coach offers many different sleeping packages at different prices. We chose the Telephone package, which worked out great! To start, I filled out an intake form that gave Rachel information on what we’ve been doing, his current sleep environment, etc. so she could set up a customized plan for Keldon. Once it was set, she emailed it over and schedule a call later that evening so she could walk through it and discuss it with Tom and I.

The first night of implementing Rachel’s tips and methods was definitely the trickiest since it was new to us and Keldon, but like I said above, after just 1.5 days, he was thriving! And getting such good sleep – and in turn, we were sleeping again too. I seriously cannot thank her and her services enough, our literally changed from it, and I am no longer a walking zombie everyday. If you’re wondering on a good time to start sleep training, it’s recommended to begin no earlier than 3.5-4 months of age.

As a disclaimer, we received the services free of charge to share my opinion organically, but I was not paid to write this post, or required to write a blog post on The Cradle Coach. I just chose to because I believe in it and because I wanted to share the wealth with you mamas that need sleep! And so many of you asked about it, too! The Cradle Coach is also offering The Styled Press readers 10% off a service with code BROWN10, yay!

I also must say, it’s been amazing to connect with so many of you in this sweet (and sometimes trying) season of life together. It’s amazing how I can pop on my stories and ask for recommendations or quick questions- you guys are such a wealthy source of information, and it feels so good not to be alone during the hardships of parenting! We got this, mamas!

If you’re interested, check out our other baby product must haves on this page!