Daily Life With a 4-Month-Old

Just a few days after we returned home from our 2-week vacation, little man turned 4 months old. Soon after that, we moved him to the crib in his own room to see how that would go. That also meant we were getting a little stricter on ourselves about making him nap in his crib versus in our arms. 

So what is daily life like with a 4-month-old?


12:00am It seems that G usually wakes up around this time to eat, so I leave the coziness of my own bed to go nurse him in the rocking chair in his room. I often nod off while doing that...

4:00am Usually between 3:00 and 5:00, he wakes up again to eat. 

6:00am Daddy wakes up and starts getting ready for work. Baby boy doesn't usually wake up during this time now that he's in his own room - and I'm so dead to the world that I often don't realize that Ethan has even gotten out of bed until he kisses me goodbye.

8:00am This is the average time that the boy wakes up for the day. Sometimes it's 6:30, sometimes 9:00 (I love those days! ha), but usually right around the 8:00 mark. I'm still half asleep, so if he's calm and quiet in his crib, I'll leave him there for a few minutes while I try to catch a few more Z's. Then I get him and bring him into my room and I nurse him and then we hang out on the bed for almost an hour every morning.

9:00-10:00am He plays on his activity gym while I feed the dogs, eat breakfast, and do a couple things around the house. I also change him out of his pjs during this time.  We also got him a jumperoo, so after he's bored with the activity mat, I'll stick him in the jumperoo so I can try to do a few more things.

10:00-11:00am He usually isn't awake for very long before his first nap - about an hour or an hour and a half. Though it's often shorter than the 2.5hours we've been trying to go between feedings, I'll feed him and then put him down for a nap.

11:00am-12:00pm Now that he's rolling over really well, he's much more willing to do tummy time. So I put him on his mat after every nap to give him more practice at that. We're trying to get him to push up with his arms, but he just wants to flail them around at his side and do the "Superman." At least that's working his neck and core muscles if not his arms... He'll get it eventually.

Nearly 5 months old at this point, he finally started pushing up instead of "superman-ing"

12:00-12:30pm I usually strap him into the Ergo around this time and take him with me to walk the dogs.

12:30-1:30pm I nurse him again at this point and he goes down for his second nap. Sometimes it's the other way around. It just depends on how tired he is - if he falls asleep during our walk, I'll just bring him in and lay him down and feed him when he wakes. If he's really cranky then I'll feed him first. But regardless, I try not to let him fall asleep while eating and instead am trying to have him put himself to sleep in his crib.

1:30-2:00pm I head to Gymboree on those days that we have it. Non-Gymboree days, I'm usually singing songs and reading books at this point.

2:00-3:00pm Gymboree 3 days a week. Non-Gymboree days, I try to do some of the activities from Gymboree at home. We sing the songs and do more tummy time.

3:00-3:30pm We come home from Gymboree and I nurse him - usually around the 3:15 mark.

3:30-4:30pm He goes down for another nap.

4:30-5:30pm Daddy comes home somewhere in this time frame and spends some time with him while I clean up our mess, do some work on the computer, or walk the dogs. 

Daddy knows exactly how to get him to laugh!

5:30-6:30pm I nurse the boy and then we often take a walk at a nearby park - G falls asleep partway through it. This is his last nap, and we try not to let him sleep any later than 6:00 or 6:15 - so that he will go to sleep when it's time for bed. Sometimes we go get frozen yogurt before heading home.

6:30-7:30pm Dinner time for mom and dad! One of us entertains the baby while the other cooks, and then when the food is ready, depending on the baby's mood, he either sits in his jumperoo while we eat or we have to take turns eating while the other distracts him.

7:30-8:30pm We moved Baby G's bath time (and bedtime) earlier. He really enjoys his bath so we often keep him in it until he starts looking bored or getting cranky. But it's usually no more than 10 or 15 minutes. Before he gets into his pjs, we do a little baby massage and put lotion on him, then read a bedtime story or two. I usually nurse him (around 8:00) and if he doesn't fall right to sleep, then Daddy usually carries him around until he looks really relaxed, then he goes into his crib while he's still awake. We found that tapping him on his bottom while he lays on his tummy (making the crib mattress bounce up and down a bit) helps calm him down if he's fussing. That'll put him to sleep most of the time, especially if we use the pacifier. (Though, partway into this month, he started rejecting the pacifier at night).

8:30-10:30pm We may start watching something on the tv - a movie or an episode of a show. It's nice now that he has an earlier bedtime - we can actually get through something before we start falling asleep! But, now that he's in his crib instead of my arms, he wakes up once or twice before we go to bed. So we have to go in and pat him until he's soothed back to sleep.

10:30-11:00pm Bedtime for mom and dad!

11:00pm-12:00am We're still sleeping... and the baby usually doesn't wake up for his first night feeding until 11:30 or 12:00. Sometimes, he surprises us and goes until 1:00 or 2:00!