{Get Your Kids on a Schedule!}

I have been going to the same pediatrician for years. It's the same one I had when I was a baby. I trust her. I love her. She knows the ins and outs of my family almost as well as I do. She got me through when Gaige had RSV and she got me through when Owen had Pneumonia (I spelled that right on my first try!). I trust her advice completely. That being said, she is not always available.


Like that time Gaige needed to be seen and she was out of the office. I took him to another doctor in the same practice and figured it would be fine. I was slightly wrong. It didn't go horribly or anything. I was just extremely glad that this particular doctor was not my regular doctor and I didn't have to deal with her on more than one occasion. And it left me believing that some doctors really don't know everything and you have to make your decisions about what's right for your kid.

This doctor (I can't even remember her name anymore) asked me the simple question of what's his night time routine? I told her the truth. We get baths around 8pm and start settling down but that my grandpa doesn't get home until around 10pm so we don't go to bed until he's home. This had been our routine forever. Had I tried putting Gaige down before my grandpa was home, he wouldn't have gone to sleep anyway and it would have just been a struggle. He wanted to see him more than he wanted to see me lol.

She was floored that I would keep my child up that late. She asked what time he got up, around 9am. Sometimes earlier sometimes later it all depended on how well he slept through the night (usually very well by then since he was around six months or maybe seven). Again she was shocked.

It's important to have your baby sleeping at normal hours. He should be in bed by 8pm and up around 6am.

Excuse me? No. I told her that this was the schedule that worked for everyone. I'm a night owl, so was Gaige (he still is) and we both liked to sleep late (still do). I told her that just because she believed he should be up at the crack of dawn does not mean that we were going to change our schedule.

I am of the opinion that you work around child's needs. If you're OK with your kid staying up a little later, then that's your choice to make. If you're a late sleeper and so is your kid, then go on and catch those Z's! Your kids schedule should not dictated by someone other than you. Because no one knows your child better than you, his mother.

So my advice to any new moms stumbling upon this blog, you do what works for you and your kid. Not what other people think you should be doing. Furthermore, if you're constantly butting heads with your child's pediatrician, search for a new one. There's nothing anywhere that says once you decide on a doctor you can't change your mind.