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Home » Routines & Schedules » Baby Schedules & Routines » Want an Easy Baby? Then Use A Foolproof Baby Schedule

May
1

Want an Easy Baby? Then Use A Foolproof Baby Schedule

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My Rhythms, Routines, & Schedules book and printable routine cards are on sale for 50% off today. Grab yours now!

foolproof baby schedule for moms

Inside: In this post you will find information on creating a baby schedule for baby aged newborn to 1 year. You can view all my sample schedules here and learn about sleep training here. 


I moved countries when I was 18 weeks pregnant. From England to Scotland.

Oh, I’m American, by the way.

Then, with a 6 week old baby I moved from Scotland, via Florida, to Sydney, Australia.

Let’s just say… it was all a bit crazy. 

foolproof baby schedule for moms

I craved normalcy. I was in a new place with new people. We were trying to find somewhere to live, jobs, all the while settling in to becoming parents.We were *this close* to nervous breakdowns every day for weeks and do you know what was the only thing that kept my mind in this universe?

Our routine.

Through the turmoil, driving around, going to and fro and flying, she was content. She was happy. She was an easy baby. Our circumstances were hard, but it was still easy to have a good routine.

Why?

Because she was so happy with it, we couldn’t imagine life another way.

Things To Consider When Creating a Baby Schedule

Each family is different and will have rhythms and routines that fit their particular lifestyle. The goal is not to create a cookie cutter baby schedule, but to find one that works for your family and keeps your baby happy, well fed, and content. This is not as hard as it seems.

Wake Times

The first thing to consider is your baby’s wake time. This is the time they wake up in the morning. You can, in fact, decide more or less what time you want your baby to wake up.

When they are newborns (a sample newborn routine here) you simply feed them at an early morning feed, say 5 a.m., then immediately put them back down to sleep.

If you follow these swaddling tips, keep the blackout blinds drawn, the white noise on, and don’t overstimulate baby, baby will likely go back to sleep for another 1.5 hours or so.

Then, you choose what time you want them to wake up. You might choose 7, for example. Around 7 o’clock on the dot (or as close as you can) you feed baby every morning. Soon your baby will get used to this time and her metabolism will simply have her sleep until 7. I have had 5 babies so believe me, it works.

Read: The Easiest Way To Get Your Baby To Sleep Later

clown clock, baby schedule considerations

If your baby is regularly waking up at 5 am or 6 am and you want him to sleep longer, try this. Wake yourself up around 4 or 4:30 am and feed baby.

Keep lights low, don’t change the diaper unless it’s very soiled, don’t unswaddle, just feed lying down so baby stays asleep.

Put baby back in the crib or place it normally sleeps and then feed at your normal “desired” wake up time. If baby wakes up at 6:30 but you want the wake up time to be 7, don’t feed baby until 7.

If baby is not crying, but will happily wait, let him wait. Eventually he’ll just sleep until right around that time that you feed him at daily.

Read: Simple Baby Advice That Stands the Test of Time and Non-Negotiable Baby Sleep Needs

The Reason Wake Time Matters:
  • It sets you on track for the rest of the day.
  • It helps you determine a good time for the first nap.
  • You will have a bit of time for yourself in the morning.
  • Baby begins to adjust to predictability.

Read: The Fastest Way To Get Through The 4 Month Sleep Regression (With Sanity Intact)

Nap Times

Naps… dum dum dum. By now you’re already trying to actually nap when baby naps. That’s a good thing. But the trouble is, you don’t want to wait until baby is screaming in tiredness to put him down.

You want to put baby down for nap times that mean he does not *get* overtired.

Wearing a baby out to help them sleep is the biggest baby sleep myth around.  It will mean the naps are shorter and baby is more fussy. But never fear! The easiest way to make sure your baby is well rested is to have set nap times in the optimal windows.

So, let’s talk about those windows. You want to catch the baby drowsy, but not overtired. Here are signs of overtiredness.

This means you have consistent times they will go down and, even if they aren’t dropping off to sleep in your arms, you still put them in the crib for a rest.

Some sample routines with naptimes included are here:
  • Sample newborn routine
  • 3 to 6 month routine
  • 6 to 9 month routine
  • 9 to 12 month routine
  • 18 month routine
  • 2 year old routine

You can find 25+ routines including baby and toddler combinations here. These are simply examples, your routine may vary. The key is to make sure that little babies aren’t up for hours without a nap.

That 1-year-olds don’t wake at 5 a.m. and choose not to nap. As mothers we can steer the day by choosing a routine that works for everyone.

Does your routine need a little jump start? Take my free Rock Your Routine series and start having a more organized day AND more alone time, starting now!

Stimulation

We love our little bundles and want to give them lots of time, attention and snuggles. That’s a good thing. Cuddles are good for their brains. There are, however, limits to the amount of stimulation babies need. They are easily over stimulated by things we consider “normal.”

Screens, loud siblings, busy places, and intense changes of scenery can actually tire a baby out. If your baby is in a room with multiple older children who are screaming, running, and playing for hours on end they will become overstimulated.

When a baby’s system is swamped with more noises, sensory experiences, and activity that it can cope with, it may be come fussy, irritable, and have trouble sleeping.

With your little ones it’s a good idea to keep the stimulation purposeful and to a minimum. At least until they’re a few months older.

How to Prevent Over-stimulation In Babies:
  • Institute a wind down routine before naps or bedtime (here are some examples)
  • When in a place with a lot of activity, noise, and people around hold baby close or wear her in a sling so she can face you and not be bombarded.
  • Instruct older siblings to be gentle with baby and not over play, particularly before nap or bedtime.

Read: 25+ Sample Routines for Babies Aged 6 weeks to 5 Years (plus baby and toddler combinations)

Logistics For Your Baby Schedule

When creating your baby schedule you want to be sure circumstances are ripe for happiness, not fussiness. This means at nap time you’ll want to let baby sleep in a darkened room, not in a swing in the middle of a brightly lit living room with loud siblings.

Why?

Because in a few months when baby is older he’ll stop napping well due to the distractions. By that point it’ll be a lot harder to teach baby how to sleep on their own.

Also, you’ll need to consider older sibling needs. If you have school runs in the morning or afternoon your baby’s schedule will be dictated by those to a certain extent. Include those first as they are non-negotiables.

Try to concentrate errands, appointments, and outings to only a few days a week while you have a new baby. After all, baby is only little for a short while and it’s tough business hauling around a fussy baby all over town.

Read: How To Get Baby To Nap At Other People’s Houses

crying baby on a baby schedule

Logistical Tips for Creating a Baby Schedule:
  • Fill in non-negotiables first (like school dropoff)
  • Find a regular place in your home where baby will sleep away from noise of siblings (here’s how to manage that)
  • Make sure younger babies are swaddled if you can. It helps them feel snug, secure, and prevents waking due to the startle reflex (tips for swaddling baby at night)
  • Have a proper wind-down routine that will help baby settle into a sleep ready state

Bedtime

Bedtime is both glorious and hair-raising for moms. Glorious because it’s a special bonding time and, after all kids are in bed, it’s free time! Hair-raising because babies often fight bedtime if we aren’t careful.

As with napping and morning wake time, the time you put your baby to bed is extremely important.

Babies that go to bed at a reasonable hour sleep better throughout the night. There is an old wives’ tale that I believe rings true.

“Every hour you’re asleep before midnight counts as two.”

Between 7 to 8 is a great bedtime for little ones. Newborns may go to bed for the night later since they sleep the majority of the day, but all in all, bedtime shouldn’t extend too far past 9:00 p.m. unless you have a good reason.

Now, if your partner doesn’t get home until late and you want baby and daddy to have time to play, that’s great! But that just means you’ll need to choose a later wake time if you can help it or be sure baby is getting in sufficient naps throughout the day.

Tips About Bedtime for Your Baby Schedule:
  • Choose a time you know you’ll actually keep, somewhere between 7 and 8:30 is ideal.
  • Begin your wind-down routine around 30 minutes prior to bedtime.
  • In your wind down, be very repetitive and predictable in what you do which will create positive sleep associations.
  • Change baby before you feed then feed in the dark, swaddled, and with white noise on if you use it. Help baby to calm down well.

Read: Baby Bedtime: 4 Crucial Elements For Success

Night Feeds

Night feeds can be the bane of a mother’s existence. If you are up hourly all night then it’s true. You actually are losing your mind. But never fear, no melodrama needed… we can get baby sleeping well. Night feeds can be tricky to maneuver, but you can do it.

One thing to remember is that babies need a certain amount of milk throughout a 24 hour period to be properly nourished. If this quota gets met mostly during the day, they’ll sleep longer at night.

If this quota gets met mostly at night, they’ll wake up all night.

This means you want to make sure baby is not falling asleep while eating throughout the day so they are getting full feeds. It also means you want to give them full feeds at each feeding throughout the night to prevent snacking. Let me explain.

If baby nurses for 5 minutes then falls back asleep at 11:00 p.m., she will likely wake at 12 or 12:30 and want more. And so on all night. If you keep baby aroused enough to eat for 10 or 15 minutes at 11:00 p.m. baby will likely sleep for a few hours before waking again.

Tips for Night Feeds:
  • Change diaper before feeding so baby gets lulled back to sleep by milk.
  • Attempt to get a full feeding in, not a quick snack.
  • Keep lights down low and avoid any stimulation or play since the aim is for baby to go back to sleep.
  • Attempt feeding baby lying down on the bed. This sensation is similar to lying in their own crib which will make the transition from your bed back to their crib (if they sleep in one) easier and baby is far less likely to wake.

But back to the Australia thing….

After a while that baby grew into a toddler then into a preschooler and now she’s nearly a 1st grader. We moved back from Australia to Florida and, wouldn’t you know it… we’re still rocking a good routine. Why? Because it’s always worked and, well…

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 

Want Routine Printables to hang up for your baby schedule?

If you want routines and schedules for not only the 9 to 12 month age, but 18 months, 2 years,  and on and on I’ve got great news. I’ve created a book chock full of routines that work. Routines that keep babies well rested, happy, and content.

Routines that account for all the things you need to do and they are mom tested.

The best part?

The book comes with printable routines (3 choices for each age) that you can hang up and use! So instead of having to reinvent the wheel every few months, you’ll have tried and true mom tested routines right at your fingertips.

Get your own routine book and printables here!

::

I’ve created a free email series just for you! If you struggle with creating an easy flowing routine or rhythm in your home… this is it. I’ve gathered all my easiest routine hacks into one free series and, best of all, you can get a big sneak peak into our book that has over 25+ routines for babies ages 6 weeks to 5 years. This series will help you:

  • find a routine and rhythm for your child
  • learn how to juggle multiple routines (for 2 or 3+ kids)
  • know what is and isn’t working so you can make one tweak that’ll change your day

Click here to sign up for my free email series or simply click on the image below.

Routines Funnel Opt In With Free

Rachel

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Filed Under: Baby Schedules & Routines, Routines & Schedules9

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I'm Rachel, mother of 5 young kids living in the Florida panhandle with my Australian husband. I write about family culture, family rhythms and routines, and boundaries in motherhood and life. You can see snippets of my daily life here and visit my shop for baby sleep, organizing, and routine help.

“Inside my brain”

Geeezzz, it was like you were inside my brain today!  (and most days recently)  I needed this badly.

Thank you!!!
Andrea P.

“Nothing was working…”

I just wanted to say thank you for your easy peasy routine for 2 year olds! I day-weaned my 2 year old a month ago and have been trying everything to get him to go down for a nap without the nursing. Nothing was working and I was starting to think he would never have a nap again.

Anyways I started following your routine and we just sat in bed and had what I told him was “quiet time.” We sat and read and made a fort and had warm milk. Then today I told him it was quiet time again and he tried to escape the bed a couple times, but in the end he snuggled up after the warm bottle and fell asleep for 3 hours! I was almost in tears I was so excited! So thank you!

Meghan

“Thanks for your bundle!”

Thanks for for doing this Everyday Mom Super Bundle sale. I’m four months into my parenthood journey with a sweet and spirited boy.

I was feeling overwhelmed and frustrated just yesterday, thinking if only I had the right resources and “trail guides” I could figure this all out. Your sale is serendipitous. I can’t wait to dig into my download materials and start learning from your tips.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Lauren N.

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I just wanted to let you know that your blog and emails have been a tremendous help to me. Your practical, honest, and humble writing is a breath of fresh air!

With help and encouragement drawn from your writing, I have made some incredible changes in the order (and sanity) of our home, in just the past few weeks. My kids are doing chores daily, and I also have clearer expectations of myself.

My husband is in awe!

Which helps reinforce what you said- the problem wasn’t me; it was my systems. Our home is in much better order, and so is my mind. So, thank you!!!! You have made a difference for me and my family.

Ann S.

“We are slowly getting back to normal…”

I stumbled upon your blog one morning after praying night after night for God to fix my home! I had just had a baby this May 1st and also have a 2 and 4 year old and my home broke out in complete chaos!

Even my marriage seemed like it was on the brink of extinction and this had happened in 2 weeks! I read numerous amounts of your entries and applied them to my home life and I am happy to say we are slowly getting back to normal. Thank you Rachel! 

Madison S.

“You’ve been a life saver!”

I’m a first time mom to a 15 day old baby girl. I had no idea what I was doing and couldn’t get her to sleep in her crib until I found your blog.

You’ve been a life saver!

Candace R.

“Within a week or two our little girl changed!”

I tumbled into post partum depression/anxiety and didn’t know what to do anymore. I was a mess, baby girl was a mess and I don’t even know how my husband was dealing with it all… 

I googled everything I could think about but there was never really something that felt right, that felt genuine instead of just telling do’s and don’ts. 

And then I found your website and read your pieces about sleeping and eating. I carefully read through your schedules and decided to try it.

IT WORKED!! 

And within a week or two our little girl changed from a frustrated baby into this happy dappy smiling ray of sunshine, that is able to settle herself down by sucking on her fists, even in the middle of the night. At 12 weeks baby girl slept through the night and now at 20 weeks old she sleeps a good 10 to 12 hours every night. 

I just wanted to thank you for sharing your experience online. The way you wrote your experiences made it understandable, seeing it from the babys side but also the moms side. Maybe we were lucky that your way fitted our baby, but it worked and I tell it to everyone that wants to know!

Stephanie P.

“Had tremendous success from Day One!”

I just wanted to thank you for your sample routine.  I’ve been using it for a week with my 13 month old and had tremendous success from day 2! Wind down time is so important and so is consistency.  Thank you so much!!!

Sam M.

“In a few short days…”

I am grateful to have found your blog, as I do a great deal of searching on Pinterest when I am up against a parenting moment that I do not feel qualified to handle.

I will say though that since reading your blog I am really focusing on remembering that every moment is a learning \ experience for my son and I try to take a breath and count to ten. In the few short days that I have been exercising this method I truly have noticed a change for the better in his response to me.

Tami K.

Comments

  1. Marianne says

    Hi!
    I applied your routine in action with my 2-3-week old, and it worked wonderfully! That is, until at 5-6 weeks old she decided to just lay in her bassinet calmly or with little occasional fuss for up to an hour and a half and throw out the routine, and now, about a week and a half later, she is still sleeping well at night and waking up at the correct time, but catnapping.
    Have you ever had this happen with your children, and how did you get them back on the schedule? Or are some newborns just like this, they make up their own mind despite our best efforts? I believe I’m doing all the rest fine, swaddling, dark sleeping environment, white noise, right temperature, dummy, wind down routine, putting her down drowsy but awake, not giving overstimulation during awake times and putting to sleep at the sight of early tired signs (which was exactly on your schedule a couple of weeks ago, and she would nod off within 10-15 mins).
    Thanks! :)

    Marianne

    Reply
    • Rachel Norman says

      First off, if baby is well rested then YOU ARE DOING GREAT. First thing that came to mind with me is that perhaps she can stay awakea bit longer before nap? Someties when I put mine down they stare off into space and have a passive awake time as they transition into sleeping. This is quite normal.

      Reply
  2. Nicole says

    Hi Rachel!
    As a mom-to-be I love reading your blog, trying to get kind of prepared 😉!
    But I was just wondering how do you handle going for a walk with your baby and how does this fit to your routine? Moreover, when is the best time for it? And do you put the baby in the stroller when he is drowsy or already asleep?
    Thank you very much!

    Reply
    • Rachel Norman says

      We usually walked after a feed and if baby fell asleep in a nap or so that’s okay!

      Reply
  3. Daria says

    Rachel, I love your blog. You insights make so much sense. We are going on a long trip that involves a few time changes. My baby will be 10-13 months old. Do you have any material on traveling with babies? Particularly sleeping routine. Thank you!

    Reply
  4. Shayna Bailey says

    Rachel, your blog has given me hope. My 3 month old son is a high energy easily overstimulated baby who does not sleep well. I’ve purchased your course and have created a schedule I’ve attempted today. I have a few questions that I couldn’t find anywhere in your blog. 1) when you side lie to nurse do you pick baby up to burp him after feeding or do you put him directly back into crib after?
    2) If baby wakes from short 20-40 min nap should I try to get baby back to sleep? I’ve been able to before but I’m afraid I’m creating a crutch so he won’t go back to sleep on his own. If I don’t get him back to sleep do I just count that as wake time and proceed with nursing and activity?
    3) Sometimes when I put my son down drowsy but awake he’ll stare at me and instantly start crying. If I leave him he cries harder and it takes me forever to soothe him again. So if he wakes up and fusses how do I get him to go to sleep?

    Reply
  5. Nada says

    Rachel… love the blog! New mom here! My baby girl is 6w today and we’re in desperate need of help. Where did you put your babies to nap and sleep at this age? And should I swaddle my baby for both naps and bedtime? If so, doesn’t that means she’ll basically live in her swaddle at this age?

    Reply
  6. Jessica says

    Hi Rachel I have an eight-week-old. What do you recommend if you want their wake time to be 7am but they consistently wake up around 5 30 to 5:50 to feed. By the time I put her back down and she gets to sleep she would only get to sleep for like 30 minutes. Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

    Reply
  7. Whitney says

    How do you get the baby to go to sleep for nap time? My 3 week old fights sleep during the day.

    Reply

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Hey y'all, I'm Rachel Norman, BA, MS, Language of Listening® parenting coach, cancer survivor, and mother to 5 babies in 5 years on 3 continents, no multiples. I love Birth Order, am passionate about parenting and motherhood, and family culture Join me in parenting without losing your mind. Read More >>

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