If you’ve been going around a tired mom like a chicken with your head cut off, here’s a good sample newborn routine for you. This routine will help your newborn be settled, less fussy, take full feeds, and nap well. This newborn routine is adaptable and perfect for moms who want a little predictability and to avoid overtirednesss. I think it’ll go a long way in helping you survive the newborn phase.
Sample Routines:
- Ultimate Newborn Sleep Schedule: Week by Week
- The 3 Month Old Baby Sleep Schedule You Can Count On
- Sample 6 Month Schedule
- 9 to 12 Month Sample Schedule
- 18 Month Sample Schedule
- 2 Year Old Sample Schedule
- Ultimate Newborn Sleep Schedule: Week by Week
I’d like to start off by saying that I feed my baby when he is hungry. I love routine and think they’re great, and we work towards a routine each day.
But even if it’s “off schedule,” I feed my babies when they are hungry. In case you are a troll. Or a routine hater. Or about to send me hate mail.
I just wanted to tell you.
What's in this post...
I feed my babies when they are hungry.
So let’s talk about how to get your newborn on a routine where they feed, “play”, and sleep in set patterns that are beneficial to everyone involved.
Baby, siblings, and adults. Routine is not a dirty word.
In fact, routine brings sanity to an otherwise chaotic home environment.
Grab this newborn sleep schedule summary you can slap on the fridge! Tweak it, test it, and have calmer more peaceful and (slightly😂) more predictable days with your newborn!
Some mothers thrive on a spontaneous day, and that’s great for them and their kids, but some mothers need structure to make it through.
And I’m one of those mothers!!
I know some of you are going to think my routine is cuh-ray-zeee.
But all 5 of my kids have had the same newborn routine and I’ve had the same results with all 5.
So I’m not saying it’d work for every baby, and definitely not for every mom, but it has worked for me and mine.
Sample Newborn Routine
Note: these are approximates, but most days we are very close to each of the times listed.
Your sample newborn schedule might look different, then be tweaked to work for you.
The biggest key is the intervals of feeding and sleeping.
7:30-8:00 am – wake up and feed
8:30 am – down for a nap
10:30 am – feed, change diaper, play (developmental play mat here)
11:10 am – down for a nap
1:00 pm – feed, change diaper, play
1:40 pm – down for a nap
3:30 pm – feed, change diaper, play
4:10 pm – down for a nap
6:00 pm – feed, change diaper, play, bath (we use this for the sink and it is amazing)
6:30 pm – down for a catnap
7:30-8:00 pm – change diaper, put to bed for the night
8:30 pm – feed (cluster feeding even)
10:30-11:00 pm – dream feed swaddled, put back to bed (my favorite swaddle here)
Then when they wake up during the night I feed them, and this is usually every 3 hours or so.
Grab this newborn sleep schedule summary you can slap on the fridge! Tweak it, test it, and have calmer more peaceful and (slightly😂) more predictable days with your newborn!
Read: 8 Reasons You’ve Got A Whiny Baby (And How To Fix It!)
I just wanted to thank you for your sample routine. I’ve been using it for a week with my baby and had tremendous success from day 2!
Wind down time is so important and so is consistency. Thank you so much. – Sam Morgan
Tried-and-true *hands on* newborn settling strategies that even the most fussy (or wide-awake-sleep-refusing) newborns cannot resist!
Learn MoreRead: Cocooning a Newborn & 7 Reasons Why it Can Be Good For The Family
Why so much sleep in your newborn routine?
Well, first of all, why not so much sleep? All 5 of mine have taken a nap after every single feeding from newborns until they were over 1.
Of course the schedule changes, but they nap between feedings for the first few months without question unless they’re sick or we’re out.
Most sources will say it’s normal for a newborn to sleep 18+ hours during the first few months and I’ve always found this to be the case.
If your baby fights sleep much I’d say that it’s a case of you keeping them up. If you try feeding them, swaddling, then immediately putting them down to nap to sleep you may see a big change.
I think this pacifier is a lifesaver with this.
Grab this newborn sleep schedule summary you can slap on the fridge! Tweak it, test it, and have calmer more peaceful and (slightly😂) more predictable days with your newborn!
- 11 ways to get your baby to sleep well for the long run
- awesome wind-down routines for naps and bedtime
- the sleeping myth that backfires every time
Does the family ever get to see the newborn on this routine?
In a word: no.
Not really anyway.
My family always jokes, “When are you going to let the baby come out of its room?” and I reply smiling, “In a month or two!” :)
Aside from the germs aspect, babies can be overstimulated very easily.
People who are far removed from the baby world think it’s normal to talk very very loudly and try to wake the baby up to see the color of its eyes.
It’s like… I mean… just… no.
Please stop that.
Tried-and-true *hands on* newborn settling strategies that even the most fussy (or wide-awake-sleep-refusing) newborns cannot resist!
Learn More
By the time the baby is 3 to 4 months old they are awake more and have a lot more time to “socialize.” Now, do I let family snuggle my sweet newborns when they want?
Sure. If they fall asleep in their arms, do I remove them? Of course not, I’m not cruel. Who doesn’t want to hold a sweet baby?
Still, though, I’m not waking the baby up every time someone stops by.
Ultimately, these first few months set the tone for their sleeping habits and newborns who are used to sleeping become babies who are used to sleeping and babies used to sleeping become toddlers used to sleeping, etc.
A major sleep law: sleep begets sleep.
Grab this newborn sleep schedule summary you can slap on the fridge! Tweak it, test it, and have calmer more peaceful and (slightly😂) more predictable days with your newborn!
How do you know when to change the newborn routine?
I almost always have to wake up the baby to feed it throughout the day. All four of mine were (and one still is) so sleepy they would either sleep until woken up, or awake at almost the exact time I normally feed them.
I kid you not when I say they will wake within minutes of the normal feeding time.
Their metabolisms are sort of trained to feed and sleep on the routine we make and they wake up happy!
I change schedules when the baby is able to be awake a lot more and is sleeping through the night.
By four or five months when the baby is sleeping 12 hours at night, they are usually awake more during the day and able to cope with more stimulation and play.
That’s when you need to get this swaddle so you can wean one arm at a time.
That’s when I’ll go to 3 hour or 3.5 hour feedings at whatever time seems to suit.
Read: Cluster Feeding Newborns: The Do’s & Don’ts
These lovely cards and checklists will help you create and keep healthy wind down and sleep routines for your little ones.
Learn MoreTips and things to note:
- At night feed swaddled to communicate they should stay asleep and during the day unswaddle to feed which helps wake them up. This swaddle is breathable and you can change them at night without taking their arms out. Here are my best swaddling tips.
- Yawning, tugging ears, staring off into space, and eye rubbing are signs of tiredness, crying is usually a sign of overtiredness. Waiting until they cry to put them to sleep will likely result in a baby who can’t get to sleep on their own
- It’s okay to wake a sleeping baby during the day to feed them, really it is. Letting babies sleep long stretches during the day will not help in the day/night confusion issue.
- Here’s what to do if baby is feeding every hour and not sleeping.
- Earlier to bed and nap is always best! Wearing them out will backfire. (Here’s why)
- I use white noise during naps and create a dark room. These will help the room be more conductive to sleep.
- If we’re out of the house I won’t attempt to keep the same schedule, but I will try to feed them at the same time as normal or put in an extra feed before I leave so they don’t get hungry while I’m in the checkout line at Wal-Mart.
Grab this newborn sleep schedule summary you can slap on the fridge! Tweak it, test it, and have calmer more peaceful and (slightly😂) more predictable days with your newborn!
Read: Want an Easy Baby? Then Use A Foolproof Baby Schedule
Should I wake my newborn up or let them sleep for longer periods in their routine?
The answer depends on the time! If your baby has taken a long nap during the day and it’s time for another feed (3 hours or more) then wake baby up and feed. Any longer than that is actually equivalent to a night sleep. You’ll pay for it in the evening when baby wakes up more frequently to feed.
In the evening or nighttime? Let baby sleep! Baby likely won’t sleep more than four hours or so overnight initially, but don’t focus on waking baby every 2.5 to 3 hours overnight.
The Key to a Good Newborn Routine
This may be so simple it goes without saying… but the key to a good routine is keeping the routine.
It can be tricky to remember everything in order when you’re beginning, but once you get the hang of it, routine will be second nature.
It can seem very difficult to get started doing or keeping a routine when you do not have one at all. Here are some ways you can learn to keep your routine.
These lovely cards and checklists will help you create and keep healthy wind down and sleep routines for your little ones.
Learn MoreHang it up somewhere.
In my Rhythms, Routines, and Schedules book I have 25+ sample routine printables from babies age 6 weeks to 5 years.
You can take these printables and hang them in your nursery, on the fridge, or keep them in your planner. Whatever works. You can hang the routine cards as well and pretty soon you won’t need to reference anything, it’ll be second nature.
Read: End Baby’s Witching Hour — In 4 Simple Steps
Set some alarms.
While you don’t need to live and die by the clock, setting your phone, watch, or a timer will help you keep aware of routine transitions.
We can often get so wrapped up in what we’re doing we forget we’ve let the baby sleep 4 hours. Why is that bad?
Because 4 hours is a stretch littles ones should only sleep at night! I set alarms on my phone that show on my watch and this works for us.
Read: The Dreamfeed: The Why, The How, & When To Stop
Grab this newborn sleep schedule summary you can slap on the fridge! Tweak it, test it, and have calmer more peaceful and (slightly😂) more predictable days with your newborn!
Practice.
As with anything, if you want something to work then work it. Keep pushing what you’ve decided to do. If it doesn’t work then change it up a bit and keep going.
Move forward.
I assure you 100% that a routine will work if you keep at it.
Want Routine Printables to hang up?
If you want routines and schedules for not only the newborn age, but for 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 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!
Tried-and-true *hands on* newborn settling strategies that even the most fussy (or wide-awake-sleep-refusing) newborns cannot resist!
Learn MoreNewborn Routine FAQ
When do you start tummy time?
You can start tummy time immediately. As soon as you get home from the hospital you can start letting baby spend some time on their stomach each day.
Don’t put baby on their tummies after a feeding or they are likely to spit up. In fact, they’ll probably spit up a bit no matter what, but best to wait until perhaps after baby has woken up from a nap but isn’t quite ready to feed.
You’ll find a good time.
If baby doesn’t like tummy time, simply try again later.
Grab this newborn sleep schedule summary you can slap on the fridge! Tweak it, test it, and have calmer more peaceful and (slightly😂) more predictable days with your newborn!
Hello, is this the same schedule you should follow if they are formula fed or should you space out the feedings a little more?
If baby is formula fed you’ll want to go 3 hours between feeds as a general rule instead of 2.5, Hope that helps!
Hey Rachel, if you don’t wake them up night, do you let them sleep through night feedings if they don’t wake up on their own?
I usually let mine sleep through any night feedings if they wanted to. I would offer a dream feed and then go to bed and sleep until they woke me up for a feed.
Sometimes it’d be 3 hours, sometimes 4 hours, sometimes 2.5.
I wanted to encourage sleeping through the night so didn’t wake baby up at night to feed past the dream feed.
Tried-and-true *hands on* newborn settling strategies that even the most fussy (or wide-awake-sleep-refusing) newborns cannot resist!
Learn MoreHow do you swaddle a newborn safely at night when it’s hot in the summer?
You can still swaddle a baby during the summer, follow these summer swaddling guidelines.
Tried-and-true *hands on* newborn settling strategies that even the most fussy (or wide-awake-sleep-refusing) newborns cannot resist!
Learn MoreSources:
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This guide is not only helpful for mommies but for daddies as well. Any parent who needs to learn basics of getting a newborn should read this. Informative in a direct and challenging way. Thanks for this great post!
Thanks! My husband usually likes to follow the schedules I sort of come up with too :)
Under when it’s time to change the schedule you stated “By four or five months when the baby is sleeping 12 hours at night, they are usually awake more during the day and able to cope with more stimulation and play.” Curious if this means at this point your babies were no longer waking every three to 4 hours at night to eat. Ie are they dream feeding and then not waking again until an early
Morning feed?
Brittany, it depends really. Some babies are sleeping all the way through with no dream feeds or early morning feeds. Some are still doing dream feeds because baby needs it or because it’s good for moms milk. I’d drop the early morning feeds and keep the dream feeds if you ask me!
Hi Rachel, I have a question about this schedule. I’m confused about the evening schedule- you have baby eating at 6, catnap at 630, then at 730 or 8 put to bed for the night and then feed again at 830? Which would just be a half hour to an hour nap and you’re waking baby to eat ? It just seems like a lot of putting to sleep and then waking up again. My baby takes forreeevvvveeeerrrr to eat- even when she’s not falling asleep it still takes her 45 minutes (4 weeks old). She eats best when I let her lead (which is typically every 2ish hours during the day and at night she gives me a good 4 hour and 3 hour chunk. Once she gave me a 4.5 hour stretch! I’d like to get her on a consistent schedule in the evening and a dream feed but Im struggling with how to do this with the amount of time she takes to eat and how hard it is to force her to eat when she’s sleepy which affects the dream feed and any other time I try to feed her after waking her up. Any thoughts would be much appreciated! Thank you so much!!
If babe feeds forever, then I’d do some type of split feed perhaps. Or even cluster feeding, the main thing is bed by 7pm ish and then feeding again at a dream feed. Does that help?
Hello, is this the same schedule you should follow if they are formula fed or should you space out the feedings a little more?
Thanks!
Hi, how often do you change nappy at night feed?
If really wet or soiled, of course, I’d always change BEFORE the feed at night that way they could get back to sleep easily without getting drowsy then being woke up by cold air!
Love this – and soooo agree!!! Three times around the newborn block and a similar routine worked wonders for us – http://livinglovinglaughingtogether.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/1-baby-daze.html
I always say ‘sleep begets sleep’ and honestly think most newborns are chronically overtired. So good to help them get the sleep they need! thanks for writing it out so well! xx
So so so true about sleep begetting sleep. It’s a HUGE sleep rule!
Hi, how often do you change nappy at night feed?
Also, what techniques do you use to wake baby during the day? Mine is very sleepy during the day and will sleep in 3-4 hours between feeds and less at night
WE have been on one since about week one. Or mostly after her umbilical cord fell off. And now at 6 months old we take a bath around 7 to 7:30 and lay down at 8. She is usually asleep by 8:30. I too nurse on demand. And since we have been doing it for 6 months now her feeding times is pretty much on a schedule. If we are out late…she lets us know….She wants her bath and bed! LOL. Thank you for sharing this!
Ha, mine always let me know too. None of this “oh we’re out let’s enjoy it.” To the minute they are like “beddd.” Which is great at home and not quite as great out in public. Ha :)
When did you feed with the evening routine? My son does reading, bath, nurse and bed. He’s 5 weeks and hoping we can transition out of nurse to sleep.
This post couldn’t have come at a better time Rachel!! I am currently looking at a few routine options for Bub number 2, due in July. I seemed to be totally clueless with our first born & ran into all sorts trouble. I plan on being much more prepared this time around. This was really helpful. Thank you : )
Oh Sheree, glad it might help!!! And I bet you guys are so excited :)
Loved this article. I am a first time mum (New Zealand spelling :) ) and it wasn’t until I started to look at the clock when baby woke and then got upset did I realise I was keeping her awake to long ie Even an hour was usually too long!
I then stuck to shorter awake times more closely and baby pretty much followed the routine you suggested on her own, will a little guidance from me. Naps are a wonderful thing! And I have a very happy baby who loves her sleep. People always say you must be so sleep deprived and how hard having a young baby must be. But I haven’t! And I like to think I didnt just luck out with a “good” baby ;)
My view now is baby helps sets the (flexiable) schedule, mama helps her stick to it! And put them to bed when HAPPY, not when getting over tired and upset. Love your site.
Agree with everything you said! And it’s so true that they sort of naturally fall into a routine on their own if you keep them consistent. And I always think that too when people say I lucked out, I think, “you don’t luck out 4 times in a row.” Ha! Or maybe you do… either way… I LOVE me a good routine ;)
The only thing I’m wondering is… did you really only change a newborns diaper 5 times a day?
Hahaha…. ohh misprint. Nah! I change it pretty much every time I feed and whenever they need it. Ha :)
Love this post! We love your blog so much, we posted about it over here at Shoptippi.com recently. Here is the link if you want to check it out!
http://www.shoptippi.com/2015/02/16-of-the-best-parenting-blogs-weve-found/
Oh goodness thank you so much :) Will come check it out!
Thanks for this!
How do you handle the situation of baby waking at 6 am when you want then to wake 7:30-8 am? Right now my 6 week old BF baby wakes himself around 2-3 am after an 11 pm Dreamfeed. Then, he wakes naturally at 6 am and often doesn’t want to go back to bed. This interferes very badly with my toddler waking up and I’m also afraid of habituating an early riser. Yikes!
If he wakes at 3 am we are usually up till 4 am, so waking him at 4:30 am seems silly.
Would love your advice!
Hi Rachel!
Thanks much for this sample schedule. I’ve always been wondering how others do it. My boy, 11 weeks, sleeps a lot and eats a lot. He is hungry almost every 1-2 hours. Im trying zo keep him awake to drink longer but he really shuts his mouth close ?
Im wondering, do you put your baby into his room and bed for naps? I always have him with me in the living room but maybe he would nap longer in his own room?
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Kind regards from Switzerland!
Franzi
Hi Franzi! I put the baby to nap in his own room or if he’s sharing mine, then my room. I find they nap better if they are away from the hustle and bustle. That way you don’t have to worry about noise either. Plus, when they start to get a little older, like 3 or 4 months, they’ll start to loook around for you and if they see you, no more sleepy. ha!
Hi Rachel! Is this true even in the first few days home from the hospital? I am trying so hard to envision what a day will look like during that first week. Our bedroom and nursery are upstairs away from the other living areas in the home. Should we plan to bring him up to the crib/bassinet each time? I’ve heard other moms say the only place baby will sleep is in their arms!
Jessica, you can put the newborn to sleep anywhere you want! You can bring the bassinet down to you as well. These are things to “aim” for, that first week will be about getting feeding down pat
Thanks so much for this! I know this is an old post but I found it through one of your other articles. I’m expecting baby #3 and my oldest is 3 and in preschool. How/when did you do any errands with your newborns? I try to do very little for the first few months but she will need to be dropped off at 9 and picked up at 12. Would you feed them right before and hope for a car nap and then transition or wake them and feed when you’re home?
Thanks!
Jenni, THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE, fitting things around errands. Ha. I honestly, like you, try to avoid as many errands as I can or wait until someone else can watch the kids. That said, it isn’t always possible. I would probably feed them right before, hope they stay awake, and then put them down when I get back. Mine have never transitioned from the car seat to the crib, but if you aren’t too far from the preschool they should stay awake most of that time and then be able to be put back down!
Hey I was wondering how you keep the awake time so short because I usually do feed which takes around 15 minutes as I burp throughout the bottle (I’m unable to breastfeed for medical reasons) and then have to hold them upright for 30 minutes to relieve any wind afterwards then change. By the end of it, its usually already been an hour or over an hour because i still need to make the bottle and cool it down when he wakes. He’s just 1 month old. Also in another one of your posts it says if he drops the pacifier/dummy to leave him for a bit before putting it back in but if I leave it at all he fully wakes up and then gets overtired so I’m wondering what to do in this situation, and can I wean him off dummy this early? Because obviously he’ll cry for it but apparently babies this young can’t self soothe so would it actually do any good? Thank youuuuu would really appreciate your insight
I’m so glad I found your blog! My kids are 25 months and 3 months and I have a good schedule for the toddler but my newborn doesn’t have much of a nap schedule yet. I know he is getting overtired but I get so frustrated when I try to put him down and he won’t nap that I almost avoid it. I know that’s not good for him or me either since he ends up being awake so much longer than he should. I struggle with how I can have a life outside of the house if I do set up a schedule for him with lots of naps. Do you have any advice? I didn’t have a sleep schedule for my toddler until she was a little older, probably 4 or 5 months.
Hi Erin, I will say that the morning naps are the most important. So for your newborn, that first nap (probably not more than 1 or 1.5 hours after he wakes up) is the most important. If he misses that then his naps will be messed up all day. Maybe do the first nap and then run errands afterwards around lunch, then try to work in the afternoon one? Actually next week I have a printable book coming out with over 30 sample schedule for ages newborn to 5 years old!!! I will come back here to link it up once it’s out. Tha’tll probably really help
Thank you so much for responding! I think you are 100% right. Today I got him down for a nap about 50 mins after he woke up and although he only slept 45 minutes, I was able to get him down for another nap about an hour later. I’m hoping he sleeps for a couple of hours, I got him to actually fall asleep in the crib this time. Today my toddler is at school so it’s much easier to spend time putting the baby to sleep. Otherwise I don’t know what to do with her while I’m putting him down. Anyway, thank you again! I feel like thanks to you I am regaining my sanity a little bit.
Erin SO SO SO SO HAPPY that things are making progress. Even 45 minutes and another 45 minute one soon-ish after is great. I try to go by the rule of thumb that each time the baby has a feed they take a nap after, then another feed, etc. Even catnaps are okay for little bitty ones. :)Great news.
Hey Rachel! I love reading your blog and look forward to your emails. I am a stickler for routines as well and have had my 2 and 1/2 year old on one since she was 2 months. I now have newborn twin girls who were born at 34 weeks. They are healthy and at home now at 1 month old. They nap well during the day and I am feeding them when they wake up hungry. My issue is, every night from 12pm to 4am they are whiny and cry. It’s like clockwork with that dreamfeed at 12 or so. They are hard to put down and will wake 15 minutes or so after laying them down. They are also extremely gassy, which I use gas drops and Gripe water for. Not getting to much relief and they are breastfed. What are your thoughts as to why they only seem to stir around from 12 to 4 every night? Otherwise, during the day they sleep and eat like champs. Wondering if I should feed them more frequently to. Thanks for any advice :)
Hi Whitney! I wonder if they are not yet day/night oriented? First, I think people generally recommend a dreamfeed to be between 10-11 ish or else it’s considered a “night” feed so perhaps move it up and then see? Oh and BIG CONGRATS :). Are they not gassy during the day? Do you feed them differentyl at the 12 o’clock feed as opposed to the day? Like, do you feed them laying down and think that could contribute to gas? Ha, so many questions!
Hello- first time mom here and our little one has reflux and terrible painful gas. She rarely goes down for a nap after feeds during the day because she’s usually fighting off painful gas or her reflux is bothering her! I try the white noise, dark room, swaddled, but she takes a good hour to get drowsy even! I don’t know what else to do – I wish she sleeps as easily as yours did! We are on reflux medicine and are trying things to help with her tummy troubles, but we are really struggling.
Michelle, unfortunately reflux is one of those things that make it difficult for little ones to get comfortable :(. Are you propping her up while feeding, heavy burping, etc. all those things they suggest? If so, I think you just need to keep doing the helpful things and you’ll see her improve as she is better able to handle the reflux, poor thing :(
Is there supposed to be a feed in the 7:30-8:00pm timeframe?
Yes! I usually feed my little ones to sleep at that bedtime feed. I need to add that I f I didn’t have it.
Hello, I am a first time mom with a 5 week old and I know he is not getting enough naps. I am happy I found this schedule and will be trying this out to see if it helps. He seems to spend a lot of his days fussy and it’s so hard to calm him down sometimes. I think the extra sleep will help. We usually put him to bed between 7 and 8 and his next feeding isn’t until he wakes up. What is a dream feed and do you wake them for that?
I always wake them up for a dream feed! Also during the day, put the baby to bed much sooner than you think you should. You’ll feel like “but he just woke up” but that’s okay. If you wait until the baby’s tired he’ll get fussy then cry then it’s all hard.
Hey, I just found your blog and this article and it comes at a great time as I have a 7 week old daughter that I am trying to get on some what of a schedule or routine. Anyways, I have a question about the dream feed. I cannot get my daughter to latch during this time, she is just too fast asleep. I don’t really want to unswaddle her as I don’t want her to actually full on wake up. Even if I did do that, then once she is up and feeding well it would be hard to swaddle her again after the feed without her being jostled awake again. Any thoughts?
Kim, babies are notorious for not wanting to wake for this feed. I usually unswaddle, change, re-swaddle, and put a wipe to their face or something that’ll rouse them just enough to latch on, but not enough to get them wide awake. If it doesn’t work, I’ll try again 15 minutes later. It’s a pain at first but it’s SO WORTH IT when they take that long stretch of sleep while yu are sleeping too.
I just came across your blog. I am trying to get my 4 week old to take better naps during the day, so he sleeps better at night, and not to snack so much during the day/dinner time. The only problem i have is that after feeding him, he seems sleepy, but will not go down for naps or only nap or short periods. I hope over time i can change this. Any thoughts?
Meghan, I think often kids will fight sleep but eventually give in if they’re tired enough and we keep at the routine. Also if he’s in his crib with the lights low and he is “resting” I still think that’s better than being out and about being overstimulated. Abotu how long is he awake from when he wakes up to feed and you put him down?
usually from the time i start feeding to when i put him down could be 35 min to close to an hour. some times he feeds for 20 min and sometimes he will feed for 40 min. the other problem is that he wakes most times after 45 min to an hour nap and again has trouble getting back to sleep.. not sure what could be done differently.
Meghan, some babies take 45 minute naps often and struggle to transition on their own. Does he go to sleep by himself at the beginning of the nap? Also, will he take the paci?
Hello! I’m enjoying reading your blog! I’m a first time mom of a 7 week-old girl. I’m Brazilian and live in Hungary. Had some problems with breastfeeding in the beginning, baby not gaining weight and had to supplement with formula, which I still do. =( So I can’t imagine feeding, changing diaper, playing and bathing in 30 min! =) I believe she is now starting to wean the breast, she gets very angry and won’t latch and I have to give the “supplement” right away. Anyway, I think things just take longer. Do you believe if a do a routine with longer periods will work? What would you suggest? I’m just wondering what to do if I end up bottle feeding only, when I can’t just feed her a little bit to sleep. How do you usually put babies down for a nap (rocking, etc)? Thank you!
Hi Carol, yes you can surely go longer than 30 minutes. I think if she nurses then has a bottle, the feeding shouldn’t’ take 30 minutes, right? Anyway, they say that at that age you don’t really want to keep a baby up for longer than an hour without getting her back down for a nap. But you will use your baby’s sleep cues (yawning, rubbing eyes, pulling ears, etc.) of course. OH and a best friend of mine is moving to Hungary in a few months :)
Wow, for some reason I couldn’t see this before and just saw it now! So, she’ll be 13 weeks tomorrow and I’m still trying to put her on a schedule! =) Some days go pretty well, but others just don’t. Feeding can take more or less than 30 min, depending how long she stays on the breast (she still breastfeeds some times!) And how fast she drinks the bottle. Sometimes she falls asleep while feeding, I think she is done, but she wakes up shortly after and drinks more. She usually played by herself on the playing mat or bassinet, but now just seems bored of everything and wants to be held most of the time. But she is sleeping a good amount of hours during the night, which is good. I dreamfeed her at around 10 pm (she is already sleeping for 1-2 hours) and she usually goes until 6 am or a little less. But I just can’t figure out day naps. She will either wake up too soon or not go to sleep at all. Anyway, Hungary is a very nice country to live! Language is pretty hard, but a lot of people speak English in Budapest. Not in the small villages, though. We are here as missionaries since 2012!
Carol, one of my dearest friends is moving to Budapest (from the UK) to be missionaries in Central Europe :) How awesome! I think you just do the best you can and sometimes a routine works better than a schedule. The same things still happen but you aren’t as worried about ‘time.’
How awesome! Do you know which mission board they work with? There are 2 international churches in Budapest that we like a lot, although we don’t go too often, because we live in a small village and serve at Word of Life Bible Institute, where we have a campus church service for the students. The churches are Danube International Church and International Baptist Church of Budapest. They are very welcoming to people and have lots of missionaries as members!
They aren’t with a mission board, they’re European both of them and I think they are working sort of independently with Ellel Ministries Eastern Europe and traveling around to quite a few countries in that area. I HAVE to send her the info of those churches. Can you send me an email (if you get this comment) at amotherfarfromhome@gmail.com and I can maybe connect you two?
Hi! First of all I just wanted to tell you thank you because I’m a young new mom and this has really helped me! My husband and I have really been trying to follow this schedule with our 12 day old baby girl and had a few questions.
Does this schedule help them sleep better at night?
Also, Emma usually eats every 3 hours but there are 4 1/2 between the 6 and 10:30 feedings. Would it completely screw up this schedule if we fed her around 9:30 instead of 10:30? I just don’t think she will make it 4 1/2 hours between feedings.
Again, Thank you so much!!
Also, what is your nighttime schedule like? Do you set an alarm to feed them or do you wait until they wake up to feed them?
I don’t wake them at night :)
I cluster feed at night too. 4pm, 6pm 8pm then 10:30 or whenever. I’m not too strict about the ‘dream feed’ time though I do use it. That schedule helps them get what they need during the day! I will say if the baby seems to wake every 2 hours at night, try adding a daytime feed and that’ll usually do it :)
Awesome, thank you so much!!
Hello Rachel,
My 6 week old will not fall asleep after his 7pm feeding. We try going for walks, giving him his pacifier but he still won’t go down. Suggestions?
Also, he wakes up in the middle of the night because his diaper is too wet. After I change him, he is too awake now and hard to put to sleep.
Leah, I’m telling you my 5th has a witching hour too :) From around 7 or 8 until around 930 or 10. I just keep him near me or on the bed, give him the paci, or try to keep him a bit comfy. It passes quickly, I wonder if yours has a witching hour too?
Do you change before a feed? I usually change then feed which helps them fall back asleep!
Hi Rachel!
omg I LOVE your site, it is SO helpful! I am due w baby #2 in October and I plan on being a lot more prepared this time round. 10 days after my baby #1 was born my husband got really sick and had to stay in the hospital for long stretches so everything was a blur and I just did whatever. I feel so empowered reading through your info and preparing where I can for what seems to be such a whirlwind and chaos of a situation. Thank you so much.
I have 2 questions though, my girl will be just 2 when her brother arrives and I am a stay at home mom and we love our playgroups and park dates during the day. Any chance you could give me a routine example that works majorly on the go, or could I just stick to a very strong morning and evening + NIGHT routine? I am very worried about being tied to the house all day as am afraid this will be horrible for my daughter…
Secondly, my dh (as every year) wants to travel abroad to his country for Christmas (2 weeks+) and bb will be -2 months old, I am starting to worry about juggling baby, his sleep routine (which is very important to me, I have 0 chill) and our daughter who is attached to me like a kangaroo baby still and even more so when we are away from home. Any tips on surviving that without jeopardizing my little boy becoming a stellar sleeper?
Would be so grateful for any advise you can provide
xo from a Belgian mama
Dominique, I don’t think you have to worry about staying home all the time with the newborn. I would, however, make sure that you’re not moving routine all around all the time. For example, you may feed her at relatively stable times, and even if you’re out at a playdate, you can do that too. If you’re at a friend’s house you can put the baby down there. So still try to help the baby sleep though you aren’t at home.
Also, girl, we travelled ALL OVER THE WORLD over and over with our kids and they got all out of whack for a few days, got normal, then upon coming home they did the same. I was always worried it’d mess up their sleeping but after those first few days it NEVER did :)
Thank you so much your routine samples!! I have referred to them SO much over the last 3 months. I do have a question. My son has consistently sleep 8-10 hours since about 6-8 weeks old on a 2 1/2 hour schedule. At 12 weeks I think he hit a growth spurt and started waking up once or twice at night, then naturally stretched himself to a 3 hour schedule which is great during the day because he won’t take a bottle yet so it’s relieving me a little bit. I gave it some time to let him adjust to that. However, 2 weeks later, he still wakes up at 2 or 4am for an extra feeding. I’m wondering why he would change his night sleep so much and if I should go back to 2 1/2 hours during the day so he will sleep through the night again?
Kenya, I love this question. I personally add in another feed during the day if the baby starts waking more at night. I find that if they’ve been sleeping really well and then stop and wake up around the same time it’s usually hunger. I’d add a feed during the day or add solids (depending on the age) and see what happens :)
Hi Rachel,
My first child is almost 4 weeks and we’re struggling with her sleep during the day as well as her bewitching hours in the evening. She is fussy and cluster feeds in the evening and after feedings, it takes 45 mins to an hour to put her to sleep with swaddling, dark room, white noise, heavy rocking/patting, and she won’t take a paci. She eats well very 2 hours and wakes every 3 hours to feed during the night. How do you get your newborn to nap after a feed if swaddling, dark room, white noise, and she won’t take a Paci? She also wakes after putting her down to sleep. Any suggestions/advice?
Nina, do you think she has reflux? Also, how long after you *start* feeding her do you put her down?
Yes I think it’s possible she has reflux because I do notice she swallows a lot after feedings and sometimes it sounds like milk is coming up. I do keep her elevated an burped after feedings. I put her upright against my chest after a feed to burp her and he usually falls asleep then if not while feeding. Once she is asleep after a feeding, I try to put her down appx 30 mins after the start of a feed. She will last about 15 mins down then starts to wake again. Once she wakes, only sometimes does white noise, swaddling, & rocking helps her to go back to sleep but it takes 45mins-1hr until she is knocked out. Otherwise she gets fussy and ends up cluster feeding until about 1-2am. All this difficulty happens in the evening to bedtime. Mornings and afternoons she sleeps well and can sometimes be put down to sleep.
It sounds like ‘witching hour’ or even a bit of relux? Also, do you nurse? I only say that because often we have less milk then at the later evening and she could be fussy cause she’s getting no milk then you’re stresed so you’re making no milk then she’s upset and you are and on and on. I mean this is what happens here during that time occasionally. I’d ask the doc if it’s relfux because my 8 week old has it and we have a hard time being consistent with naps so I try to do my best but they usually grow out of this.
Yes I’m Nursing and that makes sense about less milk in the evening. And i just spoke with her doc and yes she has reflux. Thank you so much for your insight!
So happy I found your blog! I have a 7 week old and currently struggling on finding a balance with her feeding and sleep schedule. I am going back to work in a month! So the countdown is on and i’m determined to have her locked down on some sort of schedule for my mother-in-law and sister who will both be alternating as sitters while I’m away at work. What do you suggest for nap times? She takes really short naps like 30 mins or so never exceeding an hour or 2 like in the beginning when she was a newborn. Do you suggest they are kept away for nap time like in a dark room with white noise? Or kept in the family room area where adult supervision is or the tv is on? I didn’t know if that would create confusion when it’s time to go to bed at night.
I normally always put the baby to nap and bed in a dimmed room. If you put on white noise then you can go in and out to check if necessary. I think it’s a great sleep association!
At what age do you recommend sleep training an infant?
I personally sort of “sleep trained” from birth meaning I had a routine I tried to keep and helped them learn to sleep on their own. However, I generally recommend starting to teach babies to sleep when you can tell they’re suffering because they are NOT getting enough sleep. Hope that helps :)
In your newborn schedule post, I thought you said to have wake time after each feed until bedtime. Do you feed your newborns and lay them down for a nap right away or do you try to have wake time in between? Thanks!!
Hey Becca, with newborns I “try” to keep them awake for at least a little tiny bit (10 minutse even) after a feed, but depending on how long they feed mine have often just drifted off and it was difficult to wake them at all. Hope that helps
Hi Rachel,
Your website and sample schedules are great! I have a quick question for you, I have a 3 week old and she is gaining weight and have a good amount of diaper output. She sleeps in 3.5 hour stretches during the evenings and I noticed lately that she only wants to breastfeed for half the amount of a full feeding during the night. Should I let her do this or make her do full feedings? She seems to sleep the same amount either way…
Karrie
Karrie, if she sleeps the same either way I’d let her nod off in the evenings and put her back to bed. If you notice she’s up every 2 hours to feed, say, then try to increase them back. THat’s waht I do at least ;)
Hi Rachel,
I have started your programme and sleep schedule and I am just wondering what the best thing to do is if my 2 week old goes down at the allocated time during the day but wakes earlier that when she is supposed to because she is hungry? Should I try resettle her (which ATM i haven’t found a technique to resettle her I always need to feed her) or do I wake her up and feed her and then carry on from the next timing?
If she wakes up hungry feed her! I think the key is to feed them as much as they’ll take ( a full feed for your baby) at each feed. This should last at least 2 hours then after that I’ll feed if they’re hungry. If baby wkaes up and is not fussy or crying then I may wait to feed until normal routine time, but I always feed if baby is hungry. Hope that helps :)
Thank you so much! I have an almost 4week old and realized we had no idea what to do with her during the day!! We were letting her get so overtired and it started to ruin our nights and days. This has been so helpful. 2 questions – on the sample schedule: is there supposed to be a feeding at the 7:30/8pm change? How do they make it from 6-10:30/11 dream feed?
Also, should I change the diaper before the dream feed?
Oh yes I change at every feed probably for that age. And if they wake up earlier I’ll cluster feed until around midnight and then let baby decide when to wake up at night. Oh congratulations on your little one :)
Hi, this is helpful! I have a 4 week old and we are just starting to try having a flexible schedule.
I have one question. If you put the baby down swaddled and in her bed for all daytime naps, when can we fit in skin to skin and cuddle time? I think I’ll miss holding her and letting her nap on me during the day!
Katie, let her nap on you if you want, don’t feel bad about that! I usually swaddle and play and cuddle whiel feeding and then shortly after. Oh the baby snuggles :)
Thanks! Looking at this schedule, do you feed them when getting ready for bed, or is 6pm the last time before the dream feed?
So I’l usually feed baby a few times before bed. Without looking at the exact routine, it may be at 6pm, 8pm, or 10:30ish pm, or even 5 7 and 10. I always feed immediately before putting down to bed.
Hi! Your site is so helpful! It would have saved me so much stress to find it two weeks ago! I have a 4 week old and I am attempting to schedule him per your recommended schedule. My problem is this… I can’t get him to nap easily during the day. We feed, have activity time and then rock to attempt to get him drowsy. He appears drowsy until I lay him down. For the most part he is content to sit there without crying, but can sit there for over an hour without falling asleep. I believe gas plays a part in this, but it doesn’t add up all the time. He won’t take a paci from me (but will for most others over half the time). Any tips would be greatly appreciated!!
Leslie, sometimes babies have this passive awake time where they are drifting into sleep and they stare off into space and then fall asleep gently. I”d give it a try for a while and see if he’ll just pass off into sleep. Mine did this and soon they learned to fall asleep a lot faster.
i am so glad i’ve found your blog! i was so worried about how to deal with my futur baby. i have a toddler of 17 moths old and i did breastfeed on demand it was ok for me but when i discovered that i was pregnant again i felt so despaired. i was just thinking about giving up breastfeeding my futur baby. My mother told me to fix a schedule but i didn’t think that it was possible. so when i have found your blog i felt so optimistic. i have to admit that i’m afraid of trying that but i ‘m sure it is the only way my life will not turn into a big mess.
You can do it, girl!
My daughter is almost 5 weeks old. I am trying your newborn routine schedule. I’ve been told don’t bother with a schedule, but I need structure. She did great yesterday with her day time naps and going down drowsy. Some I used a pacifier, one I didn’t need to. This morning she basically missed her 8:30am-10:30am nap. I got her down and realized it was 10am already. What would you suggest? Just move forward to next steps of feed, diaper change, play and nap again?
Thanks!
Vanessa, if we get way off routine then I just try to keep the normal spaces of time, not necessarily the actual clock time. So if we have a few minutes off here and there then I just keep the normal one if I can :)
Thank you so much for this post! I am trying to follow this but the problem I keep running into is that my little guy won’t go back down to sleep so quickly – after the feed, change and play he’s so awake that he won’t go back down for a nap. How would you handle this? Put them in their crib awake and let him settle himself down until he sleeps or hold him until he starts to doze off? Thanks so much!
You can do either! I’ve done and do both :)
HI thank you so much for your great advice! My little guy is 8.5 weeks old and goes down pretty well around 8pm after a good routine but wakes up almost every 3 hours like clock work during the night. He is 13lbs and everything Ive read says he should be sleeping longer periods of time at night. Do you agree? I try to give him the pacifier and see if he will sleep longer but he seems to wake up every 10 minutes or so after putting himself back to sleep with the pacifier. Eventually I give up and feed him. Also the naps seem so sporadic, one day he will do great the next I spend hours trying to get him to nap. I tried for multiple days in a row to get him to nap in his crib without success. I feel like I am nowhere near a routine and I would really like one for him and me. Thanks for any advice!
Molly, I really think it just depends. I think every 3 hours is fairly typical if he’s not getting too much during the day. I wouldn’t even worry about the night feeds I’d focus more on the day naps. Have you done the free sleep course?
What do you do for ‘play’ with a newborn?
Just mainly lots of kissing, hugging and staring at each other. HA!
Hi! I was just wondering about the dark room when napping – you mentioned in another article to keep it bright during the day to not confuse the baby with night sleeping, but here you say to keep the room dark during the day as well?
I darken the room for naps and bedtime :)
Quick question… are you all breast feeding or bottle/formula? My little girl is 11 days old and it takes at least an hour or so for her to feed… (I’m breast feeding. )
Am I doing something wrong?
Nursing. I had one child nurse each time fully in 10 minuets, another 50 minutes. AAHHH!
We are having trouble with laying down our 9 week old drowsy but awake. We try to follow a wind down routine and try to start as soon as he shows tired cues. We swaddle him up and rock until he’s drowsy, but he wakes back up as soon as we lay him down or very shortly after. He doesn’t always cry right away, so we will try to leave him alone for a while to see if he’ll go back to sleep. But he never does. He might squirm around for 10 minutes or so, but always gets so fussy he won’t go back to sleep. So we picky him up to start all over. He will then get over tired and really hard to get back to sleep. We will spend the whole nap time trying to get him to go to sleep or stay asleep. So he never gets a good nap and it’s time for him to eat again. It’s a vicious cycle that we can’t figure out how to stop. We would like to get him to go to sleep on his own without using sleep props and get on a routine that works for our family, but when it doesn’t work, we get on this bad cycle and ruins the whole day. How do we overcome this obstacle and get on a routine without it spiraling out of control every day??
Leslie, how long do you give him to get to sleep? Sometimes it takes 10 or 15 minutes as they learn to get to sleep themselves. They’ll wiggle, move, squirm, stare off into space in an passive awake but then go to sleep. Or even full throttle fuss to asleep in 2 secons!
Maybe I’m not giving him long enough to fall asleep on his own. If he starts fussing, I try to pick him up, because sometimes he gets to the point where he’s inconsolable and I want to avoid him getting that far and messing up any chance at all for a nap. We have a 2 year old at home too, so its hard keeping him occupied for so long while I spend an hour or better making multiple attempts at getting the baby to sleep.
Leslie, of course you should go in when you feel you have to, but I wonder if you should really try and let him try and get to sleep on his own. He might not get to the inconsolabe part, right? It’s hard to say, but I’d give him a bit more time. He may be like “Okay, I sit here for 5 minutes and then fuss a bit then MAMA COMES!” :) These sweet babies.
What’s your opinion on “the witching hour”? I’m curious since I couldn’t find a lot of information on it. Is it a pretty real thing, and won’t babies get overtired from it? Also, can it start in newborns or later?
Rachel, over here witching hour was sometime between 6 pm and 10:30 pm usually. Not every baby had it and it didn’t last forever, but it’s that evening time when you want them to go down but no matter what you do they’re fussy.
Hi Rachael, I just wanted to say that my 10 week old doesn’t sleep more than 40 mind during the day and it is not the ‘case of me keeping him up’. He naps about 4 times a day. (Yes, he doesn’t sleep more than 2-2.5 hours a day). Each time in his own crib, in a dark and quite room upstairs. He goes to sleep no probs but then aftet sometimes just 15-20mins he wakes up. I don’t pick him up or stimulate him in any way. I can see in my video monitor that he is looking around, playing with his hands for 20-30 minutes before he starts cooing, he is really not sleepy at all and he just wants to play. I’d love him to sleep longer during the day so I can have a shower or eat. But he just seem to love his play time. You saying that it’s the parent’s fault if their baby doesn’t sleep longer stretches during the day felt really unfair.
Esmy, I’m sorry if you feel I’m saying it’s your fault, there is no “fault” at all. We can only lead a baby to sleep and they either do it or they don’t!
Hi! I love your blog it’s so simple and clear. I have a 4 week old who is a trooper night sleeper. He goes to sleep around 9.30-10.30pm every night and sleeps for 6 hours straight he’s done this since before 2 weeks old! Even slept 7 hours a couple of times. I’ll Feed him at like 3.30-5am when he wakes (time depends in when he went down in the evening). It will then take me anywhere from 1-1.5 hours (this includes the feeding and Nappy change) for him to nod off again for another 2.5-4 hours until morning. This part of the day works so well for us and I’m so grateful for a decent stretch of sleep so early on! However my dilemma is his daytime sleeps. He only sleeps literally twice in the day and I fear I am keeping him another wake far too long. We seem to have good days and bad days. Good days he will sleep twice 2-3 hours at a time. Bad days he will sleep twice but only 45 mins. He just seems to scream all day and night when awake and is rarely very chill and happy. I’m going to try really hard over the next week to put him down sooner but we are also battling possible reflux too :(
My question is, Where am I going wrong with these day naps what should I do!?!?! I don’t wanna mess with him too much for fear of ruining the good stretch of night sleep we currently get or do you think it won’t be too affected given it sounds like he already has his days and nights the correct way around? Any advice appreciated :)
Kelly, with such a small baby you will NOT ruin night sleep by giving him more naps. I would try to put him down not much longer than an hour or an hour and a half after you START feeding him and see if that’ll be a good window for him!
Hi there!
Like so many others, I too have found your blog recently and it’s truly so helpful. I’m trying to get a better routine, at the moment, he eats about 3-4 hrs a day (he’s 5.5 weeks old. The challenge is that he takes an epic time to feed. I’m not producing enough milk so our schedule is: breast (5 out of 8 feeds of the day) for 15-30 mins. – really as long as I can get him to stay, then a bottle. The bottle takes another 45-1 hr for his 4ish ounces, then I pump, usually while he naps or try to prepare formula for the bottle. He takes so long to eat because he immediately falls asleep with every feed. I do all the tricks (including all the ones you’ve noted) but I can rarely keep him awake. Feeding is an epic process and then I basically have to wake him to start again nearly as soon as I put him to nap. Do you have any suggestions? He wasn’t gaining weight at first, hence why I wake him during the day but now he’s gaining a good amount and I’m not sure how to handle his need for sleep!
For nighttime, he eats on demand through the night (but again, it’s a process with breast/bottle/pump= very little sleep for me).
Any suggestions on how to make a sleepy combo fed baby have a more effective routine?
Thank you!
I’d say give yourself grace and just do the best you can as you build up supply (you may alrady be past this ,not sure date of this comment) but when there’s so much going on you just need to d othe best you can. Will he go to sleep while you pump?
Hi Rachel, thanks for all of the work you put into sharing this info with other moms who appreciate it greatly! I have a two and half week old daughter and we are trying to get into a better routine. I’m curious about your nighttime stretch – she is pretty good, but 11-7:30 seems like a long time to expect her to sleep. If she wakes during the night is it “ok” via your schedule to attend to her needs? Also, you mention in various places to never rock or feed a baby to sleep but then I don’t know how that would work in the middle of the night?! Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks!
Brittany OH YES YES please feed baby any time at night she wakes!
Rachel, Thank you for hosting this site, it is full of helpful and clearly articulated information. I have a five week old son who eats and sleeps like a champ during the day; late night-early morning, however, is a different story. He usually wakes up around 2am for a feeding which I do in the bedroom, lights off, with as little stimulation as possible. He will feed for about 30-45 minutes and still be asleep while I burp him. At this point, I put him back in his bassinet where he lies sleeping for about 15 minutes when he wakes up screaming. For the next two hours, I pick him up and calm him back to sleep, which happens relatively quickly, but after the 15 minutes in his bassinet, he wakes up again. We do this dance repeatedly until about 4:30am when he falls back asleep. He’s been waking up at 6:00am (yuck!), ready to start the day. During the day and evening, I put him down while he is tired or wake him up if has fallen asleep while feeding or rocking so that he is able to fall asleep on his own. Between 2:30am-4:30am, however, he has decided not to use this skill! It sounds to me like this may be his witching hour, is it just unfortunate that it happens when the rest of the world is sleeping? Any suggestions on how to move it up so that it occurs earlier in the evening (I won’t be so brazen as to think I can just eliminate it!)? Thank you!
Hayley, how old is baby? That certainly sounds like a witching hour but it’s odd that it’s in the middle of the night. Do you think it’s day/night confusion?
Yes we have a one month old and tried going by your schedule. We can’t seem to get him to sleep during the nap times. How do you go by putting them down for nap? What if they cry?
Hi Erik, my newborns take the pacifier, which helps, but I’ll often let them whine a bit if it only takes a few minutes. 90% of the time babies will take pacifier and go to sleep. The other they’ll be a tad fussy for a few minutes then drop off to sleep if well fed. Does baby take paci?
Hi Rachel,
I was looking at your newborn schedule and the week by week guide. I have a 2 week old and am wondering if that’s too soon to start putting her on a routine? I’m currently feeding her whenever she’s hungry and we’re having difficulty getting her down for daytime naps and then she seems to make herself overtired which doesn’t help. Should we be creating a naptime routine? What do you suggest if they wake up before their next scheduled feed and are hungry?
Thanks!
I put mine on some type of “routine” from day one really so never too early. As long as baby is well fed you’re golden! I think that giving her FULL feeds will help her to get consistent. Also, if baby wakes up and is hungry always feed baby. So I’d say that you work on giving baby LOTS of milk so that the naps are longer and she isn’t hungry as soon.
We’ve been loosely following this schedule for about a week now and it has been so helpful! Thank you, Rachel! One question: When is a newborn no longer a newborn? My little guy is 8 weeks now and I’m wondering at what point I should start letting him stay away a little longer between naps.
Abbigail, you know there is no set time, but I think doctors will say 6 weeks+ is no longer newborn, but at 8 weeks I’m sure he can stay awake a bit longer. Give him a few more minutes (5 or 10 at a time) and see how he goes :)
My two week old nurses for 40-50 minutes. 30 on first side, 10-20 on second. How can i start to implement a routine like this if she’s nursing so long? her naps are usually good but sometimes has a block where she stays awake
Bethany, just let her keep nursing then put her immediately down for a nap. I think that’d work. What a good eater :)
You mentioned WHEN you change the schedule, but didn’t really address how your able to stretch the length between feedings. So when moving from feeding every 2.5 to feeding every 3 hours because they are awake more and sleeping through the night aren’t their metabolisms “sort of trained to feed and sleep on the routine” that you’ve been using, and wouldn’t their tummies wake them up during naps 1/2 hour early?
Brittany, so when they transition it’s usually because they’re bigger enough to drink more milk which means they sort of naturally sleep later. I find around the 3 month mark or so they will drink more and sleep a bit later. So then when you move it back it’ll take some transition time but they’ll begin waking up at the new time. For example, you used to feed at 10:00 a.m. and now you can see baby can comfortably wait until 10:30 to eat so then you feed more and see if baby will sleep longer!
I’ve been trying to get my 3 week old on a schedule to where she feeds the same time every morning. However, if she goes longer at night and wakes up at say 6am and my “regular” time is 7am, do I feed her at 6am AND 7am?
Yes, I would feed a tiny bit at 6 try to upt down and then feed at 7. OR I’d wake baby up around 5am and feed in hopes baby would sleep past 6 :)
Hi Rachel m! I am trying to follow your schedule starting last night since my LO has good and bad days because of colic. Everything went well because he fell right to sleep after breastfeeding. But this morning the first feed change diaper and play I planned the time he was up so I swaddle him and put him back to sleep for him to wake up after only 15 minutes I have been trying the last hour to put him back to sleep but he screams and closes he’s eyes tried again because he feel sleep and woke up again. What do you do if its been three hours already but he really hasn’t slept at all.
Gaby, so let me get it right. You mean for his morning nap he won’t go back down?
Help! My baby was very much on this kind of schedule for the first 3 weeks of his life: feeding every 3 hours, with 1 hour for feed/diaper/play, then we put in his crib and he slept like a champ.
Sometimes after his mid-morning feed, he’d spend an extra 30 mins “playing”.
We protected his sleep, didn’t let people wake him up to see him, etc.
In the past few days, it’s all gone to hell. He eats, either too much (which leads to tummy pain), or too little (which makes him wakeful). He either can’t be put down in his crib at all, or goes down for 15 mins then wakes up shrieking. We usually try to use the paci between feeding times so that we don’t end up with a jumbled mess of partial feedings, but sometimes he’ll only calm down if he gets to eat a bit.
At this point, I think he’s over tired, so I have him sleeping at a 45* angle in my lap… just so he gets a proper sleep and rest, to hopefully reset this.
Any tips on what to do when one unwittingly falls off the routine?
Margaret, if he used to sleep well and then stopped that almost always means one of a few things: growth spurt, wonder week, physical discomfort (teething, ear ache, etc.) or hunger. I’d feed a lot a lot a lot and see if that helps as a first port of call.
Really grateful to have found your site; so much practical wisdom! Similar to another mom above, I have a 3 week old I have been trying to instil good sleep habits with since week 1 but finding it really tricky. In the evenings he sometimes takes an hour to settle. The same goes for naps, although he can go for even longer, which means he goes into his next feed, gets tired and doesn’t take a full feed. He will be peaceful at first then start fussing after 15/20 minutes, I try a pacifier but he won’t always take it and pushes it out of his mouth. It’s usually a combination of shusshing/patting, picking up and cuddling that will eventually calm him and then he might take the paci and eventually fall asleep. Most things I’ve read say that newborns, if left, will peacefully fall asleep on their own…but not this one! Is it too early to expect him to do this on his own, or just persevere and hope it improves over the coming weeks? I have a dark room and white noise. He hates a swaddle and fights it, seems to make him frustrated even if I swaddle with his hands near his face. So I leave his arms out completely. He does sleep well at night going 3-5 hours between feeds. The longest stretch in the first part of the evening. Any thoughts greatly appreciated!
Oh and a question on your newborn schedule, I think I read above that you feed after the evening catnap between 7.30-8.00pm, do you wake the baby fully and try to put down awake or treat this as a night feed so it’s ok if they fall asleep with the feed?
Catherine, if it’s a ‘catnap’ then I’ll wake baby fully, perhaps bathe gently, etc. then put back down to bed. Man these newborns sleep so much :)
Catherine, do you think he’s getting full feeds? Is he drinking for a long time at each feed? Also, if you swaddle him and then let him fall asleep how long will it take?
Tried it today and my little girl (6 weeks) really fell asleep soon, she managed to fall asleep because the pacifier calmed her….. but she wakes up after 30 min…… :( What do you do in those cases….. She feeds, plays, I sing with dimmed light and white noise, swaddled with pacifier (although I don’t like the pacifier, but it really calms her, otherwise she would just be crying) she gets sleepy, I put her down and she goes right off, but then wakes up after 30 min.
During the night that doesn’t happen she sleeps 2-6 hours straight.
Today in the afternoon we left for a walk through the city and she slept in the carrier right at my chest for 3 hours straight. Why not at home.
Okay we just startet the new wind down / sleeping routine today, yes it works but why only 30 min…. :(
Debby, when mine were super little if they woke up after 30 minutes I’d just give them the pacifier and see if that’d help them go back down. It often would. Eventually they’d STOP waking for that and just go back to sleep.
Very informative post and I apologize if you’ve already addressed this but my son is 6 weeks old as of yesterday. We don’t have a schedule and I’d really like to institute something as I prepare to go back to work. My son is not a good napper & I rock him to sleep each time he sleeps. Is it too late to get him accustomed to taking naps? And how do I get him to lay down on his own without rocking him? Any suggestions? Thank you so much! This post is the light at the end of my tunnel!
Tamara, NEVER TOO LATE. Just start where you can :)
FIRST TIME MOM HERE! PHEW!! Nugget is 5 weeks old. Below is the routine we are trying to establish. Our problem is Nugget sometimes wakes up before the scheduled feed, about 30 minutes and sometimes he is right on schedule.. What should we do? In addition Nugget is a very SLOW + FUSSY (formula) feeder. Sometimes it takes us almost an hour to feed him. UGH! So keeping with the schedule is always a battle. We think this is due to gas. Furthermore sometimes when we move Nugget to his bassinet after rocking him to sleep he wakes up. Any recommendations?
7am – change diaper & outfit and feed
8am – nap
11am – feed + nap
1pm – feed + nap
4pm – feed + nap
7pm – change to pJs + change diaper + feed + read book
8pm – bath + bedtime (+cuddle) move to bassinet
10pm – dreamfeed
1am – wakes up to feed
4am – wakes up to feed
I think if he wakes up 30 minutes and is content, don’t feed yet. If he wakes up hungry, feed him then see if he’ll catch up on the normal routine later.
Hi Rachel! I love this site and find it so informative. I wish I would have discovered it with my first child. I now have a 4 week old and am starting your newborn schedule. I can tell that during the night I’ve already created a prop for him which is myself. My question is, I’m sure that we will have some crying when I first start this schedule. How long do you let the baby cry it out before it becomes too long or before you go in there and comfort them? Thank you so much!
Laura, I sort of give then ten minutes or so and see if it’s a little fuss or a REAL CRY!
Hi Rachel!
Thanks a lot for providing a sample routine, it’s very helpful!!! We have a 4 weeks old boy and I am trying to implement your suggestions since a few days. My only problem is that it doesn’t seem to work for him to wind down on his own for day naps as well as when being put to bed for the night. I tried putting him to his crib and it takes about 40-50 min of crying and fussing before he really falls asleep. And I mean CRYING!!! So, I would go in and give him his paci back or try to calm him down without taking him into my arms, but it does take almost an hour and means that instead of napping for 2h, he only naps for 1h before he needs to eat (I managed to stretch the feeds from 2 to 3 hours). Any suggestions on how to teach him to fall asleep on his own? The whole idea of your suggested routine is that they do it on their own without too much fussing (which I LOVE) and without being held/rocked, etc but it doesn’t work with my baby.
Any advice will be appreciated!!!
Thanks a lot!
Aliona
Oh thank goodness, seems several people are having this problem which makes me feel better that it’s not just me and my baby. My friends have the same issue but they aren’t following this schedule so I thought maybe that could be a factor. I would love to know what others learn/figure out
Hi, I have a now 6 week old, been more or less following the schedule since week 3. I have to constantly adjust it since he will wake up before his next feed or will wake up an hour after his feed and I have to constantly go in there and give him the paci multiple times. His nursery is literally pitch black, and we use his whitenoise machine for all naps and night sleep. He does pretty O.K during the day, he eats about every 2.5-3 hrs. My problem is that during bedtime feed around 7-7:30. he will not take a full feed, he will stay up way too long, he is totally energized!! i put him down in his nursery within one hour, with white noise and paci and he will only sleep about 30 mins before he starts crying, i assume he is overtired. I will give him his pacifer and rock him in his rock n play and I continue to do this all evening, since he will sleep and wake up and cry every few minutes until about 9pm or 11 pm. by that time he is hungry so I feed him and change him and he finally falls asleep for the night. My question is:
Why wont he take a full feed for bedtime? i have to almost force the bottle and he will cry and not eat so I dont force him. As soon as I lay him down to sleep he starts to cry minutes later and will only sleep a few minutes at a time and I have to soothe him for about 3 hours straight and I am exhausted of his everyday bedtime sleep battle. Any advise on how to deal with bedtime fussiness and overtiredness? what am I doing wrong? Also he shows no obvious signs of tiredness, I usually put him down between 30mins to 45mins after his nap only because he starts to slow down but there is hardly ever any yawning or other signs. HELP!
This is a lot like my baby but it’s ALL day. He takes a full feed but won’t go down to sleep and when he does it’s only 30 min before he wakes up crying. So frustrating. And my baby is the same age.
I am SO HAPPY that I stumbled across your site today! I am due in December with my first, and my husband and I are pretty dead set on creating consistency ASAP, but before I found your site, I wasn’t exactly sure where to begin – so THANK YOU for no fuss, simple, straight forward information! My one question, though I’m sure is really silly, but I still have to ask: what about burping? There isn’t any mention of burping the baby after feeding (especially at night), and I would think that burping the babe would wake him/her up, no? Is the burping implied? Thanks
Sarah, so I burped quite reguarly so feed 5 or 10 minutes, burp, repeat :)
Hi Rachel,
My two week old daughter seems to sleep well. However, our feeding-changing-awake time are two hours blocks. I live in Switzerland and my midwife tells me newborns should feed appropriately 20 min on one breast and 15-20 on the other. Because my girl gets sleepy, these feedings take about two hours when you throw in several diaper changes and then “top off” feedings 1.5 hr into the process. She does sleep well, and she gained her birth weight back before we even left the hospital. Last night, she slept a 5 hour stretch that may have been longer had junky woken her up.
So, for example, if I start feeding her at 7am but she doesn’t go down for a nap until 8:45ish after nursing off and on until 8:30, is it wise to wake her again at 10am? Would you recommend I cut down her feeding time since she does fall asleep while feeding often (not always, but often)?
I’m sure there are cultural differences at play here when it comes to feeding times, but any insight you have to offer would be much appreciated!
And on another note, my gal loves to have her hands and arms up. She was like that in the womb (we get ultrasounds every month during pregnancy, and those hands were always at her face) and she even came out with an arm raised (#problematic)! When we swaddle her with arms in, it only takes her a few minutes to Houdini her hands out. So, now we just swaddle her body and leave out her “cactus arms.” Have you seen other moms/babies still have swaddling success by leaving the arms free?
Thanks so much!
I have a new three weeks old baby who I’ve been following your sample schedule with as well as your week by week guide. He is very chill and a pretty easy baby. Everything tends to work great except he consistently wakes up around 10am for a feed and then will not go back to sleep. I am rocking and laying down when his eyes look heavy and he will literally lay there for hours occasionally first thing a tiny bit here and there. I’ll go in and check on him and try and meet any need that might be present but I usually can’t get him down again until about 2 PM. I am Magent it can’t be normal for a three week old to stay awake for four hours straight but this happens every morning and at no other point during the day…help
Brittany, I wonder if you keep him awake a tad longer before putting him down for that nap?
Just saw this. My baby is now 6 weeks old and I’ve tried keepin him awake longer but it really isn’t helpful. He’s tired and yawning when I put him down and if I wait longer he’s even harder to put down. I usually struggle to get him down for a nap and once he’s down he wakes after an average of 30 min and then won’t go back down. I read that many babies cannot connect sleep cycles and that’s the average length of a sleep cycle, but this is apparently very common so I was wondering how you got your newborns to sleep longer stretches. (I posted his below in another comment since I saw this after)
Hi Rachel,
Just a little confused about the info in the post. On the schedule it says after a nap you Feed, Change Diaper, then Play, then baby goes back down for another nap. In the text you said that baby should be fed, swaddled, then put down for a nap and that all your babies would go to sleep immediately after a feed.. so when does play happen??? Or do you feed again after play then swaddle then put down for a nap?
Tabitha, okay sorry for the confusion. Some babies can be up 1 hour and 15 minutes before a nap, even small ones, so they might have 20 to 30 minutes of “play” which is being awake. Mine would often go to sleep 40 minutes after the start of a feeding so I’d feed them, change, then put them down. That’s what I meant, hope that cleared it up :)
I’m so excited to start trying one of your sample schedules. I recently took in a 4 month old foster child and she had absolutely zero schedules/routines. And my baby is about to turn 21 years old so I’m starting all over again. Right now the baby barely sleeps 30 -45 minutes at a time before she wakes up. Only once did I finally get her to sleep a three-hour stretch. I hope trying to start a schedule now won’t be too difficult.
Hi Rachel,
So my baby is 1 week and 3 days old and he follows his routine throughout the day very well! He feeds during the day every 2-2.5 hours and when we first brought him home from the hospital he was feeding every 3 hours in the night but for the last 4 days or so throughout the night he’s been sleeping past the 3 hours. I’ve actually had to wake him up at the 4 hour mark to feed him, he eats and falls right back to sleep. My question is should I be waking him every 3 hours even though he’s not waking himself to eat or should I allow him to sleep as long as he wants? And is me waking him at night affecting him throughout the day because it’s very hard to keep him awake long enough for even 10 min of play time?
I wake mine throughout the day to keep routine but do not wake them at night!
Hey Rachel, if you don’t wake them up night, do you let them sleep through night feedings if they don’t wake up on their own?
Yes!
Hi! I have a 5 day old who is a sleepy eater which is great at night when all I do is let her wake up, feed her, and put her back to bed. She’s already letting me sleep about 2.5 hours at a time at night. But during the day I feel conflicted about what to do, I generally let her wake up from sleep on her own, except first thing in the morning, when I make her get up 7:30 or 8. At that time I change and dress her, feed her and then she’s kinda alert for awhile. After that, I guess I’ve been doing things opposite…She wakes, I change her, feed her, but then she gets sleepy again so I feel like she’s not getting enough “awake” time. I’ve tried keeping her “awake” after a feed instead, and she just wants to suck and soothe and go back to bed. Am I overthinking things at 5 days old? Or what?
Chase, you’ll be okay go with the flow. Wake baby more during the day and less at night.
Have a 5 week old and am trying to implement a schedule. He sleeps great at night (only wakes up once, sometimes twice) but I am having g issues getting him to go down for naps. He fights sleep like crazy and screams whenever I try to give him a pacifier. I’ve resorted to nursing home asleep. I do t want to make this a habit. Any suggestions on how to get him to sleep without nursing? Also, any suggestions on a nap time routine that are newborn age appropriate?
Google ‘Ultimate Newborn Sleep Schedule’ on my site and you’ll find a big long list!
Do you always feed prior to diaper changes? I hate having our little baby sit in her dirty diaper after her nap/sleep … Also there is no diaper change built into the first feed of the day (after the “longest sleep” – is that intentional? I’ve been doing diaper change then feeding (since everyone says they are hard to keep awake to feed and suggest changing the diaper to wake them up anyway)?
She’s going on 5 weeks and we are having a heck of a time getting any sort of sleep/routine that works because she just refuses to fall asleep :( I try to do her “dream feed” around 9 or 10 sometimes I wake her up to do this if she was asleep and others she refuses to sleep after her afternoon nap so she is already awake.. She then usually wakes at 11 pm, 1 am, 3 am and 5 am then won’t go back down for a nap after the 5 am time until 8 or 9. Mommy and baby are getting very tired and cranky :(
I do, Natalie, but if they wet their diaper while I’m feeding them obviously I’ll change them!
Do all of your newborns really nap during the day for an hour and 40 minutes? I follow all of you schedules and advice to a t. I use the recommendation for swaddles and pacifiers. I lay my baby down right after I see him yawn so he’s not over stimulated. I’ve tried rocking, in a dark room with a sound machine. I make sure he’s fully fed (BFing for and hour if needed!) I’ve done everything I know to possibly do and my baby consistently wakes after the first sleep cycle around 20-40 min later and at that point it becomes impossible to get him back to sleep. It’s usually pretty hard to get him to go down in the first place but once he wakes he def won’t go back down even if he’s yawning. The one exception being he will sleep on me ALL day long if I were to let him. It seems like he’s just flat out not able to connect sleep cycles. I have been trying since day one and he’s now six weeks old. My 4 friends with babies all the same age have the same issue. How in the world were your babies able to sleep for an hour and 40 min for every nap??
Brittany, I am not sure but as long as baby is not exhausted IT IS OKAY YOU ARE DOING A GOOD JOB. Does baby take a full long 30 minute feed?
No not 30 min, He always seems full after 10 min. Ie he is content and won’t take the boob any more no matter how hard I try. But I think we finally had a break through!!! He’s nine weeks and we have been trying to implement this schedule since the first week of life (loosely with flexibility). So I am posting this for anyone else who struggles like we did-keep it up! Ok so right after his second major leap (check out wonder weeks if you don’t know what that is, but they coincide with growth spurts early on) I did an experiment since I had literally done EVErYthing to try and get him to nap. At 8 weeks an exclusively feed baby should be taking in and average of 25 oz a day (and this seemed accurate for my baby) so I divided up 25 oz by 7 feeds since I want him to get them in during the day feedings and start sleeping through the night (not forcing just encouraging). Then, I pumped for EVERY single feed and fed him from the bottle for an entire day. Exhausting, but then I could know he was really getting full and taking in what he should be (on average). Sometimes he would suck down 3.5 oz in 5 min, but other times it would take 45 min to get that much in him! I still fed every 2.5 hours. By 10:30 we had met our goal and he only woke up for 1 feed instead of 3-4!!! Praise the Lord I met my goal, but what I didn’t expect was he started getting tired quicker during the day, started getting way easier to put down, stay down, and is currently sleeping SO much better at nap time consistently for three days now!!!!! I can finally take a shower! @ 2 months he doesn’t need quite as much sleep as on here but it’s a heck of a lot closer than before! I’m not sure if it was because I successfully stretched his stomach out and he’s getting more in or if it’s because of the growth spurt, but either way, things are working a LoT better now. I know you’ve said it before but FULL feedings are a deal breaker and the most important thing to good sleep. (My baby would just only take the boob for so long) and PS I’m not over feeding him by forcing a bottle (he never threw up and I’ve seen him eat up 4.5 before)
Almost 9 week old baby boy having a hard time at 4 am he wakes to eat and takes forever to go back to sleep and has a up down sleep. Waking frequently then going back to sleep the same goes for his naps?? Is this normal or what can I do to resolve it ? I just want him to be getting restful sleep!? He also spits up a ton which sometimes I think wakes him, I have tried eliminating dairy and it doesn’t seem to be helping with spitting up and pediatrician says if he isn’t upset when he spits up then it is normal all babies spit up??
Any suggestions would be appreciated!?
If he spits up a ton then I wonder if he has reflux?
Just found this and trying out the schedule! Love your blog! My boy is 6 weeks. We already had a loose schedule implemented where he eats every 2 hours during the day (sometimes he will go 2.5-3 if he takes a longer nap), with bedtime between 9-10pm where he will sleep one longer stretch (3-5 hours) then wake every 2 (3 if I’m lucky) thereafter with a morning wake time of 8-9am. My question with your schedule is what to do since he wants to eat more often than going 3 hours for the day during feedings (and at 6 weeks, is eating every two hours too often?? He always seems hungry!!) Do I still put him down for a nap within an hour of waking, knowing he will likely wake sooner to eat? By the way, this is my first day trying this schedule so I know it may take some time / consistency / tweaking before I figure out what best works for him!
Taryn, just feed him as much as he’ll take and don’ let him fall asleep at the breast and it’ll sort itself out. If 2 hours is too often it’s that he isn’t eating enough!
Hi Rachel, amazing site thank you. My 9 week old is currently using me (I let her obviously) as a pacifier and more often than not needs me to sleep. I am working on your routine but any tips on breaking this habit I set? She needs to be asleep before she’ll sleep in her cot for naps. She sleeps great at night. Thank you.
Ria, try a pacifier!
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for all of the great advice and info on your website! I love it all! I hope to train my little one to be a great sleeper.
My little guy is 6 weeks old and we are really struggling to get him to go to sleep on his own. When we lay him down for naps (after singing, snuggles, and swaddles), he just will not go to sleep. He only falls asleep if he is rocking in my arms (a sleep prop we have created that we want to get rid of!). Once he is asleep and laying in his crib, he only stays asleep for about 10-15 minutes before waking up crying. We try to let him self-soothe and cry it out for a few minutes but he can’t seem to get himself back to sleep. We try to comfort him back to sleep (comforting words, rubbing his belly, singing, shushing, and we’ve tried the pacifier but he can’t keep it in his mouth), but he fights it until we pick him back up and rock and start all over. He ends up just sleeping in my arms so that he will get some good rest. Then he will sleep for hours! I end up not being able to get anything done around the house because I am holding our little guy all day just so he can get some sleep! Any suggestions??
Paige, did you do my free course at the end?
This is exactly what I’m going through with my 6 week old. I can’t find any good replies on these type questions on here though… since I didn’t find this information until after what rachel calls the sweet spot, when newborns have a drive to sleep, I am unsure what to do. I don’t know if I should let her cry through the nap then try again with the next feed? But then she falls asleep while feeding and we get the vicious cycle that is driving me crazy.
Rachel,
Have a 2 week old who nurses well. Trying to follow your newborn schedule but it takes so long for me to put him down. He hates being swaddled with arms in and it doesn’t seem like he’s tired enough to go back down for a nap within 40 min of being woke up prior. Any tips to help? When I put him down to nap in dark room he just cries and cries…. help!
Emily, perhaps try to push it back to an hour after starting nursing or even 1 hr and 15 minutes?
Hey Rachel! I just started this today with my 5 week old and I can already see a huge difference. I was wondering though after the cat nap you change them and then just put them right back to bed without feeding? I’m so scared she won’t go back down if I interrupt her nap. That would mean she goes 4 1/2 hours without eating until her dream feed? I just want to make sure I’m understanding this correctly. Thanks!!
Oh no I defintely feed at night for sure! I’ll look at that. Often I”ll cluster feed in the evening as well to make sure there’s a lot of milk :)
My 4 week old doesn’t sleep in the morning after waking around 7… then cluster naps in the late afternoon thus ruining his nighttime sleep. How do you force a baby to nap? I’ve tried so many times!!
Also he used to be a Great eater but now he takes an oz there and then the rest of the bottle 20 minutes later! What happened? He used to down those bottles so quickly… now he takes his time/doesn’t know what he wants
Hi Rachel,
I am trying to create a routine for my little one. I have been able to follow the feeding times mostly through out the day, give and take 15-30mins for the afternoon feeds. I tried doing a routine of feed-play-nap but on certain days, my little one is sleepy after the feed. Is it ok if on some days it is feed-play-nap and some days feed-nap-play or better to be consistent on the sequence? Definitely don’t want to deprive my LO of sleep.
First- THANK YOU! Your website has been my saving grace in the slew of information I have read and researched online. I am a first time Mom and they say it takes a village- I feel like your website has sort of become my village!
My little man is 8 weeks and I just started to try and implement a more set routine as our nights are exhausting! I am generally following your routine- awake no longer then 1.5hrs, sleep during the day no longer then 2 hours, for him formula bottle feeds every 2-3hrs. I do have a couple questions to try and get the longer stretches at night. His AM wake time I would like to be 7am, with his age would you wake him up until 9ish pm to feed, dreamfeed and then only feed if he wakes (ie not wake him)? Or would you wake and include an additional feed between 9 and dream? Also, during the day if he doesnt nap for the full nap time but doesnt appear hungry would you leave him in his crib for relaxing time or go ahead and pick him up and play with him? Lastly, what do you do when your little one nods off during a feed? (try and wake them to get more awake time or just start their nap time early?
If you start nap time early do you still expect them to sleep their usual amount of time?)
Any help you can provide is much appreciated!!!
Hello,
If baby is sort of feeding each 4 hours day and night how to change it? It is difficult to put him for a nap straight away as with bottles you need to burp them and have them vertical a bit before putting down. We are 6 weeks old and is it too late to change?
Thanks,
How long is a catnap?
20 minutes?
Hi! Thanks for your article, interesting read! I have a 2 week old and would love to get her on a schedule. My problem however is that she won’t sleep during the day unless held. Actually, she won’t do anything but cry during the day unless she is held. What do you do for your daytime naps? Does your baby just quietly and obediently sleep when your schedule says nap time? Luckily she had figured out night and day and for the most part sleeps well in her crib alone at night… But come morning it’s a whole different story! Your insights and thoughts are appreciated! Thanks!
Hey Rachel,
Being a first time mom, im so relieved that ive found your blog! i have a question though… my little boy who is about 7 weeks will go stretches of 4 to 5 hours during the day without naps…REGULARLY.:/ I’m beside my self because even though he will sleep semi decently at night.. he fights sleep during the day and will often wake at 4 am to not sleep until 9 or 10 am!:( i dont know how to get him back to where he was in the first 2 weeks of life where he was regularly sleeping every hour or so. he is exhausted, angry, fussy, crying or screaming unless being nursed or in my arms… and just generally malcontent until he finally rests! i swaddle after every feed before nap and try white noise and lullabies.. so many things to get him to nap again to no avail. hes so very little to be refusing sleep… i dont know what to do! hes not at a bad temperature and hes clean and changed and a little gassy and colicky but nothing medical beyond that. do you have any thoughts?? would so appreciate it!
Hi! Any suggestions for a 2 week old who can do this schedule (and fall asleep on her own for naps) beautifully during the day but loses it starting around 5-6pm to about midnight each day? She’ll be calm if held but will stay awake 2+ hours easy despite our best efforts. She does have reflux and is very gassy. Any suggestions for making through after waking from the 4:10 nap?
What if your baby has reflux and needs to be upright after feeds for quite a while? It kind of messes with the keep awake and play idea. I change her diaper and try to play before a feed but if she is too hungry that doesn’t work well either. It turns into change diaper, feed her, hold her upright then she is asleep and if i wake her up sometimes she won’t go back to sleep?!? Suggestions?? She is 4 weeks old.
Sorry, just got to this comment, but I’ll usually just hold them upright against me so that it’ll hopefully help settle them!
How long is the catnap for in the evening? Do you wake baby after a certain amount of time to achieve the set bedtime? Our days look a little like this but struggling in the evenings especially with a four year old too! Would love your help!
Mine usually catnapped around 20 to 30 minutes, hope that helps
Do you wake baby from the catnaps?
Mine usually woke themselves from catnaps!
Rachel,
Thank you soooo much for sharing your resources! They are very helpful. Question: When do I pick up a baby in the middle of the night? My daughter is a little grunter, when she begins to wake up in the middle of the night to feed she grunts, then will stop, then starts, then stops. When she gets on the border of fussing/crying I feed her. She never opens her eyes, so I’m not even sure if she’s awake, but she always takes a full feed. I’m not entirely confident when I should pick her up, if I’m doing it too early, too late. There’s been times when I wait and she will sleep an extra hour. I feel bad though, like maybe i’m starving her. I want for her to sleep as long as possible, but I don’t know what to do!
Hello! I have a question about night time feeds; should the baby be encouraged to take a full feed at night? My little girl doesn’t want to stay awake enough to take a full feed and I’m not sure how much to stimulate her to keep her awake enough to feed.
Hi,
What do you do with infants who wake up frequently? Mine has started to wake up, need a pat or two and fall back asleep. This is new so I’m trying to keep him in his crib. He’s 4 weeks old.
Would you still follow this schedule if they end up getting upbefore feedings?
Hi
I’m a first time mummy and looking at getting into a routine! Thanks for sharing yours!
My baby girl is 9 days old and she sleeps all day and then wakes at night. When I change her nappy she wakes up, I then give her a bottle and she goes back to sleep. I realise your routine says to feed, change and then play so I need to readjust what I’m doing but with my baby being awake all night it is very hard to wake her. I have tried undressing her, tickling her feet and speaking to her but she just nods back off! How do you keep your babies awake? Any help would be appreciated as I can’t keep being awake all night although at night I keep lights off with a quiet environment I’m just hoping it’s a phase but if I get into a routine this may help so any suggestions would be appreciated
Thanks
Hi There! Found your blog really interesting and going to give it a go when the baby arrives this summer. One question though, how do you keep to the newborn routine when you constantly have visitors wanting to hold the Baby?
Hi Rachel, wow your blog is just amazing and so helpful to me as a first time Mum to my gorgeous boy. You are a life saver. He is 2 weeks old and we are sort of trying to follow the routine you advise, although when he wakes for food we tend to change him, play, cuddle a bit and then feed, putting him down for a nap almost straight after feed. Would you recommend feeding first? He struggles more to feed if nappy is dirty or wet and it is dirty or wet quite a lot and feel bad lifting his legs etc when he has a full belly. Thanks so so much,
Julia
I have been trying SO hard to follow this. My son is almost 5 weeks old. His night sleep is hit or miss. And I’m trying to put him down for a nap like suggested, but he just won’t sleep. I try putting him down drowsy but awake and he instantly wakes back up. I end up spending so much time trying to get him to sleep that he will end up being awake 3+ hours. I honestly don’t know what to do.
Hi Rachel! I’m a first time mom, our baby is only one week old. It’s probably much too early to really start him on a schedule but I’m so happy I found your blog so I can start a schedule soon. I have a couple questions. First do you always change your baby’s diaper first, then feed and put them down to sleep? I find that every time I feed, he falls sleep and then I overstimulate him by changing his diaper and doesn’t fall asleep as easily. I’d love to change him first and then feel him but I worry he’ll be sleeping in a dirty diaper for a long time. Also, he currently only sleeps on our chest at night. During the day he is fine sleeping in a swing, bassinet, or rock n play. But at night when we try to put him to sleep in one of those, even if he’s swaddled he wakes up crying after two minutes. Any thoughts on how to fix this? Or is it just too early to fix this right now? Thank your for all you wisdom!
Hi.
I have a 6 week old and we are trying your schedule. Today she woke after an hour for her first nap and then 45 min after her second. We typically feed every 1.5-3 hours. If baby is not showing she is hungry would you resettle by picking her up and rocking, etc. or would you keep in crib and try to resettle? Or should I just end the nap since she is crying?
I did end up taking her out after 45min nap because she was crying so much and I put her in a, ergo…she went back to sleep so I think she could have slept longer. A longer nap in the crib would be more ideal…tips on how to resetlle if she wakes crying?
Hi I love to the sound of this schedule but after 11 pm my almost two week old will still wake up around 2/3 am for a feeding. How do you get them to sleep during that time stretch from 11 pm to 7 am in the morning?
My baby will not sleep on her own during the day. She is 6 weeks old now and I can bounce her to sleep or feed her to sleep (nothing else works) and as I put her down she wakes instantly and cries. Even when she is awake and I put her down for a second, she cries. I am getting very frustrated as I cannot do anything for myself or the household. She sleeps well at night but also often will not stay sleeping if she isn’t in my arms. I know this is dangerous too and I am super concerned. I just don’t know what else to do as I need to sleep as well and I have no other option. Her feeds take forever as well, always over an hour before she seems to be satisfied and I’m definitely producing enough milk. I feel like I am doing everything wrong
Ftm here- love your routines and tips for setting a sleep schedule. I have a 6 week old and I’m starting to put him on a routine. Do you count a 2 hour nap from when you put them down or from when they fall asleep? Currently he’s taking 30+ minutes to fall asleep (with fussing -and me having to go back in and soothe for a minute or so) if I’m not rocking him fully to sleep. Thank you!
Starting to follow your schedule today! My baby sleeps long during the day and won’t sleep at night so we are going to try to turn that around. She will not fall asleep on her own though. When her eyes get heavy and she yawns I put her in the bassinet and then she pops her eyes wide open. I’m not sure where to go from here.
I have an almost two week old who has been following the same schedule since we brought her home where every 2.5 to 3 hours she would wake to eat and then back to sleep. Nighttime is the same except a few times I did 4 hours cause she just slept (yay me!). Yesterday and today though I cannot get her down for daytime naps. She is super interested in the world around her and no matter what I cant get her to nap after feeding and activity and diaper change. She just looks around and maybe fusses a little but isnt crying. Should I be concerned she wont sleep during the day? What can i do to get her to nap?
Loosely following this with my one week old but what about when they want to eat more frequently? Or fight the nap?
Do you keep this same schedule from birth to 3 months? Tips for 40-45 min naps to improve?
Hi, and thanks for your insights! My 5 week old doesn’t fall asleep for hours. I can put her swaddled or not in the bassinet for hours, or Rick her for hours, and either way she’s up for hours at a time. Suggestions?
Thanks!
Maria
Hi! I have a question. My sun is 7 weeks old, and I´m feeding him every two hours. It takes him about 45 minutes to feed ( sometimes more and others less) but he does not fall asleep fast during the day. So for instance, if I fed him at 11 am and he fell asleep at 12 20 I would normally feed him again at 1.30 am, but if he is still asleep… would you recommend me to wake him up or not? I have been waking him up so he eats every time at the same hour trying to make him get used to the schedule… but now I´m not sure if I should do it and should leave the poor baby sleep!
Help! My usual feeding time is 40 minutes (20 on each boob). So should my LO be put straight back to nap? I do this for night feedings, but during the day she is usually awake after. Sometimes for hours.
I’m trying to follow this routine with my 6 week old, however, he has infant reflux. I can’t get him to nap at all these times during the day, or if & when he finally does start a nap, it’s within 30 mins of the next feeding time! I don’t know if I should feed him or let him sleep. How do we manage this routine for an infant with reflux?
Hi Rachel, I’ve come across your blog as a first time mum to a 6-week LO who resists sleep so much! We’ve had an up and down first month with very little sleep (both of us!), and only a week or so ago I realised that he must be over stimulated and over tired (he was literally staying awake all afternoon and I didn’t realise this was so unusual – I just thought he was a more alert baby) so I am taking steps to rectify this! A couple of questions – we have been trying to set a routine/watch his cues for the last week or so and put him down for naps a lot more frequently, and this has had a hugely beneficial effect. However, some of his naps are very short, certainly not regularly lasting 1-2 hours – more like between 15-40 mins – with no reason for waking (no loud noises etc). We are trying to wait 3-4 hours between feeds but with his small amount of sleep its a long wait! After his 40 or so minutes of play time, and before his next feed, he should ideally be asleep – so every time he wakes should my focus be on getting back to sleep until it is feeding time? I am not a routine kinda gal but he really seems to require it! Really appreciate your help :)
I would so love for this to work, but how can you make a schedule work if you can’t get baby to sleep “on time”? I’ve been trying to do a schedule like this since day one. Baby is two weeks old now and I can’t get him to sleep when he is supposed to. Any ideas?
Hi, I really enjoyed your article, but I have a couple of questions. I have twins, currently 7 weeks old. I am trying to keep them to a routine, because especially with the two of them it’s really hard to do anything or to get any rest without it, but I feel like I might be keeping them up too long between naps, and it’s ultimately making their nap shorter and more frustrating. The only problem is it’s hard to get everything done and put them back down before they get too tired and fussy. During the day I tandem breastfeed, so that they eat together, but by the time I change them after feeding I feel like it’s time for them to go back down for a nap. However, I feel like I’m supposed to give them some sort of interaction or tummy time at this point, and that it will be detrimental to their growth if I’m not keeping them active or letting them use their neck and stomach muscles. Should I just give up on that for now so that I can put them back down for a nap in the time that they need to sleep, or should I still be trying to put them down for tummy time during their awake period?
Hi there, so I noticed you don’t feed at bedtime 8pm? Only a dream feed around 10-11?
I wake my baby at 9 to feed last feeding but she’s up till 11pm!
Why is this!?
Thanks!
Hi! My baby is 7 weeks. Should I start here or go straight to your three month routine? Thanks!
Hi Rachel,
My son is 6 weeks old and we’ve recently started having an issue getting him to nap during the day. I am not sure if it’s bc of a growth spurt or what. I’ve been trying to follow your schedule and I am wondering what I should do if he won’t nap the full time. Once I get him down he wakes up fussing. Sometimes he will go back to sleep on his own and other times I have to rock him back to sleep but he won’t always go back to sleep. Should I just cuddle with him quietly until the next feeding?
I’m a first time mom and struggling a bit understanding/reading his cues.
Can’t thank you enough for this post! Total game changer!
I’m on baby number three and wasn’t prepared for the level of noise and confusion having three kids brings. I’m an introvert parent and that just doesn’t fly with me! The baby also had total day/night confusion – not what you need while recovering from a c-section.
Stumbled on this article while casting around the net for routines that were useful but not overly prescriptive. Within four days of implementing something close to your schedule, the baby is having 4-5 good naps during the day and sleeping 3-7 hour stretches at night, waking in the mornings at 7:30am. Absolutely life changing! I feel like a human being again.
The best thing about your routine was that I’ve been able to follow it roughly, but adapt it to my baby’s and family’s rhythms. My newborn doesn’t catnap as often as yours, but easily self settles for his bigger naps now, and manages his own sleep cycles at night. I am honestly blown away. Thank you for helping us become a happier, more functional family again. ♥️
Oh gosh, I’ve only been trying this routine since lunch time today after we got home from the Dr who told me there doesn’t appear to be any medical reason for why I can’t get her to sleep for longer than 5 minutes during the day (even though she can sleep like a champ at night). She’s not having naps as long as your schedule says (duh, I’ve only just started!), but putting her down waayyyyyyy more often than I was and already she does seem to be staying down a bit easier and isn’t fighting it quite as much. I was trying to follow the Little Ones sleep schedule which had her having only 3 naps a day and max 4-5 hrs sleep in the day at 7 weeks old. I’m wondering now if she possibly has just been chronically overtired all this time. Clearly she never could follow this schedule, my guess is that she was waking after 5 mins because she was overtired. I’m not sure if she’ll stick to this routine given that she seems to wake around 4:30am every morning grunting and groaning which can last for hours, but I certainly will give it a good red hot go! Just wondering though, at the times that say “feed”, is that when you wake them, or are they usually awake well before that and you’re feeding them to get ready for the next nap? Also, if baby keeps waking consistently before “wake time”, do I just get her up and bring the next nap forward, or do I try and work on getting her back to sleep to finish the nap? And finally, is this newborn schedule for up until 3 months, or being 7 weeks, should she maybe not be having quite as many naps as in this schedule? Waiting to see if this schedule works better for her before purchasing :) (I’ve spent enough on failed sleep schedules already!) :( :(
Can you clarify the newborn schedule for me? It looks like the baby is fed at 6P, but then not again until the dream swaddled feed at 10:30-11? That’s the longest chunk of time during the day…is there supposed to be another feed at the 730-8 bedtime?
HI Lindsey, yes I usually would cluster feed during that time. Need to go in and edit!
Thank you for writing this article! My baby who I’m adopting was born in Oregon 12 days ago, and yesterday we traveled home to Florida with her. She’s slept in four places and traveled an entire day on airplanes. Before we got home, I was awake for about 38 hours. Now that we’re home, I want to get her on a schedule, and I found your article. I started her on the schedule this afternoon at 1:00 with a feeding, and now it’s 8:45 pm and she’s sound asleep in her crib. I even got a scheduled nap this afternoon while she was napping. Thank you thank you thank you again. I hope this schedule continues to work for her because it’s helping me not be as overwhelmed by being a parent for the first time.
Hi, first time new mama here. I’ve just recently found your site and I have an 8 week old. He’s been sleeping great at night – typically goes does for a 3-4 hour stretch, wakes for a feed, then goes back down for another 2-4 hours. But we are having a tough time with consistent day time naps.
Where do I start with getting him on a better routine & schedule? Do I start at the beginning of your week 1 schedule or start at 8 weeks?
I go back to work in early Feb and and hoping to be more structured by then.
Thank you!
Hi Rachel, I have tried to put my 6 week old on a schedule for 2 weeks now she sleeps 4-5 hour stretches through the night as she has always done but the daytime naps are so hard!! Sometimes I’m running into the room every 10mins but it ranges from 10-45mins. It’s such a mission.. I am currently feeding her to sleep but I realise this is a sleep cue which I need to change. I am working on this now. But why the bad napping? (Baby is breastfed upon waking).
Sorry as an addition to before, I swaddle, keep a fairly dark room and play white noise. I have a groegg and keep the aircon going to keep the room at a good temp.
Hi, is the defined sleep time when your newborn should be asleep, put down awake to sleep, or when the sleep routine (rocking, soothing,etc) should start?
Hi Rachel,
My husband and I just started a routine like this with our almost 7 week old. Did your kids sleep from the nap time until the desired feeding time? If so, did it take them a couple weeks to start to do this? How long did it take them to adjust to the routine? Thanks so much for your time.
So this schedule doesn’t seem to build in any time to do anything outside the house…any suggestions for doing that? I need fresh air and exercise daily to stay sane and fit to be around other humans, besides errands need to be done. Being tied to the house all day for months on end would pretty much cause me to lose the will to live! I am expecting my first child this summer and would be interested in some tips for a routine that would work for both of us…and the one here as described would not unless there is a way to build in getting out daily!
I have a two week old and am loving your site! I desperately want to start having more of a routine. Two questions from this post – I am having a lot of trouble with getting her back to sleep after nighttime feeds. If I keep her swaddled she absolutely will not stay awake to eat much so then she’s fussing 30 minutes later from hunger. Any suggestions for keeping her sleepy at nighttime feeds but awake enough to actually eat a full feed? Also, so far she’s been napping during the day in our living room with bright lights and a decent bit of noise. If she begins napping in a dark quiet room will it create day/night confusion? Thanks!!
My son is almost 3 weeks old. Is it okay to start this with him now? Would you suggest laying him down awake but drowsy or holding him to fall asleep?
Let me start off by saying your website has great information!
3 questions for you?
1. Have you heard of a witching hour occurring in the morning? My little one is 4 weeks old and seems to be extremely fussy no matter what we do from 8:30 am to 11:30 am and seems to want to cluster feed around the clock during this time (but I think it could more be comfort feeding).
2. Also, do you feed to sleep, if not how do you get your little one down to sleep, can’t seem to figure out how to get my little one to sleep without feeding to sleep (first time mom here)
3. Also, during one of the afternoon naps I allow home to sleep on me so I can snuggle him, is this a bad habit to get into?
Thanks
Hi! My four week old boy has been doing great with all of your suggestions. My biggest issue is the night feeding. I put him down for bed between 8-9, then dreamfeed around 10:30-11 (sometimes it’s a full bottle (he’s a formula baby), others it’s only an ounce or two) He will then wake up at least 2 times in the night to eat before his day starts at 8 am. How can I get this down to one time a night? He’s eating plenty during the day but still taking full bottles at night too.
Hi! I have a 5 week old and I’m trying different routines with her right now and have a difficult time understanding this sample schedule. How is it possible to feed, change the diaper, play, and give a bath all in 30 min and then put them down for a nap? I nurse and every time it takes at least 30-40 min, plus I hold her up for at least 15-20 min so she doesn’t spit up. If I change, play, and give her a bath, that will add at least another hour. Can you let me know please how long you nurse for each time? It takes such a long time that I don’t understand how this schedule works.
Thank you!
What do you do when baby doesn t seem to take a full feed (In my opinion) only feeds for 3 mins max and that s it. I then have to encourage another feed 30 minutes later in order to ensure baby gets full nap or else he wakes up and I have to go and feed in order to get him to complete his nap (although I wake him a little to know He is going back to bed) Is this a bad idea? Should I just let baby feed the first time and just leave it in order not to work against his metabolism.
Samantha, so is he only wanting to feed for a few minutes because he’s distracted or falling asleep? It’s SO HARD getting them to take a full feed, but if he only feeds a few minutes, you end up feeding him hourly don’t you? I’d encourage, as best you can, to get him to feed longer. My daughter only fed for 12 minutes at a time but it WAS a full feed because she wouldn’t want to feed again for 2.5 to 3 hours. If he’s wanting to feed every hour it’s simply a snacking habit. Hope that helps :)
Hi Rachel –
Thanks so much for this info, it’s great!
We have a 1 month old who was napping pretty well during the first couple of weeks but has since mostly refused to nap for any good length of time at all during the day (his nights are about 3+ hours at a time). I’m trying to get him on a routine, but it seems like every time I go to lay him down to sleep during the day he wakes up and starts crying. I’m keeping the room dimly lit, have white noise playing, rocking and singing to him and he’ll fall asleep in my arms, but the minute I lay him down he wakes right back up and starts to cry.
It’s not like he’ll fuss quietly, or just stare off, he just starts crying right away and won’t stop, even with a pacifier, so I have to pick him up again and start the process over again. I don’t believe it’s over-tiredness because sometimes he’ll fall asleep while feeding, or I’ll go to put him down well within 30- 1 hr window after the start of a feed but he’s just not having it.
If I do manage to get him down it’s never for longer than an hour, and usually it’s more like 15 – 20 minutes before he wakes up and starts fussing again and by that time it’s usually close to feeding time again so it’s been quite the struggle.
Did you have this trouble with any of your little ones, or do you have any other advice?
Thanks :)
Hi Kaitlyn, my former mother’s helper is going through this exact same thing. He’ll only sleep when held and if she leaves him to sort of cry it out he’ll just scream and cry and never sleep. So she doesn’t do that, of course. He has some type of reflux, though, could that be your issue?
Thanks for the quick reply! I was wondering if it could be something like reflux! He had really bad gas but we’ve seemed to get over that mostly (thankfully) so I was wondering if reflux might be the problem.
He does pull off sometimes when feeding and start crying (not always though) and has been spitting up a bit more. I will check with his paediatrician to see if that might be the issue – thank you!
Yes, I’d definitely rule that out. If they have reflux (even silent reflux) it may not result in throwing up, but will be super uncomfortable when they lie down!
Hello,
Your site is super helpful! I’ve seen many newborn schedules and most of them have baby napping way more times a day for shorter periods than my baby does. He is almost 4 weeks old and usually takes 3 2 hour naps a day and I usually have to wake him up every time. I also feed him when he wakes up and before he goes down for a nap because if I didn’t I feel like he would go too long between feedings. At night he will sleep one good 4.5 hour stretch first and then be up for 2 hours, then sleep for another 3 hours. How do I fix this?
Thanks!
Annie
Annie, I’m not sure what needs fixing here, HA!
I try this for my niece since her mom is off for working and this working perfectly! Though there is times my niece doesn’t nap really well and cranky.
But after practices and practices, It’s much more easier for me to put her to sleep and she now has a sleep routine.
Thank you! Thank you for this details article.
Hi Rachel, i live in tropical country where it’s hot and humid. It’s customary here to bathe babies 2x/day (morning and afternoon). And sunbathing session in the morning to reduce jaundice. Usually at 7.30 am for 15-20 minutes. Do you have recommendations how to add these 2 activities in your newborn schedule? Thanks and appreciate it!
I’d definitely do it after a feeding morning and evening, the evening one right before bed. Maybe the morning one after breakfast or something :)
Hi Rachel,
I’ve been following your newborn schedule pretty much to the letter since my baby was just a couple of days old. She won’t take a paci, so that is one thing that I haven’t implemented. She’s been doing great till about two or three days ago, when she turned two weeks old. Now, instead of staring off into space and quietly drifting off (or sometimes crying for 5-15 minutes) and sleeping until I wake her up at the next feeding time, she will either cry for 20-30 minutes straight, or cry intermittently (with long stretches of wiggling quietly) without falling asleep for up to an hour. Usually at an hour of intermittent quiet/crying, I move her to the swing to try and get her to sleep before it’s time to eat again. She barely spits up, so I don’t think she’s struggling with reflux like our first daughter did. I’m not sure what to do, since she won’t take a paci, and I can’t spend all my time trying to soothe/hold/shush/pacify her, since my older daughter is 2.5 and having a really hard time adjusting. Her current coping mechanism is to pee on whatever she’s sitting on whenever I go to check on the baby…and she’s been fully potty trained for 8 months… it’s been rough. Any suggestions??
Could it be that she’s hungry? I’d make sure and feed her tons, not sure when you left this comment. Is she better now, the sweet babe? Yes, I’d do some special playtime with your toddler too because the transition of a baby int he home can be tough!
Hi Rachel,
My 7 week old sleeps through the night but barely naps during the day. She feeds almost every 45 min sometimes to an hour/hour 1/2. Do you think she is snacking or making up calories from her missed feedings at night?
I wouldnt let baby go longer than 3 hours at night at this age, so baby is likely trying to make up missed calories!
Thanks for all the blogs. It’s nice to get some new ideas as I am a first time mom. One question I have, if I put the baby down to nap, in a darkened room as suggested, then she needs to be supervised. So I need to be in a darkened room. How do you balance her needs for quiet/dark and your own?
Thank you for sharing, in fact having a baby is a wonderful, but exhausting, time. You’re constantly caring for a tiny human being who needs your constant attention. One thing that can help you get through those first few weeks (and beyond) is a newborn routine.
A newborn routine can help your baby (and you!) get into a regular sleep pattern, which is so important for their development. It can also help you feel more in control and less frazzled as you’re getting used to this new phase of life.
Hi Rachel,
I’m trying to follow the newborn routine with 45 min wake windows? However I see your week by week routine is suggesting 2 hr 45 min wake windows at 4 weeks, that seems like a big jump. Which routine is best to follow? My baby does well with afternoon naps and over night but does struggle to sleep in the morning naps and early evening so might suit longer wake windows.
Thanks for your advice
I’d aim for a 1 hour wake window in that case and see. Some babies can sty awake only those 45 but if baby is still that young, you can get up to 1 hr 15 or 20 minutes too!
Hi, my baby seems to sleep right after eating. Not often does she stay awake afterwards. Also she doesn’t get a good nap if she’s not swaddled during the day because she is so active— rolling all around the bassinet, kicking her legs and flailing her arms.
What is your advice for the playtime in the schedule and also swaddling for nap time.
I love this newborn routine! It’s so organized and easy to follow.
I love this newborn routine! It’s so organized and easy to follow.
This newborn routine sounds like it could help create a consistent and predictable schedule for the baby’s day, which can be beneficial for both parents and child alike.