Babies: 0 - 3 Months

Sleeping schedule newborn

So I know they say don't try and put a newborn on a sleep schedule but how are you other moms doing? I am curious because I saw someone else mention a "sleep eat play" routine and I don't know what that is! During the day is all over the place but I'm trying to keep a routine before "night sleep" like a warm bath, baby massage, feeding etc. any advice for day or night time sleep?

Re: Sleeping schedule newborn

  • At night I keep room dark and quiet. During the day the house has lights on, tv, conversations happening. This has been working well for my 5 week LO. However that being said she's not on a schedule. I'm hoping with time a schedule will form. Fingers crossed!!
  • Up to 3 months, we just let LO sleep whenever she wanted to.

     

    from birth to 6 weeks, she was perfectly happy napping in the living room with stuff going on around her.  At 6 weeks, she started only sleeping in the darkened nursery on top of me in the glider.  She would get screamy and overtired, so I'd take her in there and she'd nap.  It sucked, but that was the only way to get her to sleep.  I would basically just take her in there any time she was being completely unbearable and had already been changed and fed and try to rock her to sleep.  She came out of that around the 3 month mark, which is when it started to become obvious that she likes to go down for her naps roughly 2 hours after waking up from her previous sleep cycle.  We now have her always nap in the nursery in her crib (sometimes on top of me in the glider on weekends, and at daycare she sleeps in a crib or a bouncy seat).  Eventually babies, like us, want to sleep in a dark quiet room whenever possible.  She will fall asleep in not ideal situations if she's really tired though (the car, the stroller, the carrier, my lap, etc).

  • Loading the player...
  • Our LO has been home 4 weeks and is at adjusted age 0. We've got kind of a schedule that naturally developed. Bedtime bottle at 8:30 followed by fussiness (evenings are our witching hour 7-9+). Sleeping 6 hours, feed, 3 hours, feed, 8:30 morning feed get up. Naps most of the day on & off.
  • So I know they say don't try and put a newborn on a sleep schedule but how are you other moms doing? I am curious because I saw someone else mention a "sleep eat play" routine and I don't know what that is! During the day is all over the place but I'm trying to keep a routine before "night sleep" like a warm bath, baby massage, feeding etc. any advice for day or night time sleep?

    I think you might be referring to the EASY schedule, for eat-activity-sleep-you (your time). Try googling that if you're interested in finding out more.

    Like you said, there really isn't a schedule you can follow while they're this young. And newborns especially tend to sleep after feeding, it's a natural inclination.

    Personally I always tried to follow baby's lead. When he was a newborn he tended to eat and then nap, and there aren't many activities they can really participate in that young (you can read, play music, let them look at black and white images or shadows, etc). After 3 months and definitely once he reached about 5 months was when we started to actually get into a discernible routine with eating and nap times. Right now, I wouldn't worry too much.
  • My lo is 6 weeks, and we have NO routine whatsoever! Some days he naps great, and some days he will barely sleep no matter how hard I try to put him to sleep. Some days he eats every 3 hours on the dot, some days its every hour! Some days he loves to lay around and play, sometimes he won't let me put him down (thank god for the ergo on those days! )

    Basically everything now is a phase, and usually a short one. So I just try to follow his lead and catch the clues for what he needs before he goes all crazy on me lol. I have found we are a lot happier just going with the flow, and not trying to do things on time or in order. I can understand why people work to get on a schedule, as predictability would be nice, but to me its just not worth the battle at this time. We go where we need to go, and just hope lo cooperates. He doesn't always, but if I can put him in the ergo or give him a bottle that solves 99% of issues when we're out (he is ebf, but we save our pumped bottles for dinners out or long shopping trips). We will revisit around 3 months when there is a better shot of that hard work paying off.
  • So I know they say don't try and put a newborn on a sleep schedule but how are you other moms doing? I am curious because I saw someone else mention a "sleep eat play" routine and I don't know what that is! During the day is all over the place but I'm trying to keep a routine before "night sleep" like a warm bath, baby massage, feeding etc. any advice for day or night time sleep?

    I think you might be referring to the EASY schedule, for eat-activity-sleep-you (your time). Try googling that if you're interested in finding out more.

    Like you said, there really isn't a schedule you can follow while they're this young. And newborns especially tend to sleep after feeding, it's a natural inclination.

    Personally I always tried to follow baby's lead. When he was a newborn he tended to eat and then nap, and there aren't many activities they can really participate in that young (you can read, play music, let them look at black and white images or shadows, etc). After 3 months and definitely once he reached about 5 months was when we started to actually get into a discernible routine with eating and nap times. Right now, I wouldn't worry too much.

    All of this. Dusty Melons is wise.
  • So I know they say don't try and put a newborn on a sleep schedule but how are you other moms doing? I am curious because I saw someone else mention a "sleep eat play" routine and I don't know what that is! During the day is all over the place but I'm trying to keep a routine before "night sleep" like a warm bath, baby massage, feeding etc. any advice for day or night time sleep?

    I think you might be referring to the EASY schedule, for eat-activity-sleep-you (your time). Try googling that if you're interested in finding out more.

    Like you said, there really isn't a schedule you can follow while they're this young. And newborns especially tend to sleep after feeding, it's a natural inclination.

    Personally I always tried to follow baby's lead. When he was a newborn he tended to eat and then nap, and there aren't many activities they can really participate in that young (you can read, play music, let them look at black and white images or shadows, etc). After 3 months and definitely once he reached about 5 months was when we started to actually get into a discernible routine with eating and nap times. Right now, I wouldn't worry too much.

    All of this. Dusty Melons is wise.

    image
  • I'm following the EASY routine with my 4 day old and it works really well so far. I read the book The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg and it's made me feel very confident.

    Activity time involves diaper changing, topping and tailing, getting dressed, tummy time, looking at a black and white mobile, laying on my thighs and turning his head. It's only about 15 minutes at this stage but it's enough to get him tired and he's learning to settle himself to sleep already.
  • We dont have a schedule for our newborn twins, we have a rhythm. They sleep, change diaper, eat, play/engage with us and then go back to sleep when they're worn out. That tends to be a 3 hour cycle. This rhythm was interrupted when they outgrew their rock n plays at about 3 months. They really didn't want to sleep in their cribs so we tried all kids of tricks. Now that their sleep is back on track, our rhythm is restored. :) In case it helps, this is info on how we did it. Good luck! https://www.theydontfeedthemselves.com/transitioning-twins-to-cribs/

    www.theydontfeedthemselves.com

    My favorite activities and tips for surviving different phases with our twins!




  • TacoSarah said:
    I'm following the EASY routine with my 4 day old and it works really well so far. I read the book The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg and it's made me feel very confident. Activity time involves diaper changing, topping and tailing, getting dressed, tummy time, looking at a black and white mobile, laying on my thighs and turning his head. It's only about 15 minutes at this stage but it's enough to get him tired and he's learning to settle himself to sleep already.

    Your 4 day old baby is on a schedule?! I don't think he's learning to settle himself, I think having "activity time" for a 4 day old baby is exhausting him.
  • TacoSarah said:
    I'm following the EASY routine with my 4 day old and it works really well so far. I read the book The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg and it's made me feel very confident. Activity time involves diaper changing, topping and tailing, getting dressed, tummy time, looking at a black and white mobile, laying on my thighs and turning his head. It's only about 15 minutes at this stage but it's enough to get him tired and he's learning to settle himself to sleep already.

    Your 4 day old baby is on a schedule?! I don't think he's learning to settle himself, I think having "activity time" for a 4 day old baby is exhausting him.

    Um, this.  At 4 days, my baby had herself on a schedule...it was "sleep, but then wake up every 2-3 hours to have a diaper change and eat, and then go back to sleep."  In the early days, all they do really is eat and sleep.

     

    Check back in around 6 weeks.  That's when all hell started to break loose for me.  I learned that LO very much hates napping at that point, but was a great night time sleeper.  So i had to essentially find a way to force her to nap after she'd been awake for 90 minutes or so.  it was NOT GREAT.  But by 3 months she was far more reasonable about it.  Really, for the first 3 months you should just be letting them sleep whenever they want (or forcing them to sleep if things get desperate), they need it.

     

    The only "activity" LO did before about 8-9 weeks was "scream."  Occassionally, she would look at a light up rattle or tolerate the swing or stroller for up to 30 minutes.  Otherwise: sleep, eat, poop, scream.  Continuous loop.

  • I do a sleep, eat, play routine. My DD follows it naturally so there hasn't been much to implement. Basically she wakes up, we do a diaper change and she eats, then we interact with her or she does tummy time or lays on her mat, ect. About 1-1.5 hrs in she starts showing tired cues so then she goes down for a nap. When she wakes up it starts over again. At night though it is just sleep then diaper change and eat. If she is hungry before she's tired we feed her again (very rarely happens) and if she falls asleep eating we don't wake her up. At the very beginning, her "play time" was only a few minutes if any, but as she's gotten older it's stretched out.

    The most important part is watching for those tired cues and responding promptly which you should do anyways because an over tired baby = a miserable mommy.
Sign In or Register to comment.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"