Babies: 0 - 3 Months

What's a baby's schedule like?

Please excuse the silly question but my husband and I are going to be 1st time parents and neither has spent time with babies. We're a little nervous. We're reading Baby Wise and Happiest Baby on the Block but we're still confused so we thought we'd ask the experts. :) What is a 'typical' day like with a newborn or an infant? When do you start tummy time and what do you do during it? Thanks for any help in advance!
mr & mrs || 11.18.06
DD born 07.06.09 || DS born 01.24.11 || Bean 3.0 due 11.16.12

Re: What's a baby's schedule like?

  • 1. throw babywise away

    2. throw away the idea of a 'schedule' with a newborn

    3.  You will learn your babies cues for hunger, tiredness, etc.  Most kids eventually fall into a 'routine' of eating, playing, and sleeping...usually in 2-3 hour chunks when little and gets longer as they get older.

    You can start tummy time as soon as the cord is off, but some babies hate it (ie my DD did).

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  • our daily/sleep schedule varies right now quite honestly.  but she usually eats and naps mostly.  she's just now becoming a bit more alert and we have tummy time, take walks, swing, and wander around the house for change in scenery... our LO holds her head up really well, so we started tummy time asap. She laid on us on her tummy for a while and now in the last week we put her on her boppy or the mat. It doesn't last long right now, but any time for her to get stronger is good!
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  • DNK777DNK777 member

    The first month DD was asleep unless she was eating.  She still doesn't have a sleep schedule.  I was told to start doing tummy time right away.  I watch DD's mood to tell when to have it.  She will throw a fit if she is not in a good mood.  Pretty much it's sleep, change diaper, feed, play or tummy time if she's not too tired, and then back to sleep and start over.

    Don't worry.  DH and I hadn't even changed a diaper before DD was born and she was birn 2 hours before our child care class was supposed to start.  It really wasn't that hard to figure her out.

  • imagemadhatter2003:

    1. throw babywise away

    2. throw away the idea of a 'schedule' with a newborn

    3.  You will learn your babies cues for hunger, tiredness, etc.  Most kids eventually fall into a 'routine' of eating, playing, and sleeping...usually in 2-3 hour chunks when little and gets longer as they get older.

    You can start tummy time as soon as the cord is off, but some babies hate it (ie my DD did).

    Ditto all of this. 

  • Ditto the pp. The word schedule should not be in your vocabulary until your baby is at least 3 months old. When he is a NB you will feed on demand, every 2 hours to so (yes, this is 24/7). It is rough at first.
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  • I agree about Babywise. I like Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child much better.  As for the "schedule", yeah it varies.  My DS is 2 months.  For the first few weeks it was mainly just eating and sleeping, eating and sleeping.  And that was in 2 hr intervals.  Now he can sleep longer at night, still wakes up once in the nt most of the time, sometimes twice.  And during the day he'll have longer chunks of awake time, only sometimes goes right back to sleep after eating.  He HATES tummy time big time, during his awake time he mostly likes to lie on his back and kick around, or sit in his bouncy seat, or be carried.  Hopefully he'll get on board with the tummy time eventually.  We just try to go with the flow and respond to what he needs at the moment.  And every time we think he's gotten into a "schedule" or pattern, it changes b/c he is growing and changing so much.  It is very hard but it is great and you'll do fine. 
  • We don't do babywise, but I read it before having DS to get an idea of what to expect. We use the whole eat every morning within 30 mins. in order to begin what resembles a schedule. He feeds every 2-1/2 to 3 hours. We wake him a 3 hours if he hasn't eaten, but usually he starts sucking fists at 2-1/2 hours. Also, we do not play after nighttime feeding- we wake him, change him, feed him, then hold him for a few minutes until he is out.

    DS loves tummy time and is starting to gain really good control of his neck. He lasts for less than 10 mins. before just laying his head down and starts dozing.

    No real schedule though. If he is hungry we feed him. If he is sleepy, we let him sleep. He has no bed time.

  • I like Babywise and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.  There won't be a "schedule" for a while, and we are really just starting to work on a "routine".

    I breastfeed my LO about every 2 hours, although sometimes more.  Yesterday for instance was every 1-1.5 hours!  

     Your day (all day/night) will be mostly eating & sleeping.

    Then around 2-2.5 weeks, they start to become more alert and require more soothing.  

    You will be fine, with our first, my hubby & I had no baby experience and it was scary.  But we survived.  Now it seems like all the little things I freaked about are no big deal with this one!

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