Getting LO on a schedule?

BeagleMom2012 · September 2012

LO is 4 weeks old and is not on any kind of schedule. I feed him whenever he gives me the cues (for him, he grunts and starts sucking his hand) and he sleeps when he wants, anywhere from 30 min to 3 hours at a time. He has long periods of being awake too, even though I try swaddling and rocking him to sleep. At night, he sleeps anywhere between 1 and 3 hours at a time. Is this normal? Should I try getting him on a schedule yet? It seems too early to me, but it seems like some babies around this age are already getting into a schedule.

danieliza1127 · September 2012

I think it's too early to worry about a schedule at this point. My baby is 6 weeks old and he has sort of gradually created his own schedule, sleeping longer at night and doing a nighttime 4 hour stretch followed by eating and another 2-3 hours of sleep. It just started happening on it's own and once it did, I made a point to try to follow it. Most of what I've read says you shouldn't really worry about sleep training until the baby is 3 to 4 months old. As far as daytime, I let him sleep when he wants and for how long he wants. It's a little different every day but they start to develop their own patterns.

Hrhodes78 · September 2012

Everyone I speak with also tells me that its too early to get my DS on a schedule too. He's 8 weeks. Mine sleeps anywhere from 2-4 hours at night and 20 min-3 hours during the day. He's on a pretty regular schedule of feeding every 3 hours during the day but can go about 4 hours at night.

Good luck!

mben1119 · September 2012

Babies will create their own schedules and routines over time. 4 weeks is much too early. And I know it is hard, but please don't compare your baby to others. Every child develops at their own rate, eats their own amount, sleeps their own amount of hours...all comparing LOs will do is make you feel bad or drive you crazy.

ExcitedFTM · September 2012

My LO will be 3 weeks tmrw. She's on a good 3 to 3 and a half hour schedule. She sleeps, then I feed her right after, then she has awake time and then she sleeps again, repeat. She eats every 3 hours and I make sure she gets a full feeding so she doesn't snack off and on. Makes the day more predictable and pleasant. After her feeding at about 9pm she will sleep till 12am, eat, go right back to sleep till 3am, eat, back to sleep till 6:30 or 7am, eat then be awake f

ExcitedFTM · September 2012

My LO will be 3 weeks tmrw. She's on a good 3 to 3 and a half hour schedule. She sleeps, then I feed her right after, then she has awake time and then she sleeps again, repeat. She eats every 3 hours and I make sure she gets a full feeding so she doesn't snack off and on. Makes the day more predictable and pleasant. After her feeding at about 9pm she will sleep till 12am, eat, go right back to sleep till 3am, eat, back to sleep till 6:30 or 7am, eat then be awake till about 8 or 8:30 then we get into her sleep, eat, awake schedule again. I would try getting your LO to take a full feeding if they are snacking or not eating on a schedule and having LO eat after sleeping rather than eat and fall asleep right after, because they don't always get enough when they fall asleep eating. Just my opinion : good luck!

Megan Dearing · September 2012

My LO is 9 weeks and she has been on a schedule since 5 weeks. She sleeps 7 hours at night every night. There is a great schedule in a book called Babywise. Basically, it's a 1.5 hour schedule. She wakes up at 5am, I change her, feed her, and we play for a bit then she takes a nap from 6:30-8:00ish. Then repeat. if she really doesn't want to wake after a nap and I've tried all the normal things to get her awake, I let her sleep (becuase she probably needs it). Its called a parent-directed approach. The book is awesome, and the schedule worked for us. Hope that helps a little.

tammynixx · September 2012

My LO is 4 weeks old and right now he basically follows his own little routine. At this point, baby is far to young for a schedule.

sadsadie · September 2012

Megan Dearing:
My LO is 9 weeks and she has been on a schedule since 5 weeks. She sleeps 7 hours at night every night. There is a great schedule in a book called Babywise. Basically, it's a 1.5 hour schedule. She wakes up at 5am, I change her, feed her, and we play for a bit then she takes a nap from 6:30-8:00ish. Then repeat. if she really doesn't want to wake after a nap and I've tried all the normal things to get her awake, I let her sleep (becuase she probably needs it). Its called a parent-directed approach. The book is awesome, and the schedule worked for us. Hope that helps a little.

DO NOT follow this advice! "On Becoming Babywise" is some of the worst parenting advice out there. Children of parents who have followed this quackery have ended up severely malnourished and dehydrated from being put on a strict parent-directed feeding schedule. Also, babies have suffered severe emotional and psychological abuse by being left to cry it out for hours at a time. Many infants suffer failure to thrive under the conditions advised by Ezzo. The AAP has been prompted to speak out against this parenting method:

https://aapnews.aappublications.org/content/14/4/21.abstract

This book is not awesome, it is child abuse.

Your child is far too young to be on any sort of schedule. Just keep following his cues!

mben1119 · September 2012

Megan Dearing:
My LO is 9 weeks and she has been on a schedule since 5 weeks. She sleeps 7 hours at night every night. There is a great schedule in a book called Babywise. Basically, it's a 1.5 hour schedule. She wakes up at 5am, I change her, feed her, and we play for a bit then she takes a nap from 6:30-8:00ish. Then repeat. if she really doesn't want to wake after a nap and I've tried all the normal things to get her awake, I let her sleep (becuase she probably needs it). Its called a parent-directed approach. The book is awesome, and the schedule worked for us. Hope that helps a little.

First, parent-directed schedules are so arbitrary. Why should your child go to sleep when you say they should, as opposed to when they are actually tired? Second, the authors of Babywise had to edit their own book because babies were dying because they weren't being fed enough. That is more than enough to tell me to stay far far away from this method.

ExcitedFTM · September 2012

Megan Dearing:
My LO is 9 weeks and she has been on a schedule since 5 weeks. She sleeps 7 hours at night every night. There is a great schedule in a book called Babywise. Basically, it's a 1.5 hour schedule. She wakes up at 5am, I change her, feed her, and we play for a bit then she takes a nap from 6:308:00ish. Then repeat. if she really doesn't want to wake after a nap and I've tried all the normal things to get her awake, I let her sleep becuase she probably needs it. Its called a parentdirected approach. The book is awesome, and the schedule worked for us. Hope that helps a little.

We are babywise parents too and it's working great! That's the schedule I was trying to describe before :

ExcitedFTM · September 2012

Megan Dearing:
My LO is 9 weeks and she has been on a schedule since 5 weeks. She sleeps 7 hours at night every night. There is a great schedule in a book called Babywise. Basically, it's a 1.5 hour schedule. She wakes up at 5am, I change her, feed her, and we play for a bit then she takes a nap from 6:308:00ish. Then repeat. if she really doesn't want to wake after a nap and I've tried all the normal things to get her awake, I let her sleep becuase she probably needs it. Its called a parentdirected approach. The book is awesome, and the schedule worked for us. Hope that helps a little.

We are babywise parents too and it's working great! That's the schedule I was trying to describe before :

Megan Dearing · September 2012

My baby girl is in th 87th percentile for both height and weight. My husband and I are not strict with her schedule, but we follow it if she lets us. She eats every 2-3 hours based on this schedule, so I don't see where you would think she would become malnourished. it is basically just limiting her nap time throughout the day so she will sleep for a longer stretch at night. However, if she does not want to wake from a nap, we let her sleep, and try again in a half an hour or so. Every child is different, so if it works for some people, who are you to judge others? I don't believe in the Cry It Out method (I never said I did that) and she doesn't cry at night.... SHE SLEEPS. which in turn allows her brain to develop due to longer sleep cycles. Maybe you should read the book and do some research before putting your opinion out there as fact.

catapult32 · September 2012

IMO babies pick their own schedule and there really isn't anything you can do about it and trying to change their schedule should be done gently and over a long period of time.

I'm trying to get P to sttn and the only thing I'm doing is not talking to her during "sleeping" hours (8-9pm "bedtime" feeding starts it and the "morning" 8-9am feeding ends it). Even though she typically wakes up 2x a night they aren't as regular as her daytime feedings and sometimes she only wakes once.

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