A newborn on a schedule???

talia770 · August 2015

Everyone keeps telling me how bad it is that I'm not putting my baby on a schedule. How it would be much easier for me and what not.

But my baby is so funny at night. She just falls right to sleep after so little time feeding. And it's almost IMPOSSIBLE to get her up.

Idk what to do. On one hand I want her on a schedule but I can't force her to eat either. I try all the tricks in the book on how to wake a sleeping baby. And when it does work she just sucks for 2 seconds and she's out all over again.

LibbyC730 · August 2015

I was wondering about this, too. A lot of resources I've seen say that a routine is important, but a "schedule" can't really be set until baby is a little older. Some sources said 3 months, but even that seems awfully young! We do a bottle at bedtime so LO can get more milk, faster and seems to sleep a longer stretch for me! Good luck!

mnj05 · August 2015

In my experience, both with my own kids and every baby I've ever been around, it's easier to follow baby's lead at this age. Some people have success with getting their baby on a schedule early but most don't.

My oldest is two and I've pretty much done everything on his timing. I've been lucky to have great sleepers but I never woke them to eat, never tried forcing a set schedule on them. DS1 woke up twice in the night until around 6 months old, then once a night until closer to 10-11 months. The only sleep training I ever did was to get him to learn to fall asleep without me rocking him to sleep.

Sure some of that was annoying at times but I feel like every transition was easier on us than some of my friends because I let my son decide when he was ready.

v&druston · August 2015

@mnj05 how did you train your LO to go to sleep without being rocked?

jesicabrennan · August 2015

I'd say the schedule happens in time. Right now they sleep whenever, wherever. Somewhere around 3 months you'll start to naturally see them separate their sleep/wake into some semblance of a schedule and you can manipulate it to suit your lifestyle. Soak up the sleeping baby now, when they wake up a bit your life will be all about trying to get them back to sleep

TaraLinnet · August 2015

We have had a routine/schedule for 2 weeks now that has seemed to work (fingers crossed). I really wasn't expecting to get an infant on a schedule, but can say it's like night & day now overnight. We do tummy time in the evening around 6 or 7, she may fall asleep for a little bit, then around 930pm, I give her a bath,hang out a bit and then she has her nightly bottle around 10:30/burp/change diaper and she's in her crib and either asleep or almost asleep when putting her down... She sleeps from about 11:00pm-4:30/5am... Like I said, fingers crossed that this is a "schedule" happening. Lol . I go back to work in 2 weeks & have a commute... So hoping it can stay!

mnj05 · August 2015

@v&druston - I started out rocking him until he was super drowsy but not quite asleep, then laying him down. I did that for a few days then cut back on how long I rocked him until I could put him down almost wide awake and he'd talk until he fell asleep. It took a couple of weeks of this and one or two bad nights getting him down but overall it was pretty easy. If he wouldn't have been ready, I would've held off a little longer. He's 2 now and to this day I rock him for naps and bedtime, talk to him for a bit, then we say our love you's and night night and he lays down.

SBbabyonboard · August 2015

My baby girl is 3 weeks old as of yesterday and has been on the same schedule since day 2. She is on a 4 hour feeding schedule and sleeps 6 hours at night. So she feeds at 5am 9am 1pm 5pm and at 9 pm we have some cuddles,feeding,bathtime and in bed by 11pm and sleeps right through until 5am. Has been absolutely a dream and so so happy that we were able to do this with her as I can work around her schedule and make appts and know when to shower and cook dinner ect.i just based the schedule on what she wanted to do the first couple of days and just kept with it

crossing my fingers that this schedule sticks! But if not then we will work through it!

Dledwards17 · August 2015

I'm a FTM. I have still been waking my LO every 2-3 hours to eat. I am EBF. When should I stop doing this? She is 3 weeks

beccer123 · August 2015

My DS is 2 weeks old and I'm going to start trying to get him on somewhat of a schedule. DD was so much easier as she did this herself at 3 weeks old. Good luck to everyone doing the same!

mnj05 · August 2015

@Dledwards17 - assuming she's surpassed her birth weight, you could stop now. Personally, I never followed that with either of my boys. I was raised under the idea of never wake a sleeping baby, I've always had a baby in my life for as long as I can remember and this has worked well for me.

ecloho · August 2015

I just talk to my doctor about this yesterday at my little ones two week appointment. She said as far as schedule when there this young only thing you should be doing is helping them set that circadian rhythm… Meaning helping them to distinguish between day and night. She said more noise and brighter lights during the day, And maybe going out for a walk or something… Lower lights & less noise & slightly less frequent feedings during the night

LibbyC730 · August 2015

I woke baby for night time feeds for the first two weeks, when he got back to his birthweight. I slept through an alarm I had set and babe went 4 and 1/2 hours between feeds. He woke me when he was hungry! I reluctantly admitted this to the lactation nurses I see and they said it was fine to follow baby's lead as long as he kept putting on good weight!

ecloho · August 2015

My babe has not returned to birthweight so still waking him up

AlexandraMarcotte · August 2015

Yeah, I think it would be tough to implement too much of a schedule on a newborn. Like PP, our LO sleeps like a log and it's hard to wake her up once she's out. And lets be honest - they're just so precious at this age, can they really be spoiled? I think not.

That being said, now that our LO is a month, my mom recommended I start changing some small things to help get a schedule in place. Since our girl eats about 3-4oz, especially after restful naps, we've recently started to move her away from waking up for just 1hr to suckle .5 - 1oz, and are encouraging bigger feedings at more regular intervals. If she wakes up, we're comforting her, and not feeding her right away to see if she'll fall back asleep or settle down. If she does, great! If not, we feed (after just a few minutes of waiting) And it works! With a little snuggling, rocking, and lots compliments she often skips the small feeds, and passes out for at least another 1 - 1.5hr and then is up for a real good feeding!

This has definitely helped us get more sleep at night, as we only wake up about 2x to feed and she is getting 3-4hr naps.

So small change. Big reward. And a "somewhat" schedule haha

beccer123 · August 2015

@AlexandraMarcotte I have been doing the same thing! I also have been giving a little more at night than during the day (started yesterday) and it seems to be helping LO sleep longer at night, which is great for me. He was getting up every 2-3 hrs and last night was 4-5. It was wearing me out!

njteach0414 · August 2015

Our LO is just over 3 weeks old and finally started to establish a nighttime schsdule.evey other night we do a bath between 7-8... I try to start his last feeding between 8-9... During feeding and/or burping my husband reads a story and baby goes to bed. We do not wake our son and he usually starts to fuss and get up close to 2 AM. Then he gets up one last time between 5-6... the goal for us is to have him in bed between 7-8 eventually but because he is still so young with frequent , necessary feedings, we find it is most important to just get him in a habit and timing will fall into place.

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