Scheduling

Lack of sleep for anyone isn't fun and can be exhausting especially if you have a newborn. Newborns, like adults, like to have a schedule and know what comes next in the day. When we are on a schedule things seem to run more smoothly and more easy. Once you start trying to put your newborn on a schedule it may be hard in the beginning but then will get easier once the baby understands and has confidence in it. Putting a newborn on a schedule will be a great thing for your baby and you. If you have other children this will also help the newborn learn the older sibling/siblings schedule and will help the siblings understand what's going on. Then once you have the routine every member in the family will be able to eat, sleep and be awake at the same time so this in turn will give you some more time in the day.

So are you looking for a sleep schedule for your newborn or child? Here is basically what sleep schedule my wife and I are doing for our newborn and she is now sleeping through the night. Some women out there might be thinking, "yeah but what about breastfeeding because that can be done at random times if the baby didn't eat enough on the last feed etc?" Our newborn is breastfed and has been since the beginning. My wife also pumps sometimes so she knows how much our newborn is getting. When it comes to feeds you have to think it's basically 1 ounce of food for every 1 hour of sleep. You want your baby to sleep for an hour feed him or her 1 ounce of milk, want your baby to sleep for 6 hours feed him or her 6 ounces. In the beginning our baby was being fed every 2 hours and was sleeping for two hours, we then moved it up to three, then four, then six etc. This can sometimes be hard to do because like all babies they will wake up and cry but if you are doing a schedule you have to stick with it and wait till the time for feeding. Babies will catch on pretty quickly if you start with scheduling in the beginning. You might wonder to yourself if breastfeeding, will my baby lose weight while doing a schedule? because a normal reaction when a newborn is crying is usually starts with feeding. This you don't have to worry about. The baby will catch on to the schedule pretty quick and understand that once its feeding time he or she better get the food it needs. Our baby hasn't and isn't losing weight or isn't underfed. The same went for our son.

This is what our newborn's (3 Month old) schedule looks like during a 24 hr period.

8 am Feed,
Up/Semi Sleeping
Noon Feed,
Nap,
6 pm feed,
Up/Semi Sleeping
10-11 pm Feed,
Sleeps till 8 am. Almost like a normal day for a toddler with 3 meals a day and a nap etc.

This is what a typical schedule looks like for eating and sleeping when putting your newborn on a schedule.
Newborn - Every 2 hours (many late nights for parents)
After two weeks (might be quicker depending on the baby) - Every 3 Hours
1 Month - Every 4 Hours (should be before this mark)
2 Months - Every 6 Hours (easily by this point) your baby will still be sleeping a lot by this point as well so if he or she sleeps let her but around noise etc. Then you can move up to every 8 hours or however you want to do your scheduling.

It can be difficult to do because you are up every 2 hours in the beginning then every 3 hrs then every 4 but it goes by quickly when scheduling and in the end you get the sleep you need and so does the baby especially when he or she is sleeping through the night at an earlier stage.

Another note sometimes let your baby self sooth back to sleep on their own to learn, even if the baby is screaming his or her head off. In my experience your child needs to learn and build confidence that you will get them when you need to and feed them when they need it and that you will be there. Soon your baby will know what the schedule is and be fine.

Putting your child on a schedule and not letting them put you on one is the key. This will help them to be more independent as well.

I hope this helps a lot of parents out there and ff you have any questions or if I didn't make sense somewhere please let me know.

If you stick to it it will work