Guiding your baby into a routine can be extremely helpful for their temperament as well as help them sleep through the night. Your baby’s schedule and routine doesn’t have to be strict, it can be just what you make it. You can be as laid back or as strict as you want. There are no rules to how your baby’s routine has to be. You can find a sample routine for a newborn to seven week old broken into sections below.
Newborn – 7 Weeks Baby Schedule
9:45am – Nap
3pm – Wake & Nurse
6pm – Wake & Nurse (I tried to keep him awake a little longer here)
11pm – Wake & Nurse
After almost two weeks, the 11pm feeding was getting too late for me. I was not wanting to go to sleep at 10 after that 9pm feeding to have to wake up at 11pm. So I moved that last feeding and clustered it at 10pm and went to sleep with Jase afterwards. When I did that his schedule shifted a little, but it was more manageable for me. He went right back to sleep after his 3am feeding. His awake time at this age totaled 35-45 minutes from the time he woke up to the time he laid down again.
Here is what that baby schedule looked like:
8am – Nap
1pm – Wake & Nurse
4pm – Wake & Nurse
7pm – Wake & Nurse
I consistently woke him up at 7am for a few reasons:
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To help get his night from days straightened.
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To encourage him to drop those nighttime feedings before sleeping in longer. Still giving those nighttime feedings could encourage him to start sleeping in longer therefore encouraging him to be dependent on those nighttime feedings.
- To encourage a pattern throughout the day.
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My alarm was constantly set for 7am for that first feeding of the day, occasionally it may have been closer to 7:30am before I could coax myself to get up and feed him. But it helped knowing I could lay down with him and nap in an hour. Awake time totaled an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes at this age. I would keep him awake as much as possible after his 7pm feeding to help him sleep well throughout the night. Maybe we would take a walk, play, give him a bath – things like that to keep him awake a little longer. We even undressed him at times so he didn’t sleep too long. This was the only time I tried to keep him awake. The warm lavender bath really calmed him and signaled bedtime for him, he would pass out quickly afterwards. It was very hard to wake him up for that 10pm feeding, but I tried to get him fully awake to eat so that I knew when going to bed that I would get a good stretch.
Gradually that 2 am feeding became 3am, and because he was eating again at 7am the 5am feeding disappeared and I had two four hour stretches at night. Occasionally he would wake around 6am, but I would offer his pacifier to see if he would sleep a little longer to try and stretch to 7am, usually I brought him into bed with me. If he wouldn’t settle without eating, I would nurse one side first. That 2am feeding began to get later and later, and I continued to still wake him up at 7am which helped him start stretching longer through the night and it began to get closer to 4am when he was waking to eat.
Babies sleep a lot as a newborn, so it can be hard to figure out a consistent pattern. Keeping them awake can also prove challenging too. But setting the foundation with this newborn to seven week old baby schedule can really help lay the foundation as their schedule changes when they get older. Not to mention, it helps your baby sleep through the night and keeps them happy! That’s definitely a win in my book.
If you liked this routine for your newborn to seven week old baby, you can find more on my blog! Be sure to check out the entire Baby’s First Year series for all your newborn and baby routines and advice through each new season! You can also download a printable version of these routines by being a part of the mom tribe. You can sign up here.
Oh I remember those nursing days lol