One of the most popular questions I get from new mommy friends and those who read my Baby’s First Year series is, “when do I start implementing a schedule?” Almost instantly when your baby is born, especially for first time moms, there is this pressure about getting them into a routine. You definitely don’t want to be waking up at night forever, so that pressure is understandable.

One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give to a new mama in those first couple weeks is to rest. I know you want to laugh at me because with a baby eating every three hours and not sleeping at night you’re thinking it’s impossible. Which is exactly why you need to rest. Don’t feel the pressure to start right away, use those first couple weeks to soak in your precious baby, heal from labor, and establish a nursing routine. Get to know your baby and fall into a pattern together, then worry about implementing a schedule. Give yourself some time to breathe and enjoy that precious baby before feeling pressured to get them to sleep through the night. It will happen.

I usually take the first two weeks to allow myself to heal, get nursing down, feel a little more like myself, and learn my baby. The only thing I do right away is nurse no longer than three hours apart during the day. I want to get as many feedings in during the day to feel up their belly so that they sleep better at night. I do that by making sure I establish that eat, play, sleep cycle.  Really, just starting off in this relaxed way makes it easier to fall into a pattern with your baby.

Around the two week mark I started making sure that Elyse was falling into a bit of a napping pattern. I watched for the cues of her getting sleepy, and did what I needed to get her ready to sleep. She slept in the living room in her rock and play or swing for the first few weeks, really until she couldn’t sleep through Jase playing any longer. Around the 4-6 week mark she began taking naps in her crib.

Unlike Jase, I had Elyse start with an 8AM wake up because that is when Jase was waking. I wanted to be able to get as much sleep as possible waking through the night with Elyse and not being able to nap with a toddler this time. So we started every day at 8AM.

How to implement a schedule with your baby:

We began this schedule at 2 Weeks:

8AM – Wake & Nurse

8:45AM – Nap

11AM – Wake & Nurse

11:45AM – Nap

2PM – Wake & Nurse

2:45PM – Nap

5PM – Wake & Nurse

5:45PM – Nap

8PM – Wake & Nurse

Two hour wake time during this time. Bath to help relax her.

10PM – Nurse & Bed for the night.

I was still taking my Motrin during the first two weeks, so I would set my alarm for my dose at 1AM and would just wake Elyse and feed her. She was usually still sleeping but I did not want to have to wake an hour later if she woke. So I woke her and fed her at 1AM for the first two weeks until I stopped the medicine. She would wake at 5AM after that.

When I stopped waking her for that 1AM feeding she usually stretched until 2AM and 5AM.

Gradually that 2AM became 3AM and then she would always wake at 6AM.

When she was stuck waking at 3AM and 6AM I moved her wake time to 7AM to give her less of a stretch to make it through. She then started waking up at 4AM/5AM until she no longer needed to wake at that time and we would get 10PM – 7AM stretches.

Around 8 Weeks we switched her to the 7AM schedule which was exactly what we had Jase on at that time.

Elyse took a little longer to sleep through the night then Jase did, she was closer to 12 weeks old. We moved her to her room and that helped her sleep so much better. She was a very light sleeper and kept waking up being too close to mommy.

But even when we began the schedule it was implemented loosely. I snuggled Elyse during one of her naps while Jase was sleeping to soak in those moments with her. Each baby is so different and that is important to remember. A lot of schedules can easily be implemented by following your baby’s cues and helping them to fall into a pattern naturally.

Liked this post? You can find the rest of the Baby’s First Year series here.