I will admit, I had to fight the urge to want my 10-day old on some sort of daily routine. The reality is, babies are not equipped for routines that young and there is nothing wrong with that. When babies first make their grand entrance, although extra cute, their circadian rhythms are off. Having just gone through it, I promise you, the rhythm changes to align with days and nights and the routine comes – as evidenced by my 8-week old schedule.
My advice – don’t even remotely consider or stress about any form of “routine” until at least 4 weeks. Somehow something so small can be in so much control. Just let them make all the calls at the beginning!
It seems like every new parents goal is to get their baby to sleep well. I will put my hand up for that goal as well.
Every week that went by, my baby was sleeping an extra hour longer stretch at night, equivalent to her age in weeks. So for example, at 4 weeks, she was sleeping a 4-hour stretch at night. By 7 weeks, her schedule included a solid 7-hour stretch most nights.
Feeding Schedule
One thing I did early on was commit to a feeding schedule. I feed every 3 hours or based on hunger cues if she is hungry before the 3-hour window is up.
This was inspired by the Taking Cara Babies Instagram page. I highly recommend following right now if you don’t already as Cara (of Taking Cara Babies) dishes out incredible tips on baby sleep and general day-to-day life with a baby.
Taking Cara Babies is a sleep course that many parents swear by. While I have not done any of her courses, I have not ruled out doing them in the future. The courses are based on methodology around sleep science rather than a strict sleep training, cry-it-out regime.
The two most important things about babies when it comes to eating and sleeping:
- You want to tank your baby up during the day so they will sleep longer at night. The reason why babies wake up at night is because they are hungry. Those little tummies need to be fed. If you stick to a consistent feeding schedule during the day and/or feed on demand, you are increasing your chances of having a good sleeper at night. When feeding during the day, ensure you are giving full feeds every time, rather than little half feeds or “snacks.”
- Babies do one long stretch of sleep a day. Starting early (early as in the first few weeks), make sure this long stretch happens at night. I know we’ve all heard “never wake a sleeping baby” – but do it. I tend to wake my munchkin up at the 2-hour mark if she is still out. Babies need their naps as much as their night time sleep in order to support their growth, but it is okay to wake a baby up from a nap in order to feed them or to ensure that long stretch happens at night.
I often read about babies who sleep 12 hours at night. What fails to be mentioned is that this includes at least one feed during the night. So if you read that a baby slept 12 hours at 6 weeks old, they still woke up at least once or twice to feed in the night – mine included!
While my baby has had a handful of amazing 12-hour stretches, it is not one full chunk. We are up once in the night for about an hour, sometimes longer. But she is getting 6 to 7 hours in a row followed by another 4 to 5 hours pretty much every night.
Update: by 11 weeks, following the same two guidelines listed above, we are now seeing a full 10 hour-11 hour stretch at night with no night feeds. It is important to note – my baby is extra healthy in weight and height, meaning she does not need to feed in the middle of the night anymore. Make sure you know if it is OK to remove the night feed based on your baby’s weight. I didn’t plan for this – it is just naturally happened. When she woke up in the night around 11 weeks, instead of instantly feeding, I offered a soother and that put her right back to sleep.
8 Week Old Schedule
When I look at our days, I tend to break them up by feeds. I aim to feed about 6-7 times during the day with one feed at night.
I love a good routine and all of sudden around week 6, I started to notice that we were getting into a solid routine. Morning naps seemed to happen around the same time each day, while a consistent bedtime slowly started to make an appearance. This came quite naturally, I really did not force anything.
I found this article to be extremely helpful when understanding sleep patterns of newborns.
I am always curious what other mom’s days look like, so I thought I would share my own.
Now, remember, babies are babies and they do what they want! This is a typical day in the life of an 8 week old. It has been happening rather consistently since week 6. BUT some days just don’t follow this in the slightest and I’ve come to learn that is perfectly okay!
8 Week Old Daytime Schedule
7am – 8am: Wake up & feed
Awake time: After her first feed and before her first nap, we always have a bit of awake time. During this time we will do tummy time, listen music and read books while it is also breakfast for Mom.
9:30am: Nap in the bassinet. What started to appear early on was a very consistent first nap after being awake for 90 minutes. I can often catch it before she is overtired, so I put her down while still awake and she puts herself to sleep.
10:30-11am: Wake up from first nap.
11am: Feed
Awake time: I workout during this window typically. I use this as a way to stimulate and interact with my little one. I sing, count, play music. She loves it. Don’t get me wrong – these aren’t your typical pre-baby workouts. They are about 20-30 minutes long with a diaper change in there and some playtime as well. Sometimes, it doesn’t happen at all!
1pm: Nap while babywearing. I love the Konny Baby Carrier Original for this. I attempt to babywear daily because I want to ensure I am not leaving her lying flat on her head 24/7. Babywearing, plus feeding, are good ways to ensure pressure it being put on other parts of a baby’s head to help mitigate any flat spots.
Lunch for me while she is napping on me.
2pm: Feed
3pm: Big afternoon walk. She will nap for the majority of this. I really try to get a solid amount of fresh air, daily.
4pm: Once home, she is awake but not ready to eat. We do more tummy time, play with high contrast books and play in our bright colour play gym.
5pm: Feed
Awake time: Hangout with Dad after work, read some books and sometimes more tummy time.
6pm: Depending on the day, I try to resist a nap after 6pm. Sometimes she does a 20-minute cat nap, but I am cautious not to let this nap go on for too long as I want her to be awake for at least 90 minutes before bedtime.
8 Week Old Evening & Sleep Schedule
6:45pm: Bath time – not every night, but 2-3x a week at this stage.
7pm: PJs and maybe a book. By 8 weeks, we have yet to establish a super solid bedtime routine but are attempting to make it consistent each night.
7:30pm: Final feed before bed. The location of this feed is important. It is the only feed that I do in the room where she sleeps so she associates this final feed of the day with bedtime. All other feeds during the day happen outside of this room.
8pm: Asleep. For the most part, by 8 weeks, she is happily asleep at this time. It took us a while to get here. 10-11pm bedtimes were the norm for at least the first 4-5 weeks.
2 – 3:30am: feed. She typically wakes up around this time most nights. This is a good 7-hour stretch. Some nights this feed is super quick and she is back to sleep instantly – about 45 mins. And some nights, she is wide awake giving me big smiles and wanting to play. As hard as it is to resist baby smiles, I limit all interaction to really set the stage that it is nighttime. I will sometimes babywear in the middle of the night to attempt to get her back to sleep a little bit quicker with the motion of babywearing.
7am – 8am: up and do it all over again!
Top Takeaways for Getting a Baby to Sleep 10 – 12 Hours
- Commit to a feeding schedule. Don’t go more than 3 hours without feeding your babe during the day.
- Wake a sleeping baby to ensure the longest stretch of sleep is at night.
- Don’t stress in the early days over a routine. It will come.
- Remember, babies are babies, and although small, they run your show. Embrace it. It goes by too quickly.
Other Posts Helpful for the Newborn Stage
My 14 Most Used Newborn Essentials in the First Month