Newborn Sleep Schedule: It is possible to get your newborn on a sleep schedule, despite what some parents say. Check out this ultimate newborn sleep schedule and let it help set you up for success.
Creating a newborn sleep schedule can take time and determination to get through the tough phases of the first few weeks. Being a new mom, recovering from labor and delivery, is exhausting.
Newborn Sleep Schedule
Newborn Stage
Your newborn will sleep around 14-18 hours a day. In the first month, you will find your newborn has no real rhythm. They will eat, sleep, and repeat. As they begin to grow you can begin to create a sleep schedule for them to start working towards following.
You will also find that using a swaddle or even white noise machine is a great way to help your little one sleep more sound from the first night you bring them home. Your baby is considered a newborn until 3 months old. Once they reach over 3 months you can then begin working on creating a schedule.
Feedings
You will find formula-fed babies will tend to need to be fed less often than breastfed. Either route is okay, and you can create work on creating a schedule for your baby in their feedings and sleep patterns.
You will tend to feed every 2-3 hours on average if you breastfeed. Once your baby hits over the 3-month mark, you can begin to stretch out feeding times longer, if your baby is comfortable and not wanting to nurse.
Create A Baby Sleep Schedule
Every baby is unique, so pay attention to what your baby is saying in terms of how to work with your little one. This is a guide to help you create a schedule, but don’t feel it is a concrete plan. Adjust and create a schedule that is unique to your baby.
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A baby will not follow this schedule to a “t” so give or take awake time, sleep time, feeding times and such in your daily life.
- Wake up and Feed Baby
- Nap within an hour of waking up (sleep 30-60 minutes)
- Wake up from a nap and feed the baby
- Lay down around 1 1/2 after being awake (sleep 30-60 minutes)
- Wake up from a nap and feed the baby
- Lay down after being awake for 2 hours (sleep 30-60 minutes)
- Wake and Feed
- Lay down around 1 1/2 after being awake (sleep 30-60 minutes)
- Wake and Feed
- Lay down around 1 hour after being awake (sleep 20-30 minutes)
- Wake and Feed
- At around an hour and a half do the last feed and lay down for bed
- Then you have your nighttime feedings
So depending on when you wake up in the morning will depend on the stretches you will allow your little one to be awake, vs how many naps in a day they will take.
Things To Help Baby Sleep More Sound
- White Noise | I highly suggest getting a white noise machine. Allowing a white noise will help your baby feel like they are in the womb, instead of trying to sleep in silence.
- Swaddle | Invest in a swaddle and use that when they are newborns. This will help them from jerking randomly as they sleep and startling themselves. Just make sure the temperature in the room is proper, so they don’t get too hot.
- Pay Attention To Cues | If you see your baby rubbing there eyes or becoming fussy you know they are over-tired at that point.
Grab some pen and paper and write down your schedule, and see how it works. If you let your baby sleep too much in the day, it can affect their nighttime wake times. Depending on the age of your child will depend on how many feedings you do in the night. Of course with newborns, it is a lot more frequent.
But as they grow they will wake less and less in the night.
Always make sure to feed, and place back in bed with little to no interaction. Don’t try to talk and startle your baby or you can fully wake them and then they won’t drift back to sleep like you are wanting.
How have you found that creating a sleep schedule for your baby has worked out?