Scheduling

[pennysmom]

My baby is close to 9 weeks and it looks as though we might be finally following into a routine. I'm going back to work in a few weeks so I'm hoping we can have an even better routine by then.

Could anyone share what their schedule was with their babies around this same time? Like, what is an acceptable bedtime, number of naps during the day, etc?

[JBaxter]

We had no schedule at that age. Mine were more like 4 or 5 months before they even had a partial schedule. Bed time that age was like 10-11 they ate every 2 - 4 hrs 2 naps of some sort IF I was lucky.

[wellyes]

During the "4th trimester" the baby's really in charge of his own schedule, of course, but - I did start charting my baby's naps around that time. He's nearly 12 weeks now. In general, he's been doing:

9 a.m. -- wakes up on his own. Nurses.
daytime -- naps at will, usually 4 times a day. Nurses at will, about every 3 hours.
9 p.m. -- falls asleep, goes to bassinet. Sometimes as late as 11 p.m.
2:30 a.m. -- nurse, then back to sleep
6:30 a.m. -- nurse, then back to sleep

Around 4-5 months they fall into more predictable pattern of eating and sleeping (3 naps per day).

[gatorsmom]

Well, I did have Gator at that age on a schedule (Cha Cha was sort of on this schedule though he coslept from day1, so nights and early mornings were feed on demand), HOWEVER, I was very relaxed about it. For example, if they were hungry, i"d feed them and not be strict about "sticking to the schedule." But I agree that having a "rhythm" to your day can be so helpful. and I remember that at 9weeks, the 3 hour feeding schedule seemed to work well for Gator.

6am bf (breast feed)
6:30am down for nap
9am bf and then burp and playtime
9:45am nap
noon bf and then burp and playtime
12:45pm nap
3pm bf, burp, and playtime
3:45pm nap
6pm bf, burp, playtime
6:45pm nap
9pm bf and burp immediattly put to bed
midnight bf--at around 12 weeks I didn't wake the baby to bf if he didn't wake himself and start rooting to bf. I just let him sleep through this.
3am bf---between 7 and 9th week I didn't wake the baby to bf if he didn't wake himself and start rooting. I'd just let him sleep on.

i'm looking at the schedule I put together and it appears that at week 16 (4mo) this really started to change. the nap at 6:45am started to disappear into a longer single morning nap. Also, the afternoon naps morphed into just 2 with more playtime inbetween and bedtime around 8pm or 8:30pm.

Hth!

[smilequeen]

I think they are all so different at that age. What I would do is keep track of about how long she goes between feedings and base a really loose routine off of that. Feed her when she's hungry, but that way you'll know about when she will tend to get hungry. My kids have been in part time childcare and they were always more than willing to go with the flow. They never needed a set schedule for the infants. You can also keep track of when she tends to fall asleep so they have a loose routine there, but again, she's going to sleep when she's tired, not by the clock.

I didn't find that my kids had a predicably early bedtime until closer to 6 months old. By then they were going down at 7, give or take a bit. My oldest actually went down at 6:30 for a while.

And everything changes with infants, constantly. As soon as you get used to something, something will change. So don't get too married to a certain routine :)

[edurnemk]

IME, and seeing my friends' babies as well, I believe babies develop a predictable schedule starting at 5 months. Before that you never know how long they'll nap, when, etc. We did have a set bedtime and he woke up at pretty much the same time each morning, I knew how many hours between daytime feedings (3), but that's it. For daytime we just went with the flow for naps. But it's not that hard since most very young babies can usually be taken almost everywhere and sleep through anything when they need to sleep.

At 5 months he became very consistent with 3 naps a day, the long one being around noon. What helped was the concept of the 90 minute wake-to-sleepy concept, from several books I read. This means that babies are physically ready to fall asleep again 90 minutes after waking, or multiples of 90 minutes. If you miss that window he'll get active again and won't be ready to sleep for another 90 minutes. And it proved true with DS but he was older when I did his sleep log. He'd take his first nap 90 minutes after waking up, second nap 3 hours after waking from the first nap, and so on. I don't think at 9 weeks they're very consistent, but you could try to do a sleep log just to see if there's a pattern.

[scmama]

DD is 9 weeks as well and really has put herself on a schedule.
This is what this last week has been like.
5am- wakes up to be feed
7-7:30am- wakes up
8am- feeding
8:30-nap (usually 30 min to 45 min)
10:45-11am feeding
11:30-nap (usually 2-2 1/2 hours long... her big nap of the day)
2pm-feeding
3-4pm (another nap, this one varies in time and length)
5pm-feeding
7pm-feeding
7:30- put to bed

She has been waking up between 1-2:30am for another feeding. I kept tract for almost 8 weeks of all her feedings and naps and this schedule seems to really work with her. I'm really flexible, so if she wants to change it up, it's fine. In between naps, I'm trying to get in tummy time and play time.