Can You Put A Newborn On A Schedule?

[Anonymous]

My baby is 4 weeks old and he doesn’t have any routine. He will eat every hour or take a 3-4 hour nap multiple times a day. Some days it’s eating every hour and then a long nap, or it’s long naps and up every hour at night. Some days he will eat every hour and it’s hard to get a full feed in him to make him sleep longer. Everyday is different and we have been following his cues. I’m starting to feel like I want to put him a routine that is a little more predictable with the hopes that he will start sleeping the longer stretches at night. I know we can’t do anything strict, but I would love to put him on a routine.

[Anonymous]

I had a solid bedtime routine (6:30 bath, then pajamas and story/rocking, 7 pm bedtime) and focused on that. Much more relaxed during the day and followed baby’s guidance for naps at that age.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I put my son on a schedule at this age. I started feeding him every 3 hours or earlier during the day. The important thing is to make sure they get most of their calories during the day. I woke him up at a certain time and started a bedtime routine. It took about a week to adjust, but he started sleeping the longer chunks of sleep at night. He did take 1-2 longer 2-3 hour naps, but the large 4-5 hour chunks were at night.

[Anonymous]

I just watched my kid's schedule and by 8-12 weeks a schedule appeared. I then helped to reinforce it by watching when they were tired and making sure they could always go down for a nap at that time. 4 weeks is a bit early though. They're still growing so much that one day they'll sleep ALL day and the next day they will only nap for 30 minutes at a time.