Now at 6 weeks old, Logan and I sort of have a little routine. As much routine as you can teach a newborn. I would say we are pretty scheduled in our eating and sleeping. I am on a 24 hour cycle of three hour increments with longer stretches at night.
While pregnant, I read On Becoming Babywise, which I’ve written about before. It is about setting your baby into an “eat, wake, sleep” pattern and feeding by “parent directed feeding” rather than “on demand” or strictly by the clock. It’s sort of a combo of both. While some people are very opposed to Babywise, I really like the scheduled way of life. We roughly started the philosophy right away with trying to stick to a 2.5-3 hour cycle and also following the eat-wake-sleep pattern.
Here’s a look into a typical day…again as “typical” as you get at 6 weeks old.
Let’s start at 7 a.m.: This is our first feeding of the day, it’s usually between 6 a.m.-7 a.m. Logan wakes up hungry, we change a diaper. It takes us about 45 minutes to eat. I watch the Today Show and play on my phone.
By 8 a.m. (or about an hour after whatever time we started): We re-swaddle Logan and he usually sleeps in the swing. I sometimes try to get him back in the crib, but have realized the swing will yield a longer nap, and there’s less up and down the stairs to get him settled and re-insert the pacifier.
This is now my time of the day to get things done, like eat breakfast, clean pump parts, get bottle ready for fridge, put real clothes on, check emails, take a walk by myself if our housekeeper is there for Logan, clean, etc.
Between 10-10:30: Nap ends. 10 a.m. is our normal feeding time, but I’ll let him go a little longer if he’s still sleeping. Don’t wake a sleeping baby! We feed again, starting with unswaddle, diaper change.
11ish-1 p.m.: Logan gets dressed for the day. We wash his face, brush his hair and put on a fresh outfit. We play on the play mat, put him in the stroller and walk with Lily, talk. I hopefully get lunch before we feed again. He used to take an hour or so nap, but sometimes there’s no nap and he is fussy.
1 p.m.: Feed again! Sometimes this one is 12:45 if there was no nap or he looks hungry. Diaper change, feed.
2 p.m.-4 p.m.: We sometimes have an errand, we may walk outside again, hopefully we get a nap in the swing, bouncer, or car seat. Sometimes it’s a good and long nap if he didn’t sleep earlier. Sometimes he gets fussy around 3:30 and we feed early, sometimes he sleeps until close to 4.
4 p.m.: Feed again! Diaper, feed.
4:45 p.m.-6:45 p.m.: This is our fussiest time of the day, although it has gotten better. Right after I feed him, he is content and I can put him in the bouncer to look around. This will hopefully be the time I can start prepping dinner. Then when he gets fussy, we walk Lily in the Baby Bjorn to calm him outside. We stand outside, he likes the sights and sounds. We also call Jeffrey and see when he’s leaving work.
6 p.m.: Jeffrey comes home, and I get 45 minutes to shower and eat dinner while he entertains him. It’s a little rushed!
6:45 p.m.: Bath time!
7 p.m.: Last feeding of the day. Our bedtime routine is bath, lotion, diaper, pajamas, brush hair, play music, eat. Then burp, swaddle, burp, rock, shhh, sway, crib.
8 p.m.: Logan goes to bed and is on his way to sleep. Quiet time in the house!
3 a.m.: (or sometime between 1 a.m.-3:30 a.m.) Logan wakes for some more milk! We do a bottle and I pump. It’s a little of a time saver since it takes us about an hour for me to feed him, but only 15 minutes for a bottle (plus time to go back to bed). Then he goes back to sleep until 7 and we start again!
It sounds like you have a great routine!!!
And wow… Lots of sleep!
You are both doing amazing.
Your blog is great, really enjoy reading some of your old posts! Very impressed you had a schedule at 6 weeks, what did you do to get your little one to settle for naps during the day?
Michelle
Thanks for reading, the swing worked great for us for naps, also the Bjorn, the car, a walk outside. It’s really hard and frustrating, but the baby must sleep!