BABY
The Truth About Baby Schedules
Should you put your baby on a schedule?
Written by
Dr. Harvey Karp
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BABY
Written by
Dr. Harvey Karp
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Scheduling is a modern concept. In ancient times, parents didn’t feed their babies or put them down for naps according to the time on the sundial. No one was following wake windows or charting their little one’s feeds on an app! But today’s parents live very differently than they did back then. Now, staying organized and adopting a schedule that works for your family can be a lifesaver. But how do you start—and when? Here’s my take on how to approach setting up a baby schedule.
I believe in baby schedules. Of course, a rigid baby schedule that ignores a baby’s cries and changing needs is unnatural. But following a flexible baby schedule that sets approximate times—and realistic expectations—for feeding, sleep, and more can work quite well...and help bring peace to both Baby and parent.
If you are going to try a baby schedule, I suggest you wait until they are about a month old—or until feeding is going really well. Trying to implement a baby schedule earlier is, well, pointless. Fresh-to-the-world babies are just getting used to life outside of the womb. Day is night. Night is day. Plus, newborns don’t crave schedules yet. Instead, all they want is to experience the sensations they’re used to from the womb. Your job? Be an A+ womb impersonator by offering a healthy dose of the 5 S’s, which are designed to transition babies into their fourth trimester. The 5 S’s include Swaddling, Shushing (aka white noise, Swinging (or rocking), holding in the Side or Stomach position, and Sucking.
Once your baby is roughly a month old, I suggest you do the following:
For most parents, a flexible eating and sleeping schedule is super-helpful. But the key word is flexible. If you’re planning a 1pm nap, but your little one is exhausted at 12:30pm, it’s fine to bend the “rules.” Just feed your baby and put them down early. And if your bub gets hungry before their “scheduled” feeding time, try distracting them, but respond with promptness and love if the fussing persists…and return to the schedule later. Rigid and strict schedules where you never deviate even if your baby is crying with hunger are contrary to our natural instincts. It makes us constantly watch the clock and can lead to underfed babies.
Getting into a predictable daily rhythm has been shown to be good for Baby’s sleep. A study of breastfed babies featured in the journal Pediatrics found that two simple scheduling tweaks yielded a big improvement in sleep in the first two months:
Within three weeks, 100% of the breastfed babies studied were sleeping five-hour stretches with these two steps, versus 23% of infants where no scheduling was tried.
Some experts advise an “eat, play, sleep” baby schedule. The idea here is, when your little one wakes up from a nap or night sleep, you feed them, play with them…then when the time comes, put them down for sleep again. You continue with this pattern throughout the day. The hope is that having a little play time separating the eating from sleeping will help babies learn to fall asleep without a feeding when they wake at 2am.
While this sounds logical, the “eat, play, sleep” baby schedule actually goes against your baby’s biology. Infants get sleepy after feedings, no matter how much you prod and play with them. Also, before bedtime, you want to fill your little one’s tummy to prolong their sleep!
Most babies are very receptive to a bedtime routine at around 6 to 8 weeks. Establishing a bedtime routine for your new baby helps to calm them and ease them into a good night’s sleep. Follow the same reassuring sample baby routine every night:
Dim the lights. Exposure to bright light in the hour or so before night-night makes falling asleep more difficult.
Play soft white noise in the background. White noise is not bird sounds, waves, or lullabies. White noise is continuous, monotonous, and low pitch. And the ideal white noise mimics the loud rumbly sounds Baby heard in the womb. (SNOO, SNOObear, and SNOObie both feature the best white noise for sleep.)
Offer a toasty bath. A baby’s body temperature drops a few degrees post-bath, which signals the body that it’s time for night-night.
Give a loving massage. Research shows that baby massage can improve the quality of baby sleep—even more so for a little one who has poor sleep quality. I like to use warm massage oil, too, like coconut, grapeseed oil, or safflower oil. Warm the oil by leaving it at room temperature and rubbing your hands together.
Swaddle your baby. I like to swaddle babies before a feed, but some babies prefer to be swaddled afterward…so see which works best for you! Either way, swaddling is an important S in the 5 S’s that helps bring on sleep.
Feed your baby. Babies are designed to snooze after drinking yummy milk!
Play a soft lullaby. A 2021 Harvard University study found that when babies listened to lullabies, they became more relaxed than when they listened to other music. While lullabies should not replace white noise, they are a great addition to a calming bedtime routine. (Here are some great lullabies for babies.)
Within a week, this bedtime routine will begin to work like hypnosis. Soon, you’ll find that both you and your baby will be getting more sleep!
Disclaimer: The information on our site is NOT medical advice for any specific person or condition. It is only meant as general information. If you have any medical questions and concerns about your child or yourself, please contact your health provider. Breastmilk is the best source of nutrition for babies. It is important that, in preparation for and during breastfeeding, mothers eat a healthy, balanced diet. Combined breast- and bottle-feeding in the first weeks of life may reduce the supply of a mother's breastmilk and reversing the decision not to breastfeed is difficult. If you do decide to use infant formula, you should follow instructions carefully.
