Baby schedule for newborns. Babywise newborn schedule and routine for the second week of life. Read all about this baby’s second week.

Week two has continued on smoothly with little or no incident. Here are some updates on our second week of life.

Newborn GAS

I decided I didn’t want McKenna to have more medicine than she needed. I am not one who likes medicine, but if it is necessary, I will definitely use it.

I started to cut back on how many doses she got in a day. I first cut out one, then a second, then a third. By the time I had cut out the third, she woke with gas pains. I decided to go back to giving gas medicine after each feeding for a couple more weeks. I will then start to cut them out, but do so much more slowly. I think I will just cut one out a week.

Newborn NURSING

McKenna now eats on both sides for about half of her feedings each day and just one side for the other half. I still wake her for 6 of her 8 feedings each day (I keep track). She is growing right on track and doing well.

My friend Rachel left a comment on the blog about how she would burp her son after he unlatched the first time, then continued him nursing on the same side. She would then switch sides after he unlatched the second time. I have done this with McKenna and am often able to get her to eat on both sides when I do this. It works great for her. This is the reason it is great to have people to ask questions to. There are so many tricks out there. Some work for some children and not others, so it is great to have lots of ideas to draw from.

I have also found that if she refuses to nurse the second side, I can get to do so sometimes after a diaper change. That didn’t work in week one, but it worked in week two.

To sum up, this is what I do. I start her on one side. When she slows down or unlatches, I burp her then continue her on the same side. I let her continue on until she is done with that side. She usually unlatches, but sometimes she lazily sucks without a swallow. I read (I think in Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems or What to Expect the First Year) to switch sides when baby sucks about 6 times without swallowing. I then burp her again and start side two.

Baby in crib with the words Babywise Schedule Week 2

BURPING a Newborn

McKenna has also changed in what works best to burp her. We are getting much faster at it. She now works best over my shoulder with her legs straight. It is hard to get her to uncurl those little legs, but it is what works best to get a burp out of her.

WAKETIME for Newborns

Her waketime length has increased slightly and her alertness has also increased slightly this week. I introduce two new waketime activities this week. One was to sit in her swing with it off. I haven’t turned the swing on with her in it yet. It is just a place for her to sit right now. The other is tummy time.

She doesn’t really have any obvious sleep cues yet. There have been a few times she has yawned. Usually what happens is she just starts to fall asleep if I haven’t gotten her down in time, which is quite typical for a newborn. At least it was for Kaitlyn and is for her :).

I have started watching the clock this week for waketime. I put her down either by first sign that she is ready or I start the process after she has been awake for 40 minutes. That way she is always down by the time she has been up for 45 minutes, which I think is realistically all she can handle at this age.

NIGHTTIME SLEEP for Newborn

This is still going well. There hasn’t been any change. She usually wakes for her first feeding in the night and I usually wake her for the second. We are still doing two night feedings in order to have 8 feedings in a day. On the last night of her second week, I moved her to her room for night sleep instead of sleeping in my room. I sleep much better when the baby is not in the room with me.

SWADDLE for Newborn

I still swaddle McKenna for naps and night. A great thing about her is that she often breaks out of the swaddle but still stays asleep, or, rather, goes back to sleep. So she likes to be swaddled, but it isn’t something necessary for her to sleep well.

NAPS for Newborn

McKenna’s naps are great. She still has yet to cry at all before a nap. She often wakes at a transition and goes back to sleep, all without crying (I know this thanks to my video monitor 🙂 ).

Read: Brinley Newborn Summary: Week Two

OUTINGS for Newborn

We took McKenna out for the first time this week to buy some new shoes for Brayden and Kaitlyn. She slept the entire time. It was a short outing and I am being very cautious with her. It is still RSV season here until May 1, and this year it is strongest right now.

So there is our uneventful second week.

Newborn Sample schedule for Week 2 with a picture of a newborn baby

HELPFUL BOOKS for Newborns

I didn’t actually consult any books this week. I am sure if this were baby number one or if I didn’t basically have Babywise memorized I would have consulted some books. So the books I listed last week are still books I would recommend at this stage, as well as the first Baby Whisperer book.