Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 6

Newborn schedule for baby’s 6th week. Baby newborn schedule and routine for the 6th week of life. 5-6 week old newborn routine. Find out what to do with a newborn all day, how to respond when a newborn is sick, newborn growth spurts, and wonder weeks at this age.

6 week old Brinley being held by her mom

Brinley is now 6 weeks old. This picture of her is her favorite position. My husband calls it “Brinley’s spot.”

POSTPARTUM EMOTIONS

Emotions were great this week. This is the age I normally “snap out of it” and since I wasn’t ever fully in it, I didn’t feel the snap. But I also didn’t have any emotional moments. It is nice to be more me 🙂

POSTPARTUM INSOMNIA

I had another night of insomnia. It wasn’t as bad as the last one. She woke at 3ish to eat. She was not terribly hungry, though (she was on night one of a new cold and was pretty stuffy, so I think she woke from that more than hunger), so I had to wake fully to keep her eating.

It took me a couple of hours to fall back asleep after that. Then I slept for about 30 minutes and had to get up to get ready for the day. 

Like I said before, with my other girls, I had a lot of insomnia nights, and so far I have had two total, so I am very glad for that. I still don’t like them when it happens though.

NURSING a NEWBORN

Nursing is going well. No mastitis. No problems. I still use Lansinoh and Newman’s Nipple Cream.

She takes about 30 minutes to eat each feeding and has been pretty consistent with that in life.

In the night, she is going a bit faster–maybe 25 minutes of eating. That is nice because it was taking me about an hour to get the feeding in plus the diaper change. Now we are done in about thirty minutes, which means an extra thirty minutes of sleep for me :).

I think the reason it is a lot faster is for the most part, I don’t have to try to keep her awake to eat. She just eats.

>>>Read: How Long Should a Newborn Feeding Last?

NEWBORN GROWTH SPURT

Toward the end of the week, I am pretty sure she had a growth spurt. She woke for more feedings on her own and had fewer poopy diapers.

The end of the day one day, she ate every two hours, working another feeding into her day. Then the next day, she was super sleepy and very hard to wake up for any of her feedings.

>>>Read: Baby Growth Spurts: Everything You Need To Know

DREAMFEED

The dreamfeed was a lot better this week. I think she ate from both sides basically every night. We start the dreamfeed between 10-10:15 each night.

>>>Read: Dreamfeed Frequently Asked Questions

NEWBORN SICKNESS

She got another cold this week! Poor thing. She had less than a week off. I think with school-age children, colds are common this time of year as students are all spending time with each other again.

Then they bring that home. Or it is because we had a sudden drop in temperatures and so the cold virus is hopping around.

The first night of her cold, she woke at midnight and 3 AM then again at 6 AM. That is her most restless night of her life. I fed her each time. The poor girl was pretty stuffy. She has quickly gotten much better, though, and we only had the one rough night.

NEWBORN NAPS

Naps are as usual.

She is sleeping in her bassinet in her crib. I tried a nap this week outside of her bassinet and just in the crib. She did not sleep as peacefully and woke up about 30 minutes early. It could have been a fluke, but I went back to just the bassinet for now. We will try again another week.

There is no reason to force your newborn baby to sleep in a crib rather than a bassinet if she feels more comfortable in the bassinet.

WAKETME ACTIVITIES

These are the things we do during waketime.I am starting to have things I do at certain times of day.

  • Bath (I always do this after her first feeding of the day)
  • Get held by siblings/parents (this happens a whole lot)
  • Tummy time (this varies based on mood–I like to do tummy time when she is happy and alert)
  • Gym play (I do this after her 10:30 AM feeding. I treat it like an independent play, though I am in the room with her while she does it)
  • Read stories (we do this before bed–after her 7:00 PM feeding)
  • “Play” on blanket
  • Lay there and have me take a million pictures of her
  • Walk (we went for her first walk this week. She fell asleep)

>>>Read: Best Toys for Baby: Ages 0-3 Months

WONDER WEEK

This week, she was kind of just off. She seemed a bit grumpy to me. She would pull off the breast crying, but I knew the milk supply was fine because I could feel how much was in there. I wondered if it was time for a wonder week leap.

Yes it was! Wonder Week Five. Changing Sensations. This is when baby gets to be more aware of her sense and the world around her. The authors say that baby will pull from the breast while eating–leading mom to worry about milk supply. It can last anywhere from a day to a week. 

>>>Read: The Wonder Weeks and Sleep

NEWBORN SCHEDULE

This is our daily schedule that we shoot for. Our first feeding varies the most. It typically ranges between 6:30 and 7:30 AM. 

7:30–feed
8:20–nap
10:30–feed
11:20–nap
1:30–feed
2:20–nap
4:30–feed
5:20–nap
7-7:30 (time varies here)–feed, then bedtime
10:00–dreamfeed
Then night feed(s). Typically, this happens between 2:30-3:30 AM.

HELPFUL BOOKS for PARENTING NEWBORNS

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A list of all of the baby newborn summaries for Brinley. Get a week by week summary of what is going on and a typical weekly schedule and routine for a newborn baby.

11 thoughts on “Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 6”

  1. We are just a week behind you – DD3 is 5 weeks today. I enjoy reading your posts since our girls are so close in age. I hadn't thought to put the bassinet in the crib as part of the transition. She takes 2 naps per day in her crib and the other two in her bassinet in our room, but I think maybe I will try the bassinet in the crib for her first night outside of our room. Today during her second wake time she actually fell asleep during tummy time with her two big sisters playing right around her. This is my first baby to be able to sleep that well around noise/light, etc…which is a good thing! She went right back to sleep when I moved her to her bed. Hallelujah!

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  2. One thi.g my Scottish midwife told me (reknown for its midwifery program) is to completely empty a breast at a feeding and if they're still hungry give them the other. It adjusts accordingly, you won't get lopsided, they are sure to get all the hindmilk, and you significantly reduce your risk of mastitis since the breasts are emptied completely regularly. Babywise suggests equal time but in both Scotland and Australia (though I am American) they tell you to just empty one, that they can feed off one for 20 minutes alone!

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  3. I agree with patriotic expat above. It's exactly what I do. – not that I'd planned to. My first was a speed-eater and would finish in 5 minutes and refuse the other side. So I just let her eat one side and fall off on her own and it made me happy knowing she got all the hind milk. She gained and grew just fine. I'm doing the same with my second (same age as Brinley) and she gained over 3 lbs in her first month. Never was lopsided, never had mastitis and only had a clogged duct once. Everyone looks at me crazy when I say I only nurse one side per feeding.

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  4. Hi Val,Love reading your Brinley updates!I have a question about the final EWS cycle before bedtime. With a young baby 3hr cycle after the nap do you go straight to eat and bed? Ie so they actually go nap, eat, bedtime? Or is there a bit of 'up' time after nap before meal, or after meal before bed?I currently cluster feed 2hrly before bedtime and there's often no nap in our final cycle because we squeeze daddy time and bath in there, and theres no time, but I feel she's getting close to moving away from cluster feeding, but can't stay awake for 3hrs, but I'm concerned she won't be tired enough for bed if she goes straight from nap to bedtime (plus bath is a big part of our bedtime routine).Thanks! Anita

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  5. It always seems like your babies/kids sleep and eat perfectly! what is your secret??? My daughter will be 6 weeks on monday, and she is STILL getting up every 2-3 hours at night! I just recently decided to stop nursing (for my mental health), and so we will see how formula goes. I feel like the middle of the night feedings are so hard to keep her awake so she doesn't eat much. Any advice?

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  6. So my little man turned 6 weeks old this past Friday. I am having a hard time adjusting to bw with two kiddos…my other child is 3. We did bw with her as well and are doing preschoolwise right now. For my little man, he is still in our room at night but takes his naps in his crib. I haven't been able to just lay him down and let him fall asleep yet. He just screams and screams. So I have to walk around with him and shh/pat for a while before he gets relaxed enough to fall asleep. As for nursing, he is eating about every 2-3 hours. More every 2-2.5. In the evenings though I cluster feed so he will sleep great at night and he does…we got to 7 hrs last night! :). Any suggestions on how to really get him into a good, consistent schedule along with my 3 year old?

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  7. Hi! I love your blog! I am very confused though by this post.. On your milestones post you say you need 8 feedings in 24 hrs for 6 weeks old but you only list 6 feedings here? Our 6 week old likes to eat at 7, 10, 1:15, 4:30, 6:30, 8:30, 10:30, 3:30. Should we be putting her to bed after 6;30 feeding as bedtime? She may do fine with that, not sure? Very confused

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