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.

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

• Chronicles of a Babywise Mom Log eBook
• The Babywise Mom Nap Guide
• Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby
• On Becoming Baby Wise
• Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
• What to Expect the First Year
• The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems: Sleeping, Feeding, and Behavior–Beyond the Basics from Infancy Through Toddlerhood

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