Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 9

Newborn schedule for baby’s 9th week. Baby newborn schedule and routine for the ninth week of life. 8-9 week old newborn routine. Find out what to do with a newborn all day, feeding intervals, and playtime activities.

8 week old Birnley

This summary is for Brinley’s 9th week–she was 8 weeks old.

NURSING

Nursing went well this week except for one day–a wonder week 8 thing so see that below to know about that day.

POOPING

She is still on the 1-2 times per week pooping plan.

SLEEPING

Oh sleeping! This was a great week. One morning early in the week I woke at 5:30 AM and realized she hadn’t woken in the night at all. A 7.5 hour stretch! It was a day I needed her on her normal schedule because I was helping in Kaitlyn’s class, so I woke her, fed her, then put her back down and got her up again at 7:30.

Throughout the week, she kept sleeping longer and longer. She moved to 9 hours at night!

There was a morning she woke at 6:15 AM. This is such an awkward time to wake up when our goal time is 7-7:30. I find it difficult to decide what to do.

I either start the day at 6:15 and move on from there, or I feed then get up again in two hours. There really is no wrong or right way universally–just what works best for your baby, you, and your family.

As she ate, I thought and thought about what to do. In the end, I decided to put her down and then get her up in two hours. I had two driving reasons for coming to that decision.

>>>Read: 5-6 AM “Night” Wakings

The first reason was that if I started the day then, she likely would drop a feeding.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it being the first day of possibly doing that and her being 8 weeks old, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to drop a feeding. I wanted to stick to 7 feedings in a 24 hour period for the time.

The second reason was that the time change is coming up (ugh). So if I start the day at 6, it is like starting at 5 in a month.

I don’t want to train her body into that starting time. This was my primary reason for feeding and then waking again in two hours. For more on this, see my post:  Early Morning Feedings Before Waketime

And of course, with the good sleep the comments start coming. “You are so lucky!” She is a good baby, but I wouldn’t put it to luck. I haven’t just happened into her being a great sleeper. I make a lot of sacrifices to protect her sleep and I make sure to keep her routine consistent.

Happily, I also get the positive comments. One nice old lady at my church asked me how she was sleeping, and when I told her she said, “Well you know why don’t you? It is because you are such a good mom. You know, you really need to write a book about babies. And look how alert she is! For her age she is just so alert!” I really love her 🙂

MILESTONES

A Babywise milestone she met this week, besides the sleeping, is that she started to wake happy. She wasn’t happy for long periods, but she would wake up and lay there and look around contently. 

WONDER WEEK 8

We had one day of wonder week 8 business going on.

Wonder Week 8 is “The World of Patterns.” Your baby starts to become aware of patterns around her. Baby might stare at lights (this is something Brinley did–obsessed with lights). She can also be obsessed with playing with her hands (but Brinley was not).

There can be more sound experiments and babbling noises (yes). She can focus longer (yes). Baby can be more clingy, cry more often, loses appetite, shy around strangers, and sleeps poorly. The gym is a great toy for this age.

She had the one half day of poor sleep and lack of appetite. She was obsessed with lights, and definitely started using her voice more. 

>>>Read: The Wonder Weeks and Sleep

TWO MONTH WELL CHECK

For Brinley’s two month well check I tried something I haven’t ever tried before. For doctor appointments, I have always gotten the baby up and fed her and then taken her to the appointment. This is great and all, but by the time you get into the doctor’s office, it is time for baby’s nap.

This time, I woke her right when it was time to leave. We hopped in the car and drove to the appointment. It is only a 10-15 minute drive for us. Our doctor is fast about getting you out of the waiting room, so we checked in and were called back a few minutes later. We got her weight and length. Then I sat and started to feed her while I waited for the doctor to come in.

She was finishing side one right when he came in. So we paused and did the check-up. Then she got her vaccinations and I fed the second side, we drove home, and she went down for her nap.

I actually liked this a lot.

One great thing is that she wasn’t up as long. She was only up for about 15 minutes longer than usual, which she can handle once in a while.

Another great thing was that I was able to nurse her after her vaccinations, so I was able to give her some comfort–not that you couldn’t do the same even if it wasn’t time to nurse.

Speaking of the vaccinations, she did great that day, sleeping the rest of the day. She did need acetaminophen throughout the remainder of the day.

About six hours after her vaccinations, she was in some pain. It was almost time for medicine again, but not quite, so you know it is not working as well.

She was nursing and just started crying from the pain from being on her side. My friend Kristi later suggested I do the football hold, which I didn’t think of at the time–great idea!

So you can do that if you are in a similar situation. Her next feeding was during her medicine being active. By the next morning, she was just fine.

CUDDLE BUG

Brinley loves to cuddle. She will often be sleepy at the end of a feeding and just cuddle up to me and doze. I love to sit and just hold her. I give her a couple of minutes before waking her up and just soak in the moment. She won’t do it much longer and I want to just relish in it while she does!

You want to be careful with the catnaps–it can really make it so they don’t nap well, so if you have little catnaps going, just be aware of how they are affecting sleep.

SCHEDULE

This is our daily schedule.
7:30–feed
8:20–nap
11:00–feed
11:50–nap
2:00–feed
2:50–nap
4:30-5:00–feed
5:20–nap
7-7:30 (time varies here)–feed, then bedtime
10:00–dreamfeed
Then night feed. Typically, this happened between 6-6:15. Toward the end of the week she slept until 7 AM.

HELPFUL BOOKS

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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.

12 thoughts on “Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 9”

  1. Wow that's so wonderful to hear. I look forward to those sleeping nights. I think I remember you saying that Brinley had a cold a few weeks ago. My 3 week old has one and I was wondering if there is anything I can do for a cold. Thanks for your advice and help 🙂

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  2. Congratulations on the sleep. I am wondering how you manage to protect her naps so perfectly given your older children with school drop off & pickup, swim lessons, playgroup, etc. Does your mom come over every day?I have a 3-yr-old and 14-wk-old. My family is out of state, so I have to bring the baby with me for preschool drop-off and pick-up, as well as for any other necessary appointments. Also, my 3 yr old needs to play at the park daily (we live in the city), so I have to nap the baby in a carrier or car 4-5 days a week for at least one nap. (She will only sleep 25 minutes on the go.) It's impossible for me to give her the optimal nap schedule and environment for every single nap.On the whole, she has been a good sleeper (though had a lot of disturbances ever since the 12-week leap). Very alert and quite happy. But compared to Brinley she's a terrible sleeper. 🙂 I think that sleep in newborns has to be a combo of nature and nuture. Certainly giving them the right environment and timing makes things far better, but also each child has her own biological potential for sleep. My first baby was colicky. She was a chronic 25-min napper, then a 45-min napper (I thought that was great!), then eventually she became a great napper by about 8 months. at 3 1/2, she still naps most days. I did nothing differently — I believe she just had to biologically mature in that way.

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  3. I just wrote a post on the Chronicles Google group about my 8 week old baby girl also sleeping all the way past 5 a.m. I did the same thing you did – fed her even though she didn't wake on her own, then put her back down so we could preserve our first feeding/start time. However, I think I'm going to see how long she'll go on her own if she does it again. It makes sense since you had to be somewhere that morning that you needed to feed Brinley around 5 though. This is my 3rd baby and I am happy to finally (so far) have an easy sleeper for the most part. I chalk some of it up to her temperament and some of it up to my experience. Glad things are going well for you too!

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  4. I echo Disclaimer Girl's question – have been wondering that since I found your blog a month ago (and LOVE it). I have my Gabrielle (born 8/18) and a 2.5 yr old son and a 4 yr old daughter. We have playdater, preschool, bible study, MOPS… Naps on the go must not be the same as naps in the bassinet…

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  5. My baby boy is 9 weeks old and has not been a great sleeper. Our schedule is the same as yours but with a 7am start time instead. I used baby wise with my first son who is two now and he was sttn at 8 weeks. My baby Caleb though averages only about 4.5 hrs! He naps well during the day and is a very happy and easy baby besides the night time stretch! I have done the same thing with both, so I'm not sure how to help him sleep longer. I don't let him cry long before I go in during the night as I'm afraid he will wake up my two yr old in a nearby room, maybe I need to let him cry some to be sure he is truly awake. Any tips?

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  6. Love reading your updates and entries. Thanks for taking the time. So glad that Brinley is doing so well and thriving!I have a question about the Babywise book. I'm re-reading mine to remember some things about what to expect from my baby at this age, and I'm confused. I'm reading the revised version. My baby is 12 weeks old (turning 13 weeks this next Monday), and there seem to be a few different takes on feeding/napping schedules in the book. For example, page 98 has a sample schedule for a baby at this age that includes 6 feedings and 5 naps. Page 236, however, says that 3-month old baby should be receiving 4-5 feedings a day. So which is it? Page 234 also mentions a 3 1/2 month old baby taking 2 naps that are 1 1/2-2 hrs. long with a third short nap. My baby is taking 3 great naps, but is fighting a fourth.My baby is currently beginning the day at 8am, feeding every three hours. I wake her up often times to feed her after her 1st nap (11am) and often after her second (2pm). She has a 45min to 1hr. waketime, with a 1 1/2 – 2 hr. nap for her first three naps, then she doesn't want to take a fourth nap (between 5-8). I lay her down for it just like the others, but she won't have anything to do with it. She fusses a lot longer (longer than 30-45 mins) when she typically will only make a few sounds going down for the other naps (which lasts around 15-20 mins max). So, I've been putting her in the bouncy seat so she can just enjoy being with us during dinner, etc., and she's very content. She's ready to go to bed by 8pm, though, so I've been bathing her around 7:30, then feeding at 8pm, then down for bed right after that. Instead of waking her at 10 or 11 to feed again, I let her sleep. Sometimes I'll pump that feeding to help keep my supply up. She'll sleep until 5am-ish, feed, then she's right back down until 8am again. There's a question on page 232 about a baby sleeping from 8pm – 4am (which is kind of what we're doing), and the reader is encouraged to wake the baby at 10/11pm to feed so that baby will sleep until 7am. I haven't done that 10pm feed, however, b/c I'd rather enjoy those late hours (8-10/11pm) having some alone time with my husband or alone time by myself. I have 2 older children, who are in bed by 7:30pm, so once we've done the bedtime routine with them all, we're ready for some downtime! I'm assuming this is one of those 'freedoms' I can take with her schedule and that it isn't throwing off things at this point for her. I assume she'll simply sleep through that 5am feeding to a more normal hour when she's ready. It seems that at 16 weeks, she may be ready for a 12-hr night. She actually slept 12 hrs. a couple of nights ago, but that seemed a little early to me. She went back to her 'regular' schedule the next day.One last thing – she's unusually difficult to get down at night sometimes. I think it's a tummy issue, though, since she's so easy all day. I've been trying to watch her carefully to see if it's a 'bad tummy' night or not. It's about half and half as far as how many nights a week she goes down easily at 8pm. If I feed her at 8pm then rock her, it seems to work out all the bubbles, and she goes down more easily. Often, she'll fall asleep, and I put her down asleep. I'm hoping this isn't creating a bad habit. It doesn't seem to be affecting her going to sleep on her own at all throughout the day.Thanks again for your insight!

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  7. Need some tips… my little boy is now 7 weeks and is being breast fed and we have been following BW since week 3 with great success, but we have been trying to get him used to a bottle so that my mum can put him to bed as hubby and I have a date night booked next month.He willl take the bottle without any problems but then he won't settle, he always want to nurse aswell after. I think he is using this as comfort to settle. he only seems to do thIs at night even though he has already had enough milk. we have had to give him formula from a bottle as I have had some problems nursing and pumping that I have been seeing my doc for. I don't know if this is the problem….

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  8. I love her already. I can't help but feel excited for a friend's baby girl. She and her mom will be lovely. We're already planning her babyshower.

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  9. Hi there, I am curious about going from 7 to 6 feedings. I currently do 7 feedings with my 6 week old. I have been letting her sleep 6hrs from 10:30p to 4:30a. I have been waking her at 4:30a to eat. She then eats again between 7:30a and 8a. The last couple nights she has been tough to wake at 4:30a. So, I am considering allowing her to try and sleep through the night. I imagine this will result in her waking between 5:30a and 6:30a as we make the transition to the whole night. Babywise advises that between 7 and 10 weeks, once your baby is sleeping through the night, that you schedule 7 feedings throughout the day (approx 2.5hr intervals). It seems to me that you dropped down to six as soon as your baby girl began sleeping from about 10:30p to 7a. Babywise does not mention dropping to six feedings until 12ish weeks when the late night (or dream feed) can be dropped. I am trying to decide whether to schedule 6 or 7 feedings throughout the day. Can you please elaborate a little on this?Your help and blog is so very appreciated!Katie

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