Newborn schedule for baby’s first week. Baby newborn schedule and routine for the first week of life. Read all about this baby’s first week.

They are back! The newborn summaries! This is a summary of the first week of Brinely’s life.

The Beginning

Life started out smoothly for Brinley. She was born, she was healthy, and she ate like a champ. I nursed her in the delivery room immediately after birth and I did not have to fight her to stay awake to take both sides. She nursed for thirty minutes.

As the nursery nurse was checking her vitals a couple of hours later, she suspected Brinley’s glucose levels to be low, so she tested her. They were low. The nurse suggested we give her some formula. This is something I do not love to do. I had to do it with Kaitlyn because she was in the NICU and you have to jump through your hoops to get out. I am a big advocate of breastfeeding.

However, I am a bigger advocate for the health of my child, so we gave her 10 MLs of formula. An hour later, they tested her glucose again and it was in great shape. She never had another glucose issue. She also never had a breastfeeding issue.

Hospital Stay

I have ALWAYS stayed in the hospital for every minute my insurance will pay for. At the hospital, I am forced to sit still and I have people bringing me food.

This time, however, I decided we should just go home after the 24 hours. Brinley and I both got the clean bill of health and were able to leave at the 24 hour mark. Brinley’s jaundice testing came back very low risk, so we had no jaundice worries.

Reflux?

Oh how I watch my babies for reflux. Kaitlyn had reflux. A reflux baby is just harder. Just before we left the hospital, Brinley started spitting up quite a bit. As her pediatrician looked her over, I told him I was concerned about reflux. He nodded his head knowingly.

Newborns do, however, often have amniotic fluid in their tummy that upsets it so they spit up a lot in the first 48 hours. McKenna had done the same thing and I was hoping and literally praying it would be the same for Brinley.

That night, neither my husband nor I slept much. I got maybe two hours of disjointed sleep. She spit up often and we were both jumping out of bed to make sure she didn’t aspirate on the spit up.

The next day, things seemed to improve, but then got worse again in the evening. I could tell she was having some pain. I decided she was likely intolerant of caffeine like Kaitlyn had been, so I cut my chocolate intake (I don’t drink caffeine at all).

The next day, she had no pain issues and no spit up. I haven’t had chocolate since. I know! It isn’t all that bad. I nursed Kaitlyn for a year with no chocolate. I know how to survive. And since chocolate is my number one food weakness, it is frankly great for the waistline, so don’t worry about feeling bad for me.

As it stands right now, I do not believe Brinley has reflux at all. I think she doesn’t tolerate caffeine well and she also doesn’t love lying flat. She sleeps at an incline. But there is no spitting up, silent or otherwise, so I actually think these things will quickly be outgrown.

>>>Read: Babywise and Reflux

Warm Baby

Our second full day of being home, our power went out. Something about a bird running into a line. This small bird managed to put our town out of power from about 8 AM until after 1 PM. Yep–it got hot. But that day, Brinley slept very soundly. As evening progresses, our AC runs quite a bit. I noticed she was having a rough time sleeping after her 7:30 PM feeding and closer to morning time. Because of this, I decided she must be one who likes to be warm.

I had her in a onesie and a light cotton swaddle blanket. but I changed her to a warm fleece swaddle blanket and made sure she had socks on. The sleep was immediately perfect.

>>>Read: Can it be too hot for baby to sleep well?

Siblings

You may be wondering what life was like with all of the children around. They visited us in the hospital right after she was born and the next morning. Our kids stayed for a couple of days with my husband’s parents, then my parents took them camping with them to a family reunion for four days, so they were only home for the last day of her first week. It was so great. We were able to just focus on the baby and get to know her. I had nothing but her to worry about, so I was very quickly able to trouble shoot and notice her patterns. We were able to take it easy and just bond with her. It was like having your first born all over again, but this time we had a house and knew what we were doing. So great.

When they came home, they were all over her. It was such a different world. She went from being the calm “oldest” baby to the baby of the family. She looked around at them as they leaned over her and talked about how cute she was. It was loud and the energy was high. I knew she would be a lucky, spoiled baby.

Nursing

Nursing has gone really well. Brinley is my first baby that I have not had to fight for several weeks to stay awake to eat. She just eats. She eats well from both sides at each feeding. She tends to hover around 10 minutes per side, but at times she does closer to 15 per side.

>>>Read: Keeping a Newborn Awake During Feedings

Waketime

Brinley has waketime after every feeding. She handles it very well. She seems to be sitting at a 50 minute waketime length right now, which seems crazy long to me. She has done 60 with no issues.

I try to get her swaddled by 45 minutes so I can have her down by 50. Just because she can do 60 doesn’t mean I think she should unless needed. Right now, a yawn is a reliable indication that she is ready for a nap.

>>>Read: How Long Should a Newborn Be Awake Between Naps

Naps

Naps are great. I wake her for every feeding. One time she woke for the 7:30 PM feeding on her own. We do the first three of the 4 S’s by Hogg and she goes to sleep without crying at all.

There were a few times she cried a bit. One was one morning when someone (I am not sure who) was repeatedly ringing my doorbell at 7:30 in the morning (seriously? I am still trying to figure that one out). It woke her up, I had just gotten out of the shower, she started to cry, I was rushing to get the pad on, the clothes on, the nursing pads (you know how that all takes so much time at first). By the time I had the necessities covered, she had gone to sleep.

Another time, I put her down, she seemed to be asleep, I went out to play with our dog, and she started to cry. I got the dog her food and put her in her kennel, and by the time I was done (a few minutes), she was asleep.

The third time was when the kids were home and we were getting them ready for bed. She started to cry, I got the kids situated, I walked to her room, and she was asleep. Again, no more than 1-3 minutes.

Night Sleep

Brinley is sleeping very well at night. She has her dreamfeed, then wakes once in the night, then I wake her at our target morning waketime of 7:30 AM. There was one night she woke at 6:30 AM, but every other morning I have woken her up.

I am not waking her in the night to feed her. I figured I would see what she does on her own. She tends to go exactly 5 hours all on her own. I don’t like setting my alarm and then fighting a baby to eat in the middle of the night. So I let her wake me so I know she will be ready to eat. This has been much better for everyone. I am getting more sleep than I ever have and the baby is getting food in the night.

>>>Read: Babywise Newborn Night Feeding Schedule

Newborn Schedule

We are eating every three hours in the day. Sometimes 2.5. Our target waketime is 7:30 AM. She eats once in the night time.

Conclusion

We are happy with how things are going. She eats well, sleeps well, and gets to have some interaction with us in waketime.

HELPFUL BOOKS/WEBSITES

Brinley Newborn Summaries

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.

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