Newborn schedule for baby’s fourth week. Baby newborn schedule and routine for the 4th week of life. 3-4 week old newborn routine.

This is a summary for Brinley from 3-4 weeks old.

POSTPARTUM EMOTIONS

Emotions were the same–up and down, back and forth. I feel like they are easing up, though. It seems like I am my normal self more often than an anxiety-ridden self. The anxiety is only there briefly.

NURSING

Nursing is going well. Still no signs of mastitis (YEAH!). Newman’s Nipple Cream is most likely to thank–at least that is where I am sending the credit. It is the only thing I did differently and I got mastitis with every other child. Knock on wood it doesn’t come.

>>>Read: Mastitis

BURPING

So last week, the burping was a difficulty. This week, it was a non-issue.

HICCUPS

She is hiccuping less frequently. Either she is getting more fat on her body so when she gets a diaper change her body temperature is less prone to dropping, or her diaphragm is maturing, or some combination of both.

>>>Read: Stopping Baby Hiccups

DREAMFEED

The dance. That is what I call the dreamfeed. A dance put on by me to get Brinley to eat :).

She eats well for every feeding of the day, but the dreamfeed is definitely a battle I fight. Or a dance I perform. I feed one side. I can usually get one side in okay. Sometimes I have to lay her down unswaddled by me so she will squirm around enough to wake up. Then I feed the one side.

Then I change her diaper and give her gas drops. The gas drops often wake her enough to consent to latch to the second side. If not, I must move on to the swaddle. Oddly enough, if I swaddle her back up, she will eat from the second side for at least five minutes. Sometimes I can get ten from her.

>>>Read: Dreamfeed Frequently Asked Questions

Sometimes diaper changes can go very wrong. I remember there was a period with McKenna where in the middle of the night she would, without fail, poop as soon as she had a clean diaper on.

Last night at the dreamfeed, I had a similar issue. I changed her diaper. She made sounds of pooping, so I opened her diaper up to change her again and there was no poop, but she had peed so I proceeded to change her anyway. As I had the diaper open, she peed again, and it went all over her socks and PJs–it didn’t seem to hit the diaper at all. Such magic tricks by babies will always be a mystery to me.

So we had a full wardrobe change. I really just found it all amusing. It reminded me of my baby days with Brayden (boys leak through all the time!) and newborn nights with McKenna. Aaahhh memories. And gratitude they are pretty much only memories now.

>>>Read: Ultimate Guide to Stopping Baby Poop at Night

SICKNESS

She still has a cold. It is getting better, but is still there.

WARMTH

As she is getting fat on her body, she seems to not want to be so warm (or not need so much help to be warm). I am watching her closely so I can make sure I keep her dressed appropriately for her wants at sleep times.

LARGER DIAPER

Up to this point, Brinley has been wearing newborn diapers. This week, I moved her to size one diapers at night. In the day, she is still doing newborn but is doing size one at night since she goes longer between feedings.

This is a good tip for diapers at night. When your baby gets close enough to the next size up, use a larger diaper at night. I also really like Huggies Overnight diapers.

EARLY MORNING FEEDINGS

This week, a few times Brinley woke at 6 AM wanting to eat. This is what I call an early morning feeding before waketime.

>>>Read: 5-6 AM “Night” Wakings

I decided this week to start feeding her one side and then put her back down, then get her up at 7:30. Our desired wake up time is between 7-7:30, so I want to start trying to start in that window as much as possible.

One day, she woke at 6:30. That day, we just started at 6:30. I figure that is close enough to my start time to just go with it.

I then let her sleep longer between feeds to get back on track rather than waking her up exactly at 3 hours.

NEWBORN NAPS

Naps are great. I put her down awake and she falls asleep without protest. For her waketime length, I aim to start the nap process 45 minutes after she woke up. I typically have her in bed about 50 minutes after she woke up. Yawning is a nap cue right now, but even without the yawn, I will start at 45 minutes.

>>>Read: Baby Sleep Cues and How to Get it Right for Your Baby

WAKETME ACTIVITIES for NEWBORNS

These are the things we do during waketime. I don’t have a set waketime we do them in since her levels of sleepiness vary at this point in life.

Bath (actually, I always do this after her first feeding of the day)
Get held by siblings/parents (this happens a whole lot)
Tummy time
Gym play
Read stories
“Play” on blanket
Lay there and have me take a million pictures of her

WITCHING HOUR

There have been a few nights in her life where she has had a difficulty with falling asleep after her 7/7:30 PM feeding.

It seems to me to be witching hour-esq.

This is uncharacteristic for her, so when that happens, we get her up and hold her until she falls asleep. We actually enjoy it because it is a quiet time that we get to just spend with her.

We have held her the whole time and we have also just held her for about thirty minutes and then put her back in bed until the dreamfeed. I do wonder if she will start to have consistent witching hour nights most nights as McKenna did or if she will stick to just sporadically.

In a poll I did a while ago, 46% of people said witching hour started at 3-4 weeks old. The age it went away varies greatly, but the majority (34%) said it went away at 8 weeks or younger.

>>>Read: How To Manage Baby’s Dreaded Witching Hour

NEWBORN SCHEDULE

This is the daily schedule that we shoot for.

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)

Babywise newborn summary week 4 pinnable image

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.

Brinley Newborn Summary: Week One

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.

Brinley Newborn Summary: Week Two

Newborn schedule for baby’s second week. Baby newborn schedule and routine for the 2nd week of life. 1-2 week old newborn routine.

Brinley Newborn Summary: Week Three

Newborn schedule for baby’s third week. Baby newborn schedule and routine for the 3rd week of life. 2-3 week old newborn routine.

Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 5

Newborn schedule for baby’s fifth week. Baby newborn schedule and routine for the 5th week of life. 4-5 week old newborn routine.

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.

Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 7

Newborn schedule for baby’s 7th week. Baby newborn schedule and routine for the seventh week of life. 6-7 week old newborn routine. Find out what to do with a newborn all day, newborn playtime activities, newborn growth spurts, and witching hour at this age.

Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 4