Schedule and routine for a 15-16 week old newborn baby. Get info on this baby’s daily schedule and play time ideas for each day.
Can you believe McKenna is 16 weeks old? In a little over a week, she will be four months old! I can’t believe it! I am just loving things right now. All of my children are at fun stages that have their special merits. McKenna stays where I put her and is content to sit and look at the ceiling fan for 20 minutes.
Post Contents
NURSING
Nursing continued on as usual until the end of the week. At the end of the week, McKenna started to take longer to eat–moving back to taking 15 minutes per side. This is way up from 5-10 minutes per side. This is making me wonder if it is a growth spurt.
GROWTH SPURT
Speaking of growth spurt, is anyone wondering when McKenna’s 3 month growth spurt is going to happen? I am. If it has happened, it did so unnoticed. There are times I have wondered, but there hasn’t been an obvious one. An interesting point is that she is three weeks past three months and was three weeks early, so if she is just now starting the three month growth spurt, then the spurt is coming according to her gestational age and not her actual age.
Read more about Growth Spurts here.
WAKETIME LENGTH
Waketime length has stayed the same, but it has contingencies. If the nap previous to the waktime was not as long as typical, then she can’t go as long for the waketime. So when she has a shorter-than-usual nap, I am sure to watch her and go with my “gut” on the waketime length.
WAKETIME ACTIVITIES
McKenna’s activities are typically as follows:
- Gym: Her gym is a favorite. She is starting to try to grab the toys.
- Walks: She seems to really enjoy going for walks.
- Bouncy Chair: McKenna’s favorite right now is her Fisher-Price Bouncer
- Baths: McKenna also loves to take baths
- Looking and Watching: She loves to look at the ceiling fans–moving or not. She also loves to look at people
- Tummy Time: She does not enjoy this many days, but if I get down on my tummy and interact with her, she will do it longer and with more enthusiasm
- Interacting: She loves her siblings and parents
NIGHTTIME
Do you hear angels singing? Listen closely. McKenna has started extending her nights. She slept through until morning waketime all but the first night of this week. She isn’t making it to my desired waketime (7:30) but she is making it usually until 6:45-7:15. I am not sure she will ever be a 7:30 wake up type. Time will tell. She is still working on extending her nights. I am totally fine with 6:45 even. My desire for 7:30 is so I can feed Brayden and Kaitlyn breakfast at 7:00. But McKenna’s first waketime length is 50 minutes, so if she wakes before they have breakfast, they can wait. They are old enough and patient enough to wait until I am done with McKenna.
DREAMFEED
I just wanted to mention that when I have the dreamfeed closer to 10 PM, she sleeps later in the morning than when I have it closer to 11 PM. Strange but true.
Read: The Basics of a Dreamfeed
SALIVA
I noticed McKenna is getting saliva. She also has bumps on her bottom gums making me wonder if she is having teething pains at all. If so, there are no outward signs. I remember reading somewhere that babies start to get saliva around 3 months of age, so the sudden drooling of your three month old doesn’t mean she is teething for sure.
BOTTLE FEEDING
Remember my advice to give your baby a bottle every so often? Well, I did that. She was great. Then I started to not do that as much since breastfeeding is so much more convenient for me. And now I am seeing problems from doing that. She will eat two ounces from the bottle and then she is done. She will not eat more. It is not a nipple size issue and it is not a n issue of who is feeding it to her. It isn’t even an issue of it being formula or breastmilk. So I am going to have to get serious about making sure she will drink well from the bottle. Sometimes I don’t even take my own advice.
SWADDLE
I have come to a decision about when to try weaning the swaddle again. I am going to do it in about a week and a half. Next weekend we are going camping in the mountains of Wyoming. It gets cold there at night so I want her to still be sleeping swaddled so I can keep her warm. Once we get back and get her re-established from the disruption, I will break the swaddle.
Unfortunately, she will be having vaccinations that week, so I might have to even wait a week beyond that. We will see what happens. I will keep you updated. McKenna has started rotating around the crib even while swaddled, so I know attempts at rolling are possible. I want her unswaddled before she starts that for safety purposes. In preparation, I am sure to give her lots of opportunity to practice using her arms and hands so she can have as good of control over them as possible when the time comes.
Read: Dropping the Swaddle
OUR SCHEDULE
It is a bit different this week since she is extending nights. I will just say she is waking at seven even though it ranged from 6:45-7:15. 7:00 is a happy medium.
7:00 AM–eat
7:50 AM–nap
10:30 AM–eat
11:30-11:35 AM–nap
1:30 PM–eat
2:35 PM–nap
4:00 or 4:30 PM–eat
5:15-5:45 PM–nap
6:30-6:45 PM–wake up
7:00 PM–eat then straight to bed
10:00 PM–dreamfeed
OUTINGS/EVENTS
We spent the day at my parent’s house one day. This visit confirmed to me how much McKenna likes to be warm when she sleeps. The bedrooms are in the basement at their house and it is rather cool in the summer. McKenna did not like that. I had to put a space heater in there and warm it up significantly before she would sleep longer than one hour. This is a good time to point out that McKenna sleeps much better if her feet are covered. I don’t just mean in her swaddle, but she must have socks on or footed pajamas also. Kaitlyn was the opposite. She slept better without socks.
HELPFUL BOOKS/WEBSITES
- The Wonder Weeks.
- On Becoming Baby Wise
- Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby
- The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems: Sleeping, Feeding, and Behavior–Beyond the Basics from Infancy Through Toddlerhood
- Super Baby Food
- What to Expect the First Year
- http://kellymom.com/
- Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
RELATED POSTS
- McKenna Baby Summary: Week 15
- McKenna Baby Summary: Week 17
- Brinley Summary: Week 16
- Tips and Tricks: Breastfeeding moms, give your baby a bottle
Yay for your extended nights!!!How are her naptimes going? Is she still sleeping as long? It's fun to hear how you all are doing.
I have the same trouble with my baby taking a bottle. Do you breastfeed a little after she's taking a few ounces so she gets enough to eat? Just wondering how you'll go about helping her accept a bottle better. Thanks for your blog!
I also would like some bottle advice. My daughter is 3.5 months old. I am a teacher and will start back to work soon. I think I haven't given her a bottle consistently enough and now she won't take one! I have tried giving her one and my husband has also tried. I would appreciate your help! I am so glad I stumbled across your blog–it has helped me with my oldest daughter (27 months) as a new mom especially since I did Baby Wise with her. Thank you!
I just wanted to say thank you for this blog! I found it before I realized you had a baby 1 week older than mine, and then when I realized that, I have found I am eagerly awaiting your weekly post! It is so nice of you to pour your heart and life out to the world so that we can get ideas from it! Thanks!
I also have a 3 1/2 month old and look forward to your weekly posts. We are having the same issue with the bottle. I was doing good at pumping and giving at least one bottle a day or at least every other day. Then I got lazy and went two weeks just nursing. Now I am paying for it. I have been able to get him to drink about an ounce but it is a struggle. I would be interested in any ideas on making this easier. Thanks so much for your blog!!
I love these weekly posts too– I have a 3.5 month old so I like seeing if my DS is on track and/or what I can expect. Thanks!
So here is my question. My daughter (10 months) still has a very early bedtime of 6 pm because she seemingly established it herself by doing the following. Whatever sleep occurred after five pm would be like night time sleep. I would have to rouse her and I could tell in my gut that she thought it was the middle of the night. After reading Healthy Sleep Habits I realized that maybe my baby had a bedtime of 6 pm and that that was normal for her. That is when I stopped giving her naps past 5 pm. Eventually I would give her a nap at 4:15 or 4:30 and once in a blue moon she would sleep past five. If I put her down for a nap past five pm she would NEVER EVER EVER wake up on her own like she did from her naps starting before 5 pm. Anyway, it looks like Mckenna is doing something similar where it appears that the nap she takes at 5:15-5:45 is interrupted only briefly for a feeding of 15 mins then back to bed. Could it then be considered that she is technically going to sleep for the night much, much earlier than 7 pm? I guess the key question would be if you are always waking her at 6:45 in order to establish a 7 pm bedtime. Do you think McKenna would go to sleep for the night at 6 pm? Once I started putting Olive down that early she started sleeping much later in the morning. I'm very curious to hear your thoughts on this.
Hi there. I just wanted to respond to the bottle questions! My daughter is 5 months old now, but had a major bottle issue for a couple weeks, just like you guys a couple months ago! We were out one day and left her with my mother-in-law, and she REFUSED to eat from her bottle even though she was starving! I realized that at that point, even if I came home to feed her, I would NOT be nursing her. She HAD to eat from a bottle, it was not an option. So that day, she was so upset that cried herself to sleep for a few minutes, and when she woke up, she was ready for her bottle. From that day on, I made sure to give her atleast TWO bottles every day. It took a while for her to really get used to it. She would push it away over and over and over, but we had to keep offering it to her. At one point, I even put her in a nursing position, THEN gave her the bottle! haha, don't know if I'd recommend that, but once she latched onto the bottle, we could move her and she'd eat fine. So, it may take a while to get one feeding done, with your baby continually pushing the bottle away, but you have to stick with it, it pays off! I'm back to work now, and whether my husband or I feed her, she always takes a bottle great now…she even eyes it from across the room!hope this helps some of you!
Thanks Randi! lol. That was nice…until vacations and vaccinations came along ;)She was sleeping just as well for her naps.
Lana & Sarah,One time when we got home from church and she hadn't eaten well from the bottle, I nursed her more. Another time, it had been a while since she ate, so I just put her to bed.I have found that my kids actually take bottles better from me than anyone else. I am not sure why. Something I have found with McKenna is that the Adiri bottle is awesome. It is so much like breastfeeding that there is no latch on issues for her. Then basically she just started eating well. I am not sure what it is. I know she doesn't take as much from the bottle as she does when she nurses (at least I don't think so…I don't know for sure). I have a BW friend whose daughter wouldn't take the bottle. Her pedi suggested she leave her daughter with her mom for three days in a row and only offer bottles (obviously). For the first couple for days, she wouldn't eat well. By day three, she ate well and did ever since. Good luck!
Sarah, BTW, thanks for the thanks! I am glad to hear the blog has helped you!
You are welcome Ivy! I am glad it has been helpful for you and that you like the weekly summaries.
Anna, see above comments on the bottle. Hopefully it gets easier for you! You are welcome for the blog and thanks!
Linds, thanks! I am glad to hear people like the summaries.
Natalie,It is possible. Since I have Brayden and Kaitlyn who go to bed around 7:30-8:00, I wouldn't want a bedtime that early unless it is necessary. It isn't convenient for our family. She actually now wakes from that nap most of the time, so I think she is following my master plan :)If she were an only child, I would be fine with the earlier bedtime, but I want there to be able to be family time for us, you know?
Angie, thanks for your bottle experience. That is helpful!
Hi, my baby girl is 16 weeks old and I have a question about extending to a four hour schedule. She is definitely ready to go four hours in between feedings but the problem is I can't keep her awake longer than 60-65 minutes or it will interfere with her naps. She isn't eating as well at each of her feedings now. I am doing a combo 3 – 3 1/2 hour schedule now but am curious how I should go about making it 4 hours with such little wake time?! Our schedule now is as follows:8:00am- eat9:00- nap11:30-eat12:35-nap3:00-eat4:05-nap (this nap isn't very good most of the time, she sleeps for about 45min to an hour and then is either in the swing or out for a walk with us until the next feeding)6:00-eat7:45-eatI am squeezing in that fifth feeding and she eats okay for it. She is sleeping 12 hours every night and has been for weeks now. I just know she is ready for a four hour schedule and everytime I try to keep her up longer than 60-65 min she won't nap well! Any advice would be very helpful!
I have this same question!
I'm stuck. This is my 2nd little boy and I'm confused by his napping schedule. He's 16 weeks today and for the last week hasn't been sleeping longer than 45minutes?? I've read all the 45minute intruder information and nothing seems to work. Previously he was sleeping 1.5-2 hours at a nap until the 4pm nap (which was normally about 45-50minutes). Now if I go in and pick him up and hold him he'll go back to sleep for another 30 minutes. I tried feeding him, but he just falls asleep at the breast, which tells me he's not finished with his nap (he's still tired). Our evening is always messed up…he refuses to go to bed unless he's held. I just chalked this up to the witching hour, but now I fear we are turning it into a routine:( I just got done feeding him and putting him directly to bed at 7:15, he was quiet for just a few minutes before the crying starts. I'll let him CIO for a little while. He doesn't really ever need to CIO at any of his other naps (if I get the timing right) he just chats with himself for a little while and then falls right to sleep! Any suggestions would be helpful. I've done this before, but no 2 kids are the same;p