Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 5

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

5 week old newborn with mother

Brinley is now five weeks old. This post discusses the time from 4-5 weeks old.

EMOTIONS

My emotions were awesome this week! I think I was pretty much just my normal self.

INSOMNIA

After I have a baby, I often get insomnia. It drives me crazy. So far, I hadn’t had it with Brinley–until one day this week.

I got her up at 10 for her dreamfeed, fed her, she woke at 3:15, I fed her, then I could not fall asleep.

I stayed in bed and tried and tried but it never happened. I ended up having to wake her at 7:30 AM–and it was on the weekend so I could have been sleeping until 7:30 AM. Isn’t that so sad? 

My uneducated theory (I haven’t looked into it at all) is that it is related to hormones. But that might not be right because not all people get it…what do I do about it?

I typically take one Tylenol PM before bed each night to help prevent the insomnia. If any of you have any insight, I am all ears. Or eyes.

Why does it happen? What do I do about it? I am very grateful it has only happened once so far. I usually have it quite often.

>>>Read: Falling Asleep Tips for the Sleep-Deprived Mother

NURSING

Still no mastitis. I will also share that she typically spends about 30 minutes nursing at each feeding.

>>>Read: How Long Should a Newborn Feeding Last?

DREAMFEED

The dreamfeed is still not perfected. She sometimes still will not eat from both sides. 

>>>Read: Dreamfeed Frequently Asked Questions

NEWBORN SICKNESS

She still had a cold this week until about the last day of the week. FYI, for the cold I just had her sleeping at an incline in her bassinet (which I then put in the crib). I removed the mucus from her nose by using a nasal aspirator. Toward the end of the cold, the mucous was harder so I would use some 
Little Noses Saline Spray/Drops.

NEWBORN NAPS

Naps are still great. Nothing has changed.

But I have to say, this week I got tired of the fourth nap. I always get this way. I just want her to be up more and want a longer period to not worry about her needing to go down for a nap so soon.

I know she will only need the fourth nap for at most 3 more months, so I can get by, but I remember feeling this way about the fourth nap with every child.

This is the age the fourth nap usually shortens.

>>>Read: Dropping Naps: A Quick Reference

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 (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 a blanket
  • Lay there and have me take a million pictures of her

>>>Read: Best Toys for Baby: Ages 0-3 Months

SIBLINGS

So this is funny. When Brinley is held by Brayden, she is calm and alert.

When she is held by Kaitlyn, she relaxes so much that she is pretty well guaranteed to poop and fall asleep.

When she is held by McKenna, her eyes get huge and she stiffens up.

The funny thing is that this is the same reaction our cats have to the three children.

WITCHING HOUR

There really wasn’t any witching hour this week.

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

BLESSING DAY

This week, we had her blessing day at church. It was a perfect day! She did great. She did not sleep at all at church, but she sat happily and looked around. She was much admired 🙂

I let her be held while she slept by the family who came to visit. She did great with it. She slept well while being held and slept well afterward.

Family of 6 on a couch

MILESTONES

Brinley rolled from her tummy to her back this week. She was doing tummy time and I thought, “I should video this.”

Then I thought, “Nah–nothing terribly exciting will happen.” Then about 30 seconds later she rolled over.

Always listen to yourself!

Another milestone was starting to “talk” a bit. Around this age, babies start to communicate some with vocal sounds. 

GROWTH

This week, Brinley grew a pound in five days. She is still little–she started out small, but that is quite the jump in a five day period!

SCHEDULE

This is our 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). Typically, this happens between 2-3 AM and then she wakes close to 7-7:30 AM.

Sometimes she wakes as early as 1:30 AM. Sometimes, she will wake another time at 6:00 AM. When this happens, I try to do the one side feeding and then get her up at 7:30, but if she wants two sides, we just do two and I let her go a little more than three hours for her feeds during the day so she can be on normal schedule. 

>>>Read: 5-6 AM “Night” Wakings

HELPFUL BOOKS

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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 4

Newborn schedule for baby’s fourth week. Baby newborn schedule and routine for the 4th week of life. 3-4 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 8

Newborn schedule for baby’s 8th week. Baby newborn schedule and routine for the eighth week of life. 7-8 week old newborn routine. Find out what to do with a newborn all day, feeding intervals, and playtime activities.

Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 9

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23 thoughts on “Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 5”

  1. I also get insomnia after a baby. I've noticed that I'm okay being woken once in the night, but after the second time, it's very difficult to go back to sleep. Usually, I need something to eat at that point in order to be able to fall back asleep. This does not help the post-baby weight loss much but otherwise I can't sleep.In the hospital, my husband actually seriously sometimes "prescribes" a "warm cup of milk" for people with mild insomnia. Maybe more for elderly people? I'm not sure, but he says it does work for a surprising number of people.In my experience, sleeping drugs of any variety are useful for a 1-night thing, but anytime I try to take anything for more than 2 nights straight, my sleep just gets worse and worse, and it can take about 2 weeks of being fully off of such things before I can sleep normally without them again.

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  2. I am a believer in baby wise…that said, training a preemie with the baby wise method may still work (I'm sure it will) but it throws off the numbers. My son is 11weeks old today, but only three weeks adjusted age…I'm struggling with the lack of sleep. They call preemies perpetual newborns and they are right…any advice? Do you know any other preemie moms who followed baby wise?

    Reply

    • Hi! My second son was (is?) a premie born at 27.5 weeks. His adjusted age is 4 months now, but his actual age is 7 months. Some of his developmental therapists told me that he will be considered "caught up" to his actual age after he turns two years old – until then, adjusted age matters more. I have found that to be true for sure and it is also true with Babywise milestones, etc. So don't get discouraged! It's as if you have a 3-week-old and newborns can be tough! Definitely set wake times and expectations as if he's only 3 weeks, establish an eat/wake/sleep pattern and things will keep improving.

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  3. I am with Katie in the whole once a night is fine but the second time I am woken up it takes me twice as long to fall asleep. Did you get more sleep on the insomnia night before being woken up at 3? Maybe you were coming out of a REM cycle and your body was ready to be at a wakeful state. if that makes sense…

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  4. Babywise helped me a great deal in teaching our 10 month old how to sleep through the night and I am proud to say she is now sleeping 12-14 hours a night. Some nights she wakes up but she usually lulls herself back to sleep within a few minutes. As far as naps go, they were not the best at first (from birth to around 6 months she would wake up after 30-45 minutes) but they have definitey improved since the age of 6 mos, she now naps twice a day 2-3 hours each nap. With that said, I developed a horrible case of insomnia after the birth of our daughter. The baby was sleeping through the night at 6 weeks and I could not fall asleep, and I mean that restorative re-generating sleep, even if my life depended on it. I thought to myself that maybe there was a MommyWise schedule for me to follow so I could sleep through the night but all jokes aside it quickly became a huge ordeal juggling a new baby and a full time job. After a few months of trying home remedies and over the counter sleep aids, I finally decided to visit my Ob/Gyn. He was quick to prescribe Ambien but I was not comfortable taking any habit forming medication. I went home that evening and had a long talk with my husband. We decided that I would sleep in another room and he would stay in our bedroom with the baby for at least a week. We also made the firm decision to move the baby out of our bedroom if my insomnia was not at bay. My mother is a strong believer in hollistic therapies so she had me take B complex vitamins as well as Soy Lecithin and suggested I get on a colonic cleansig schedule. I bought some ear plugs to use at night and I did all of the above. Within two weeks I began sleeping 4-5 hours straight. This was the restorative sleep I needed to substantially increase my quality of life and really begin having the energy for our now active baby and active lifestyle. I am by no means "cured", I still have the occasional sleepless night but not at the same frequency as the first 6 months after our daughter was born. To all the Babywise Moms out there, hang in there, if your baby is finally sleeping through the night but you're not don't hesitate to ask for help or try things you would have never thought of doing. There are lots of natural ways to achieve restorative sleep for everyone in the family because sleep is definitely important for baby, let's just not forget that mommy's need sleep too.

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  6. I have had sleep troubles ever since Nathan was born and it too drives me crazy! The night I went into labor I went to bed around midnight (BAD IDEA!)… I then woke up with contractions at 1am and we monitored them until 3am and then went to the hospital. I did get an epidural at 7am and was able to take a nap while laboring… but basically I was up from 1am until Nathan was born at 5pm… I also slept terribly over night during our hospital stay. So I went home with a newborn and was already horribly sleep deprived! Even when I would take naps when Nathan was napping, I would wake up after 20 minutes feeling panicky and felt even less rested than before I took the nap! Ever since then I don't feel like my body has fully recovered. I mean, Nathan started sleeping through the night around 3 months and I was able to get full nights of sleep in over the past year and a half… but if I stay up too late, even as late as 10pm, I cannot fall asleep until 12am, sometimes 1am, sometimes EVEN 3am!!!!!!! I feel like a child who has reached the "overtired" state! I have all this adrenaline rushing through me and I cannot settle down enough to fall asleep! Its awful! And I still always get up at 7am the next day! If ANYONE has any suggestions about this, I would LOVE to hear them! I try my hardest to go up and get ready for bed at 9pm, then read and fall asleep before 10, but its not always possible. I've also tried the Gummy Melatonin Vitamins which I've had varied success with!?? I just want to feel well rested!

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  7. I have to say that I love your blog and it has helped me out with knowing that more just me believes a scheduled baby can be happy! I have had great success in implementing a schedule for my 16 month old twin boys but I had no idea what Babywise was until my newborn who is now 3 weeks old. I am trying so hard to get him on a schedule and I had one question for you… Is the dream feed necessary with Babywise? Is seems my LO will eat at 7 then sleep for 5 hours straight and I hate to wake him up.

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  8. I definitely think insomnia can be hormonal, but it's not necessarily due to pregnancy. I worked night shift for 3 years before having my first baby, and I had the same type of insomnia. I think bad sleep just breeds more bad sleep.I also have a question for anyone…my son is 7 weeks old and we're trying the babywise method. It's been great so far…he eats well on schedule and sleeps very well at night (goes right out at bed time, wakes up to eat and falls right back asleep…never had any day/night confusion) but during the day he's crazy! He barely naps, but gets fussy for all the time he should be asleep. I don't know how to get him to sleep during the day without long periods of rocking or even driving….and by then it's taken so long he's hungry again.Most of the advice I see is about nights…any advice for a tough day baby?

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  9. So how do you know when your baby is ready to drop the 4th nap? My baby is 7 weeks old and I can't always get her to take that 4th nap. If her day naps are good, she usually won't go down. If she's really tired, she will sometimes sleep briefly (45 min or so).

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  10. I know this doesn't really have to do with your insomnia post, but I've read your blogs about the 45 min intruder posted in 2008 and still can't seem to find the answer.My baby is almost 8 weeks old and is having trouble transitioning after 45 min of her daytime naps. I treated this as a food problem at first, but she wouldn't eat very long. So, for the past 2 days, I go in and put the pacifier in her mouth when she first cries. I can get another 30 to 60 min of a nap out of her when I do this. Her wake time is usually 1 hour to 1 hour 15 min maximum, sometimes I even start my soothing ritual at 45 min of wake time. I've been doing CIO for about 2 weeks now and rarely does she cry more than 10 min when going down for a nap…..often, she goes to sleep with only some slight fussing. My question: Do I need to worry about giving her the pacifier in-between naps? I am most concerned about getting her to sleep well during the day.We have not reached sleeping through the night. I do a dream feed between 10:30 and 11:00 and she still will wake up around 2 for another feeding. Sometimes she's awake at 5:30 to feed again, and sometimes she makes it until 6:30. I'm worried that if I don't continue to "intervene" and make sure she naps well during the day that she'll never get to the "sleeping through the night." Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

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  11. I too get insomnia with newborns. My theory is, just like babies, sleep begets sleep! The less sleep I get the less I am able to sleep. Taking naps….ha! Not with a 2 yr old and 4 year old!! But I wouldn't trade it for the world!!

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  12. I, too, dealt with insomnia after my first baby. I could not fall back to sleep after the middle of the night feeding and I think it had to do with me turning into such a light sleeper and listening for every little noise. It drove me crazy! He slept through the night so early, but I was wide awake but exhausted. Have you heard of 5-htp? It's a natural supplement and seemed to really help me settle down to get my sleep cycles back. I'm not sure if that's your issue, but worth a try?And I have the same question as bs king – my almost 8 week old is really hard to settle down during the day, but sleeps 10 hours straight through at night. I know I have that to be thankful for, but the days are very frustrating. I am not able to take the time soothing him that maybe I should since I have a very active 2 yr old to look after as well. Do you think it's just a stage and we have to ride it out or is there anything else I could try? I feel like I've tried everything. Babywise worked very well with my first minus the 45 minute intruder and it is just not working out so well this time. I appreciate your blog so much and congrats on your little girl!

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  13. Love this blog! The newborn summaries are so helpful- we are about two weeks behind you. My little gal is 3 weeks old. I had a question about Brinleys schedule (we try toFollow the same schedule starting at 7am): I noticed that you say you feed her at 7pm and then put her to bed. Is that without a waketime after the 7pm feeding? And if so, I was wondering why you do this and what benefit it has? The first babywise book says there should be a waketime after the 7pm feeding, so I'm wondering if your schedule works better. thanks!

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  14. LeFebvre Momma, yes. See the label "preterm babies" for one post on it. It can be done for sure. You will definitely be very tired with your endless weeks of newborn phase. Hang in there!

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  15. Oh, I thought about the insomnia thing a little more and realized a few more things that help me:1. Adding a layer. Even if I didn't think I was cold, often just adding a layer will really help me fall back asleep.2. Tylenol at bedtime. Just one, and not the PM kind. My DH thinks I'm crazy, but my dad also sometimes does this for insomnia. Not sure if it just relaxes the little aches and pains away or what, but it REALLY helps.3. That dreadful advice about a regular bedtime, and honestly just "laying there quietly" when you can't sleep, sometimes every night for several weeks, to effectively retrain your body and mind that night and bed are for sleeping. Just like with the babies. 🙂

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  16. I LOVE your blog- through my two boys- (22months & 3 weeks) you have tremendously helped me! Question for you though: My 3 week old son is doing well on baby wise- he's on the 3 hour schedule and sleeping 5/6 hours at night. However…He (the last couple days) has been not wanting to go back to sleep after his dreamfeed (10/1030pm) He will eat then and then just stay awake and fuss for a couple hours. We can hold him and he'll stay asleep but if we put him in his bassinet he'll wake up and fuss. Then around 12/1230am bc he is still up and I want him to sleep as much as possible. I will feed him some more and usually after a little fussing after this feeding he will sleep for the 5/6 hours. Do you think he's not getting enough wake time during the day? I have no clue why all of a sudden he doesn't want to sleep after this feeding but its horrible bc my husband and I want to go to sleep! 🙂 Any ideas or things I could try? He also fights the full swaddle so much sometimes…but if I don't swaddle him fully I notice that he startles himself awake with his arms. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for all your posts and advice that has been so helpful to me over the past couple years!!

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  18. Hi Monica,See my recent post on day/night confusion. and I think shooting for more waketime in the day is a good idea.

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  19. Hi! I love Babywise and I LOVE your blog. I think I have read all your posts like 5 times. I have a bit of a dilemma with my 5 week old, and was wondering if you could offer some advice… His first month has been hard because he has had lots of tummy issues. We are on his 8th formula and I think it is finally working out. (I had surgery and am unable to nurse.) He has milk and soy allergies, so the first month we had to use a lot of props to get him to nap because of all his discomfort. Now that this new formula seems to be fine, I am having a HARD time getting him to sleep and stay asleep in his crib. He sleeps in his swing, car seat, and my arms but when I lay him down in a bed, he only naps about 30-45 min and then wakes up and can't get himself back to sleep. Isn't he too young for the 45 min intruder? Should I let him cry it out? What would you do in this situation? He actually does okay at night. Eats, and then sleeps again for 3 hours at a time, but napping is not as good. He does not have reflux, we ruled that out, so he shouldn't be uncomfortable on his back. I just don't know why he can't sleep in his bed like he does in his swing or carseat?!?!

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  20. Hi! Thanks so much for your blog! I doubt I would've stuck with babywise without it with my first baby. Now I'm on my second babywise baby and it's going GREAT! my one question its this : Hailey has been very very sleepy these past few days, i am pretty sure I've had to wake her for every daytime feeding but if i would let her go longer between feedings, i would only be able to get 7 feedings I'm otter day (if age continues her once a night feeding. Should I shoot for 7 good feedings per day, or keep trying for 8 even though she will barely eat at ask on the second side? She is 4 weeks and 2 days old. (and she's big! She gained 2lbs in just over 2 weeks between doctors appointments!) Right now our goal times for feedings are 7, 9:30, 12, 3, 5:30, 7:30, 10:30 and whenever she wakes in the middle of the night. Beverly I have to wake hey for at least 3 of the daytime feedings. (she's a great napper! :D) thanks again!

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  22. Hi Valerie! I have a six week old that seems to be following Brinley's NB schedule fairly closely. When my LO wakes at 6am though, she will eat from one side only, but then wants to stay awake. Should I let her stay awake and feed her again between 7-7:30am and start her day from there, or should I start her day at 6am and wait to feed her and try to get our schedule back on track? Ideally, I'd like her wake time to be 7am- we have to be finished and ready by 7:30am so I can get my older one to school. Thank you for your advice!

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