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Sample Babywise Schedules for 4-6 week old baby. Newborn sample schedules to get baby sleeping well and on a consistent routine.
Sample schedules are always popular and helpful for parents implementing a schedule for their newborn. These are sample Babywise schedules for your 1 month old baby–the second month of life. This post contains affiliate links.
As you enter the second month of life with your Babywise baby, you will be focused on adding more of a schedule. The days of ignoring the clock are over. Time to focus on having some consistency and getting baby to be more awake during the day. Do not be mistaken; babies this age will still have very, very short awake times, but they should be able to stay up a little longer than they did last month.
Before you go further, please be sure you have read My Sleep Hierarchy For Newborns. You need to know what your primary and secondary goals should be for a newborn so you keep priorities straight. It will make your newborn life much less frustrating! Also, if you are working on sleep training, you must read my post Sleep Training: The Four S’s.
Post Contents
Month Two Overview
During this second month, aim for the following:
- 8-10 feedings per 24 hour period.
- Feedings should be 2.5-3.5 hours apart typically (but always Feed Baby When Hungry, even if that is early). The time intervals can vary. For example, your first interval can be 3 hours and your second interval 2.5 hours.
- 6-8 naps per day. The last nap might be very short (30-45 minutes long).
- Naps are 1.5-2.5 hours long.
- The first Growth Spurt happens around 3-4 weeks old. Expect baby to eat more often during this time.
- Start simple Independent Playtime at 5 weeks old.
- Baby can be allowed to sleep longer stretches at night around 6 weeks old. 7-8 hours is okay.
- Baby might start sleeping 7-8 hours at 7 weeks old. Many babies do not do this until older, though.
For a full year overview, see this post: Your Babywise Baby: First Year Overview.
Month Two Sample Schedules
Here are our schedules we used as a one month old:
Schedule 1
Around four weeks, the schedule I had created for Kaitlyn started to change. She had different plans :). At four weeks, we were still working on waketimes, but had all but one or two down.
7:30–nurse
8:30–nap
10:00–nurse
11:00–nap
1:00–nurse
2:00–nap
4:00–nurse
5:00–nap
6:30–nurse
7:30–nap
8:30–nurse then bed
She continued with the two night nursings. This schedule continued for a while. Some days, the 10 AM nursing would be 10:30. Also, some days the 4 PM nursing would be 3:30. Around 8 weeks, she dropped one night nursing. Around 9 weeks, I tried to force a dreamfeed at 10:30, but she would not wake up.
Schedule 2
For McKenna, her schedule stayed pretty much the same. I had noticed by then that McKenna didn’t eat well if it was sooner than 3 hours:
7:45–nurse
10:30–nurse
1:30–nurse
4:30–nurse
7:00–nurse
10:00–nurse
I still woke her twice in the night.
Schedule 3
6 Weeks
Kaitlyn’s schedule stayed pretty much the same. Here is McKenna’s six week schedule:
7:15-7:45–nurse. I changed our 30 minute window to this.
10:30–nurse
1:30–nurse
4:30–nurse
7:00–nurse
10:00–nurse
She woke twice in the night for the first half of 6 weeks old, then went down to once a night.
Schedule 4
This is our daily schedule that we shoot for.
4 weeks old
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.
Schedule 5
5 weeks old
This is our daily schedule that we shoot for. Our first feeding varies the most. It typically ranges between 6:30 and 7:30 AM.
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 2:30-3:30 AM.
Schedule 6
6 weeks old
This is our daily schedule that we shoot for. Our first feeding varies the most. It typically ranges between 6:30 and 7:30 AM. She is now old enough to do 2.5 to 3.5 hour intervals between feedings, so if she is sleeping when the time comes up, I let her go up to 30 minutes longer. She will eat better if she wakes on her own, and if not, those extra thirty minutes can often be enough to get her interested in eating.
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 2:30-3:30 AM.
Schedule 7
7 weeks old
7:30–feed
8:20–nap
10:30-11:00–feed
11:20–nap
1:30-2:00–feed
2:20–nap
4:30-5:00–feed
5:20–nap
7-7:30 (time varies here)–feed, then bedtime
10:00–dreamfeed
then night feed(s). Typically, this happens between 2:30-3:30 AM.
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Sample Month Two Schedules from Readers
Below are some sample schedules from readers:
Schedule 1
8am – wake up & eat (4 oz)
10:30 – bottle
11:30/12 – nap, if I can get him to go down
1:30 – bottle
2:30 – nap
4:30 – bottle
7:30 – bottle
9 – bottle, then in bed by 10
3 AM- wakes up and eats 6 oz. This isn’t “scheduled,” but he is waking up at the same time every night for this last bottle.
We’re still working on our schedule. Especially naps. Sometimes he just won’t go down, and CIO isn’t an option.
Schedule 2
7:30 am – eat
8:30 am – nap
10:30 am – eat
11:30 am – nap
1:30 pm – eat
2:30 pm – nap
4:30 pm – eat
5:30 pm – will take a catnap usually wakes up a little fussy – will usually have to hold – may feed early
6:45 to 7:30 pm – eat
Bed by 8 (if eats at 7:30pm)
10pm – Dreamfeed
wakes at 5am for “night” feed – start day at 7
Schedule 3
7:00am – eat
8:00am – nap
10:10am – eat
11:10am – nap
1:20pm – eat
2:30pm – nap
4:30pm – eat
5:40pm – nap
7:00pm – eat, bed
10:00pm – dreamfeed
(MOTN feeding ~4am?)
Schedule 4
7:00 wake & nurse
8:00 nap
9:45 wake & nurse
10:40 nap
12:45 wake & nurse
1:40 nap
4:00 wake & nurse
5:10 nap
7:00 wake & nurse
7:45/8 bedtime
10:00 dream feed
Then usually wakes around 3:00am to eat.
Schedule 5
6:00 Wake/nurse/diaper change/wake time
7:00 Nap
9:00 Nurse/diaper change/wake time
10:00 Nap
11:30 Nurse/diaper change/wake time
12:30 Nap
2:00 Nurse/diaper change/wake time
3:00 Nap
4:30 Nurse/diaper change/wake time
5:30 Nap
7:00 Nurse/diaper change/bedtime routine
8:00 Down for bed
10:00 Dreamfeed/diaper change
Middle of the night – will usually wake up at 2-3:30am
Total wake times 50-75 minutes per cycle. We put her down for a nap when she starts to show signs of being tired (yawning, not engaging with us or toys, bringing hands to month/eyes).
Helpful Schedule Posts:
- Sleep Training: The Four S’s
- Hunger Patterns
- Nursing A Newborn: Keep Baby Awake!
- Fussy Newborns and Mom’s Diet
- Newborn Evening Feeding Schedule
- Reader Sample Schedules: 0-12 Months
- Baby Whisperer: Growth Spurts
- Feed Baby When Hungry
- Growth Spurts
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Valerie, also known as The Babywise Mom, is the mother to four children. She has been blogging on Babywise and general parenting since 2007. She has a degree in technical writing and loves using those skills to help parents be the best parents they can be! Read her book, The Babywise Mom Nap Guide, to get help on sleep from birth through the preschool years. You can also find her writing at Babywise.life, Today Parenting, and Her View From Home. Read more about Valerie and her family on the About page. Follow her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for more tips and helps.
Hi! I have so loved your blog over the years with all of my babies, so thank you for all the help. Our third baby girl is currently the one causing me all the trouble! She's had to be flexible as I'm a full-time working mama. She used to be with a nanny who had 2 other kids at home and a busy schedule, so she adjusted to catnaps here and there. She is 7 mo old and still waking at night as often as a newborn. I've always catered to her at night, since I feel bad to make her be flexible all day. Some nights she sleeps until 4:30a, sometimes 1am. She has no consistent pattern of waketimes at all. I'm to the point where I'm so exhausted I can hardly function anymore. We just got a nanny for her who will be in the home with her so she can, for the first time in her life, have an individualized schedule. That being said…I don't know how to get her there! Right now, her bottle in take is so sporadic and her naps are inconsistent, she's just a mess! How would you recommend adjusting her to a set schedule? After searching some of your other posts, I already think I am going to start waking her at a consistent time every day. I think that will help get us started…but any other advice you could give as far as CIO or any other suggestions would be helpful. Currently, she eats about 2 ice cube-sized portions of solids a day and is doing some baby-led weaning foods as well. I'm nursing her about 4oz per feeding, totaling about 25 oz in a 24-hr period. But she's eating all through the night typically, so she's just a mess. Ayayayyy I'm overwhelmed posting this to think of the road ahead. But I'm so desperate at the same time!
Hello! It sounds like you have a task on your hands! But it is doable. I have some posts that can help. For sleep training, if you go to the blog index tab and look under "cry it out," you will see a lot of posts. Starting at the same time each day is a great place to start. Work on your eat, play, sleep pattern. She should have 2-3 naps each day. She should go to bed about 11-12 hours before you want her up in the morning. You might consider a dreamfeed (you can find that under the blog index as well). She is okd for it, but since you are having night waking, it might be a good help. Good luck!
Also, see this post:https://www.babywisemom.com/2013/02/starting-babywise-late-guide.html?m=1
Hi! You're blog has been an amazing asset, so thank you. Questions. 1. Our baby boy was 2.5 weeks early. He's now "10 weeks old" but not where most 10 weekers are. Here is our typically schedule…7am wake and 7pm bed (3 hour feedings until 4pm when he typically clusters every 2 hours before 7pm bedtime). He's waking around 1:30am then again around 4:45-5:30am. We've tried the pacifier and rock, a quick nurse, etc but he still is so fussy until his 7am wake. We avoided a DF because he would still just wake 3 hours after at 1:30am, regardless. I randomly tired it again the other night and it was successful! Slept 10:15pm until 4:45am. But, when we tired it again last night it didn't work! Why does he do so well during the day and is still waking up so much at night???
Sorry, one more. He still has to be swaddled for naps and bed but he wants to break out of it all night. Any suggestions? He is an animal so he needs to be contained but all he wants is to get his arms to his face. He does take a pacifier but we battle putting it back in all night.
Hey Calli! Do you think he is hungry in the night when he wakes? If so, a consistent dreamfeed and/or cluster feeding could work well. For the swaddling, I would leave him swaddled. That is common behavior, so I would just leave it. You could try unswaddling him for night if you want and see how he does. Some babies can unswaddle at night be stay swaddled in the day.
Hi Valerie, thanks for you blog! I seriously reference it ALL the time! My 2nd/3rd babies (twin girls) are 14 weeks old tomorrow (but 3.5 weeks early). They started STTN at 11 weeks old and pulled it off for about 10-ish consecutive nights. Then one woke at 2am one night and I fed her. She has since woken at 2am every night since! I had been doing a dreamfeed at 9:30/10pm their entire lives and with that they had been getting 6 feedings per day (NOT counting MOTN).I have tried giving the paci at night wakings and some intermittent CIO, but nothing has helped. Plus, all my children have been skinny babies and so I worry that maybe they need to still eat MOTN? Or am I promoting eating at night out of habit?Also, I've tried playing around with the timing of the dreamfeed the past few nights. Several nights I did it at 12am and she woke around 4am. Last night I skipped the dreamfeed entirely and she woke again at 2am (I feed at 6:30pm, then put to bed right after). I thought maybe the dreamfeed was causing the return to night wakings, so that's why I've been experimenting with it.So my big question is: what do I do with the dreamfeed? I really don't want it later than 10pm because then I am going to bed too late. Skipping it entirely again may work but then I am truly dropping a feeding and will that hurt the chances of STTN in the long run?I'm so confused about what to do with the dreamfeed and how to return to STTN!Thanks for any input!
Hi Valerie! My little one is 5 weeks now and I've been trying to get down a schedule that works for both of us and our family. I feel like I'm always waking him up from his naps especially in the evenings where I'm trying to fit in all 8 feeds so I'm feeding him every 2-2.5 hours. However, I'm reading this current post about sample schedules for the second month and I'm counting only 7 feedings in a lot of them. Is that ok at this age? I feel like he may do better with 7 feedings at this point because he won't be as sleepy during feedings and may take more of a full feeding and have better waketimes because he's waking up on his own. This is my current feeding schedule: 7-7:3010-10:301:004:006:30 8:3011MOTN which is around 3-4 amI feel like the time between 6:30 and 8:30 feed is tough because by the time he falls asleep, I'm waking him up to eat again. All just to fit in the 8 feedings. what do you think I should do? I don't want to go back to (2) middle of the night feedings though. I need sleep! Haha
Hi Valerie,
First of all a big thank you! Your site has been a great help
My five week old had a great routine : he drank three hours. And sometimes at night every four hours. Now for two nights he started to drink every two hours at night; but during day he follows the 3 hour routine
What should I do?
I also started to pump two days ago to build a stash for the future. I started to wander that mayne he isnt getting enough milk due to my pumping. I pump one hour after lunch breastfeeding
Best,
Author
Hello! I would try not pumping and see if that is the change that has led to more frequent waking. Is sleep during the day still the same?
Hi Valerie
Thank you for this great post. I am keen to start sleep training my 7 week old. However, I have two older boys so i need to be mobile to do school runs and other trips and activities. I am currently carrying the baby in the sling for the morning and afternoon nap to enable this but worried it will interfere with the sleep training. I wonder whether you have any suggestions on how to get around this? Also would you suggest I get her used to the schedule first by helping her get to sleep for naps or go straight to sleep training at same time?
Thanks so much.
Ela
Author
Hey Ela,
I have this post that will help you with school disruptions: https://www.babywisemom.com/how-to-maintain-sleep-schedule-amid-disruptions/
For the schedule, you can really do either way. I prefer going straight to sleep training just because otherwise you are training one way and then training another way. But if you feel like it is best for you to help her sleep first so she is used to the schedule, go for it!
Hi,
I am trying to get my 5 week old down for his first nap but he never wants to go down. He wakes up. I feed him 3-4 oz. I burp and change his diaper. He’s awake for a total of an hour before I put him down. When I do he just lays around and then eventually starts acting like he’s hungry again. The result is me feeding him two hours after when I originally fed him and him never taking a nap. What should I do?
Author
Have you tried a shorter waketime? It might be that he is overly tired and can’t sleep. Check out this post: https://www.babywisemom.com/optimal-waketime-lengths/