Prior to having my first child, I had basically zero personal experience with babies. The first time I can remember seeing newborns up-close was in my 20’s when I volunteered in a Labor & Delivery unit. While I was there, I shadowed providers during a C-section and vaginal birth since I was considering going into obstetrics or pediatrics. I remember the babies being so tiny and sweet and watching how the nurses cared for them post-birth. But I couldn’t tell you a single thing about what happened once the babies went home with the parents! And I knew exactly zero about a newborn baby schedule or daily routine.
Fast-forward two kids later, and I’ve learned quite a bit about newborns and newborn baby schedules. The goal of this post is to help you better navigate this unique and oftentimes disorienting time in your life with your new baby. I will share some tips for creating a newborn baby schedule based on my own experience. Additionally, I will share some useful information about the important pieces of a newborn baby’s schedule, so you can feel more confident going through the newborn phase!
When is the Newborn Stage Over?
My husband and I asked this question at least a few times during the early weeks and months of our kids’ lives. Turns out, a lot of people ask this question. You’ll hear anything ranging from 4 weeks to 3 months old. The most important piece is actually less about the amount of time that has gone by and more about what milestones baby has reached.
The newborn stage is marked by baby’s first experiences with the world outside the controlled environment of the womb. During this time, baby is rapidly growing and adapting to this strange new world and is learning to control bodily functions like breathing and feeding. Baby is also processing a crazy amount of sensory information and forming key attachments during this time. All of these characteristics shape what the newborn baby schedule will look like. Once baby starts growing out of this stage, his/her schedule will also noticeably shift. This is why a newborn schedule is particularly unique, even compared to a 5-month old infant.
Signs that baby is growing out of the newborn stage include:
- Increased alertness
- Showing more interest in the surrounding environment
- Being awake for longer stretches of time
- Increased motor control (e.g., fading reflexive movements, grasping objects, intentionally swatting at toys)
- Smiling, cooing, and babbling
- More muscle strength for things like holding the head up during tummy time, attempting to roll over, etc.
That being said, how long the newborn stage lasts differs from one baby to the next. Hence the range of responses to the question of when the newborn stage ends. However, in any case, most baby’s will indeed have grown out of the newborn stage by 4 months old.
What Does a Newborn Baby Schedule Look Like?
Before babies start growing out of that initial newborn phase, they have the following characteristics that affect what their schedules will look like:
- Tiny stomachs – Because their stomachs are so small and don’t hold much, they will need to eat frequently around the clock, usually around every 2-3 hours.
- Underdeveloped sleep-wake cycles: Although newborns sleep a lot (up to 16-18 hours a day), they typically sleep in very short stretches. They are still working on developing a circadian rhythm in relation to night and day.
A newborn schedule would need to keep these factors in mind.
How to Create a Newborn Baby Schedule
The irony of this post is that from my own experience, most newborn babies don’t follow what I’d call an actual schedule. As someone who has type-A tendencies, I had tried several times to create a schedule for myself and my first baby. I soon realized this was a waste of my time. As soon as I’d try to create a schedule, something would change. Baby’s sleep would change, my sleep and energy level would change. Baby would go through a growth spurt and start cluster feeding. Something would always throw off the schedule.
While schedules typically indicate exact times and sequences, trying to designate exact times for a newborn to follow will likely lead to frustration. Sequences, however, are important as I’ll explain later.
The best way I can describe each day for newborns is not through defining a firm schedule, but through shifting cycles that follow a repeating sequence. The cycles early on typically last between 2-4 hours. However, they will get longer as baby gets older and s/he can eat more and sleep longer stretches of time.
The sequence for each cycle revolves around 4 key elements:
- Sleep
- Potty/diaper change
- Eat
- Play
If you have these 4 elements in your repeating sequence, you will have everything you need for your newborn baby’s “schedule”.
What is the Best Way to Sequence the 4 Elements of My Newborn Baby Schedule?
How you order the 4 elements of your newborn baby schedule is up to you and your baby. However, I find the below sequence made the most sense for my two babies.
1. Sleep
I like to think of sleep as the first step in the cycle. It’s the rejuvenative stage for not only baby, but also for mom in the early days of postpartum.
The saying “sleep when the baby sleep” always annoyed me, because I always wanted to get tasks done while baby sleeps. However, during those first weeks of the newborn stage, when sleep cycles are so short, sleep should be a priority for both baby and parents. I realized this by the second baby and decided this was a season I would simply be okay with not getting as much done.
Sleep is so important to allow your body to repair and heal. Your health matters, so please “sleep when the baby sleeps”!
One important thing to note is that you want to encourage baby to develop a circadian rhythm. Allow him/her to experience daylight when the sun rises. When the sun sets, avoid too much artificial light, and allow baby to adjust to the dark during that time.
2. Potty/Diaper Change
While baby has been sleeping, his/her diaper has likely filled. So you’ll want to change the diaper immediately if you can. Sometimes this isn’t possible if baby is super hungry upon waking. In these cases, I just reverse potty/diaper change and feeding. But if you are able to catch baby before s/he gets to that point, doing a quick diaper change before feeding works best. My reasoning for this is that I’d rather baby eat with a clean diaper on rather than a soiled diaper.
If you’re doing elimination communication, you’ll want to give baby the opportunity to go potty immediately upon waking.
3. Feeding
Whether you’re bottle-feeding or breastfeeding, baby will most definitely be hungry right after sleeping. I found the best-case scenario is if I could wake up just a little bit before baby does and look for early signs of hunger. These signs of hunger include:
- moving the hands to the mouth
- sucking on fists and fingers
- lip smacking
Catching baby when s/he is giving these early cues is ideal. You can then avoid the more stressful, later-stage hunger cues like fussing and crying and not be left trying to anxiously soothe a frantic baby.
As mentioned earlier, potty/diaper change may reverse with feeding, but in either case, they both happen right after baby wakes up. It’s your call, if you see baby showing hunger signs if you think you’ll have enough time to quickly change a diaper.
Make sure to feed baby until s/he is full. If you don’t, s/he will be more likely to wake more frequently due to hunger. You can look for cues that indicate baby is full such as:
- Pushing food away
- Closing his/her mouth when food is offered
- Turning head away from food
- Using hand motions or making sounds to indicate fullness
- Appearing relaxed and content after a feed
- No longer suckling
- Showing disinterest in feeding
- Starting to fall asleep
To make sure baby isn’t just taking a break, you can take a quick burp break or wait a minute before offering your bottle/breast again.
For Moms Who Pump
If you are pumping during this time, it can be challenging to fit this in during those early weeks. I prefer feeding to be a relaxing bonding time with baby, so I tried to either pump right before baby wakes up or after s/he feeds. It’s possible to pump during feeds as well (simultaneously or with the help of someone else feeding baby); however, this isn’t my preference. Find whatever works for you though! Generally thinking of pumping as an extension of feeding helped me understand its placement in our daily “schedule”.
4. Play
Play time isn’t anything fancy during the newborn period, but it’s important to carve a tiny place for it in those early newborn weeks. It can really be as simple as 5 minutes of cuddling baby, smiling, making faces, and talking to him/her.
Here are some other ideas of how to do newborn play time:
- Singing songs or nursery rhymes
- Telling baby a story
- Showing high contrast cards
- Reading a high contrast picture book
- Tummy time
- Taking your baby for a walk (only after allowing your body proper healing after birth)
When Can I Eat and Shower?
Although it’s challenging to fit in a meal, shower, or other to-do’s, it’s definitely possible to make time for these in the first weeks. I had to adjust my usual times to make meals and showers way shorter than they usually are. Having healthy snacks, freezer meals already prepped, or food from friends and family will really help during those early weeks postpartum.
I found that the best time to eat and shower was typically before baby wakes up or immediately after baby goes to sleep. I also sometimes eat while feeding and pumping.
Sample Newborn Baby “Schedule”
Sample Cycle 1
Sleep (1-2 hours)
Mom wakes up
Pump & eat (15-20 minutes)
Baby wakes up
Change baby
Feed baby until full (15-45 minutes)
Play time with baby (2-5 minutes)
Sleep (1-2 hours)
Sample Cycle 2
Sleep (1-2 hours)
Baby & mom wake up
Feed baby until full & eat (15-45 minutes)
Change baby
Play time with baby (5-10 minutes)
Baby sleeps
Shower (5-10 minutes)
Sleep (1-2 hours)
A Newborn Baby Schedule that Works for You & Your Family
As you can see, there is no one way to plan the a daily cycles for a newborn. As long as you are including cycles of sleep, feeding, potty/diaper changes, and play for baby and fitting in self-care for yourself, you’re doing great! At the end of the day, you will know how to tweak these key parts to fit your family’s unique needs. And remember, this time doesn’t last forever. As challenging as the newborn phase was for us, I will cherish those memories forever! Amidst the sleeplessness and repetition, don’t forget to savor those newborn snuggles!
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