How do you put a baby on a schedule?!

Question

This probably seems like a stupid question, but my 15.5 week old has a routine, three naps a day, etc.  But things almost never happen at the same time on the same days. I understand how it would be easier to feed baby at the same times everyday (I'm EBF), but as far as getting baby to sleep at the same times every day, how do you do it?

Our baby girl fights sleep and was a decent night sleeper until the 4 month regression hit, but she requires an elaborate bouncing ritual to go To sleep (nap or nighttime sleep) and fights it very time.

She also never seems to get the daily recommended 15 hours of sleep for her age, so I never want to wake her To try to adjust her schedule because I want her to get As much sleep as she am get. But should I be waking her? And if I do wake her to say try to have her wake up at the same time every morning, how many days until I can expect that things fall into line?

Also, if baby is on a strict schedule, how do you deal with things that throw a wrench into the routine, for example a doctors appt. Scheduled during a time baby is usually napping etc. ?

Thank you!! Any input or help would be so appreciated.

Answer

I don't even worry about it. Mine doesn't get the 15 hours either. Sleep has been very up and down for us too. His big issue at the moment is getting congested at night so he wakes up because breathing through his nose is not working. If it wasn't for that he'd be sleeping through. We have a pattern and that's good enough. Like you say, I'm not going to wake him to start every day at the same time if he hasn't had a good night. If he has a 2.5 hour nap in the morning one day and a 1.5 hour nap the next day that's obviously what he needs so yeah, that next bottle is going to be later the day he has a longer nap and so on for the rest of that day. I don't see the need to make things any more rigid than eat, play, sleep. He's a baby, not a robot. We know what comes next every few hours or so, to me it doesn't matter about fixed points for this and that. As far as appointments etc, I just try to get back on track when we get home. We're roughly three hours between feeds (no night time feeds now) but if necessary I can tweak those a little one way or the other to try to straighten things back out a bit.

Answer

As long as there's a routine that's all that matters. Strict schedules are for nuns not babies. I try to do things around the same time everyday, but nothing is ever right on the hour. Be flexible and life becomes a lot easier.

Answer

My 11wk old never naps diring the day. She goes to bed at 7:30p and sleeps til 5a every night though.

How do you put a baby on a schedule?!

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