How can I get my 9 week old on a sleeping schedual??

Simmie - posted on 01/05/2013

Ashley! I know this conversation was a long time ago but I tried your schedule and it worked WONDERFULLY! I was hoping you had more advice as my D's gets older.

Ashley - posted on 09/19/2009

A baby this young shouldn't be awake for longer than 60-75 min. When the baby is 3 months old they can handle 90 minutes of being awake. I met with an infant sleep doula to help me set a sleep schedule with my daughter when she was 9 weeks old and this is the schedule she gave me:

6am- most babies wake up at or around 6'ish for the day.
7:30'ish am Nap #1, about 2hours
10'ish am baby wakes up, eats
11:30 or so Nap #2 about 2 hours
2pm baby wakes up, eats
3:30-4pm Nap #3 begins....baby should not sleep past 5pm
5pm bedtime routine begins (bath, bottle or BF, bed)
6pm bedtime

I did this routine and had fantastic results. My daughter was sleeping 11-12 hours at night straight through and going down easily for naps and sleeping so well, and still does at 10 months (although her schedule is much different now). Hope that helps!

Iysha - posted on 09/19/2009

According to the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, babies that young shouldn't be up for more than 2 hours after each awakening during the day. Babies need frequent naps. The more a baby sleeps and is rested during the day, the more the baby will sleep at night. Even if their naps only last 30 min it's good. I started using that as a guide and my baby, a premature 2 1/2 month old, has only woken up once at night since. She sleeps from 8pm-2am or 9pm-3am then wakes up at 6am along with the rest of the family. She eats right before she goes to sleep and during the day she eats every 3 hours. She used to wake up every 3 hours, even at night, until I used this method of sleep scheduling for her.

Kristi - posted on 09/16/2009

Are you feeding your baby breast milk or formula? My baby is 7 weeks and is primarily fed breast milk but about 2 weeks ago i started supplementing formula at night only. I give her a bottle of formula at 8pm, then a bath, then another bottle about 10pm then put her in her crib. She is now sleeping till about 6am before waking up to eat.

Jennifer - posted on 09/16/2009

Quoting Jo:

I found the book The contented little baby book by Gina Ford very useful to help with setting schedules and routines. As long as you use it as a guide and listen to your baby it works very well. My son is 16 weeks old and he is now sleeping through the night. Basically as long as they have a small nap after 2 hours or less of waking up and then a big nap in the middle of the day and maybe 15-30 minutes or so sometime in the afternoon this works pretty well for me. I always have my son settled in bed by 7pm and I always do the same thing every night so he knows he is going to bed for his long sleep.

I didn't read this book, but basically agree with this reply.  I read "The Baby Whisperer Answers all your Questions" and likewise, used it as an outline, but mostly followed my baby.  At 4 months, she now is very regular in her sleep habits.  She always needs at least a 45 minute nap after being awake for about 1.5-2 hrs.  She has a 1.5 hr nap around 1:00 pm and then a couple more short naps before bedtime at 7:30 - 8:00.  I follow a "ritual" everytime I put her to sleep (including naps) of swaddling, giving her a pacifier, going into a quiet, dark room and sitting with her in my arms, very gently rocking until she gets drowsy.  After about a month of strictly doing this, she was usually "drowsy" by the time I got her wrapped up because she knew it was time to sleep.  It is SO easy now... but I remember being super frustrated when I started out.  She still wakes to eat at night 1 or 2 times but almost always goes right back to sleep, even if I lay her down awake.  And she sleeps 11-12 hours every night!

Jo - posted on 09/14/2009

I found the book The contented little baby book by Gina Ford very useful to help with setting schedules and routines. As long as you use it as a guide and listen to your baby it works very well. My son is 16 weeks old and he is now sleeping through the night. Basically as long as they have a small nap after 2 hours or less of waking up and then a big nap in the middle of the day and maybe 15-30 minutes or so sometime in the afternoon this works pretty well for me. I always have my son settled in bed by 7pm and I always do the same thing every night so he knows he is going to bed for his long sleep.

Jessica - posted on 09/12/2009

What worked for me was setting a schedule for my daughter. I gave her a bath, got her ready for bed, and everything else at the same time every night (or at least right around the same time). Then after a couple of weeks she started to set her own schedule. It may vary every so often but it is pretty constant.