Hi Everyone,

I am new mother as in my baby boy is just a month old now. I wld like the help of all u experienced parents on a subject which has been bothering me a bit.
Pls tell me how can i set a feeding & sleeping schedule for my baby? I see suggestions wverywhere that setting a schedule will make life simpler so PLEASE advise on how u went abt making a schedule for ur baby so i can try the same.
Currently, he has no fixed feeding or sleeping schedule. Till 2 days back he was breastfeeding every 3 hrs for abt 25 mnts each time & sleeping for 3 hrs, getting up for 3-4 hrs & then sleeping again.
But since 2 days, he has been sleeping for 5 hrs at a stretch & NOT FEEDING MORE THAN 10 mts max & that too when forced??!! I am worried abt this.
Has anyone ever faced this? Pls advise.

Many thanks

Nidhi Farah replied. Hey you are worrying too much..I did the same as I am also a first time mother... my son is now 4 mon.
try not to have rigid feeding schedule for a 1 mon old baby..waiting for 3 hrs is too long.. I used to feed my son every hour..the doctors say to feed them on demand...whenever he wants it.. after the 2nd or 3rd mon you will get into a pattern automattically with his body clock...
ta, luv.
Farah Neetu replied. Hi Nidhi,

I know what you mean. Setting a schedule is simple, Babies change every week and things change but do not change their schedule it will help you. I will give you an e.g of my twins, since they were two I was having a lot of problem, then I started a routine for them. I made it sure they are massaged, bathed, night slept everyday at a same time. Try to put the baby for night sleep around 8.30-9.00. Switch of the light, wrap them, put on the AC or sing a llulaby. After 3-4 days you will notice that these things become a sign for babies which they start recognizing. When you sing and the room is dark and the AC is working, they understand, oh! it is night, sleeping time. Slowly this becomes a habit and if you are 1/2 hr delay in doing anything they will start crying or in a way will try to tell you that they want to sleep, Mumma! its sleeping time!

Earlier when my babies were on no schedule, I was bathing them one day at 8.30, another day at 11.00 on my conveinence and the whole day used to change with that. One day they were sleeping at 8.30, another day at 11.30. When I was tired of all this my mother told me that it was all my fault. I was changing their times every day. Then I tried to make a pattern of the day and made it sure that I was strict on that.

Now every morning my babies (they are 5 months now), get up at 8.00 play for an hour, massage and bathing at 9-10.00, feed and sleep time (for night and for their first after massage sleep, put pampers instead of the cotton diapers, this helps them to sleep peacefully.) They get up at 12.00 or 12.30, again feed,and the playing, feeding, napping cycle starts and goes on till 8.30-9.00 in the night. After that they get up at 5.00 in the morning take their feed and I change their pampers and they again sleep till 8.00. My daughter sometimes gets up at 6.30 but I put pacifier in her mouth and pat her till she is sleeping again, I never allow her to get up before her time and never allow her to sleep after 8.00.

In the begining even if you have to wake them up for massage and bathe, do it. For feeding Nidhi I am sorry schedule is difficult as when he is hungry you have to feed him and young babies (till they are 3 months) require frequent feeds, but if the baby is crying politely ( I mean if he is still nmanagable and not red in face and soaked in tears) avoid feeding, give him little water and wait. If he stops it is Ok but if he doesn't then please feed the guy and don't look at the clock that there is still time in his feed. But on Massage and night sleep times be strict don't change that, slowly you will see feeding will come on timings too.

Now sometimes my daughter or son don't sleep after their bath, I let them play they sleep when they are tired but for night if my son wants to take a nap at 7.00 in the evening I start playing with him or only allow him to sleep for 15-20 minutes, cause if I let him sleep at 7.00 he will be up again at 8.30 and will be fresh for another 2-3 hrs and will delay his night sleep from 8.30 to 11.30. Which will change all his schedule the next day. When I am saying time 8.00, this doesn't mean strictly 8.00, give a discount of 15-20 min. here and there. Sometimes they get up in the morning at 7.45, sometimes at 8.15 but don't allow anything more than that.

Even on weekends the routine is same, I love sleeping till late but force myself for their sake otherwise everything will be chaos again. With time when he will be a toddler around 2-3 yrs he will adjust according to you and can understand getting up at 6.00 in morning for school and sleeping till 10.00 on Sunday, but babies are different and become confused with different schedules.

My message is too big but I hope will help you....Best of Luck, Since you have one baby you can do it more easily..........Love....Neetu