Wondering that your newborn baby is asleep almost all day? It gets up to feed to just fall back to sleep? Worried that they feed very very frequently? Don’t worry; it is absolutely normal and perfect. It is vital for you as a mother to understand the newborn feeding and sleeping schedule.
A baby is called newborn since the time they are born until about 3 months of the age. The baby has a very small stomach owing to which they need to eat often. The healthiest way to feed a new born is via breast-feed. Breast milk has all the important nutrients that are needed for the baby’s growth. Breast milk digests faster in the baby’s stomach and the baby get hungry sooner when fed breast milk as compared to formula-fed milk. Your baby is not physically developed to feed on solid food like you do. It is seen that babies being fed solid food very early in their life, turn to be being overweight. Thus it is important to have baby feeding plan. If you are wondering how much to feed the baby in case of formula milk (R), then it fairly depends on a calculation where you multiply your baby’s weight in pounds by 2.5. Thus the value resulted is the amount in ounce that needs to be fed in 24-hours to the baby. For example, 8 pound (weight of baby) * 2.5 equals 20 ounce of milk that the baby needs to be fed with in 24 hours. If you talk about breast milk, on an average, the babies need about 20-30 ounce of breast milk and once they are past the newborn age, you can increase it to 25-35. It is always recommended to check with your doctor too for the feeding schedule and quantity especially for the formula feeding as you do not want to go wrong here.
The newborn sleep schedule is something I am sure would have caught your attention. They sleep for almost all day, enjoy while it exists! The newborn may have maximum one 4-5 hour stretch of sleep either in the morning or the night. But, the baby must have such long sleep once in a day or possibly two in some cases. You have to feed the baby at least ever 2-3 hours on an average. This baby feeding schedule changes post the 3 months. It then starts to stretch to 5-6 hours and then 7-8 hours and further 10-11 hours once your baby nears 10 months of age. Even though as a mother, you would just want to feed your baby when they are hungry but following a baby feeding schedule helps you to bring sanity to the otherwise chaotic parenting days.
Newborn Feeding and Sleep Schedule
Your baby’s sleep time and total sleep needs may vary from the below as there is no particular timings that are normal or in limit. These are considering the average of amount of sleep your baby needs or the feed.
This schedule is best for babies who consume breast milk and for moms who have average production of milk and storage amounts. This baby feeding guide must be altered according to the mother’s lesser production of milk or babies who eat smaller amounts or babies with reflux etc. Schedules for such scenarios differ from the below.
2-8 Week Old Newborn’s Feeding Schedule
8:00 – 9:00 AM: Wake up and feed the baby
10:00 AM: Nap time for about 30-60 minutes (can variate)
11:00 AM: Wake up and feed
12:30 AM: Nap time for about 30-60 minutes
1:30 PM: Wake up the baby and feed
3:30 AM: Nap for 30-60 minutes
4:30 PM: Wake up and feed
5:00 PM: Play time
6:00 PM: Nap for 30-60 minutes
6:30 PM: Wake up and feed the baby
7:30 PM: Short nap for 20-30 minutes
8:00 PM: Wake up and feed
9:30 PM: another short nape for 20-30 minutes
10:00 PM: Wake up and feed the baby
11:30 PM: Feed and bedtime (Make this a fixed routine in your baby’s schedule)
There will be 2 – 3 more feed time during this sleep hours
3:00 AM: Feed and put the baby back to sleep
6:30 AM: Feed and put the baby back to sleep.
2-8 Week Old Newborn’s Formula Feeding Schedule
As we said this differs from mother’s breast feeding as the formula feed takes longer to digest. Thus follow the below:
9:00 AM: Wake and feed the baby
10:00 AM: Nap time 60-90 minutes (since the baby sleeps longer as it’s not hungry)
11:30 AM: Wake up
12:30 AM: Feed and put the baby to sleep for 30-60 minutes
1:30 PM: Wake up
3:00 PM: Feed and put the baby to sleep for 60-90 minutes
4:30 PM: Wake up and feed the baby
6:00 PM: Nap time for 30-60 minutes
6:30 PM: Wake up time
7:30 PM: Feed and put the baby to sleep for 60-90 minutes
8:30 PM: Wake up
9:30 PM: Nap time for the baby for 60-90 minutes
10:00 PM: Wake up and feed the baby
11:30 PM: Feed the baby and bedtime (Make this a routine for the baby)
4:30 PM: Feed and put the baby back to sleep
7:30 PM: Feed and put the baby back to sleep
Thus the infant feeding chart usually looks like this but every baby is different and might have variations in the over-all schedule.
8 tips to get your baby to sleep better and encourage longer sleep duration:
1.Relax the infant with a massage: Massage makes wonders in the baby as it is a natural way to relax. This relaxation promotes longer and deeper sleep.
2.Go for a walk with your baby: Walking with your baby in fresh air will help them sleep better. Make it a daily routine to take the baby for a walk and notice the difference yourself.
3.Make it a cozy environment: Every time the baby is asleep, make sure to have a peaceful environment for the baby. Set up the room in such a fashion that there isn’t too much day light entering to make it super sunny. As long as the room is keep dark during the feed and sleep time, baby tends to sleep longer.
4.Keeping baby close: Mom’s warmth and smell is the best thing for the baby. The babies who sleep with mother have better sleep schedule as they tend to sleep more and cry less. But yeah, room sharing with the infant has its own pros and cons which you should know before deciding on their sleep arrangements.
5.Carry your baby: Nothing soothes the baby better than being the closest to the parents. Newborns sleep the best when they are held by the parents as they feel more secured and relieved Also it is a short term strategy usually to get your baby to sleep better during those first few months after their birth.
6.Attempt for ample daytime naps: Well, if you think your baby will sleep better at night time when you keep them up at the day time – then no! This is not true; the babies who do not have proper sleep in the day time might have worse sleep at night. It is important for your baby to have a proper rest as they get extremely tired and get crankier.
7.Keep a watch on their sleep hours: If you want your baby to sleep well at night hours, then monitor their sleep during the day time. Such that, the baby does not over sleep which means more than 60-90 minutes over the day. Also, there should be a maximum of one time longer 4-5 hours sleep during the night mostly which is completely normal.
8.Feed the baby before your bedtime too: Yes, it is alright to feed the baby once before your sleep time as once their tank is full; they tend to sleep peacefully until their next feed. Hence it is also advised to the mothers that they should take proper sleep along with their baby to relax. Cluster feeding in the evening makes it easy too as they do not have to have a lot of camp outs at night.
All these information read by you, can still be a little tricky to figure out their crankiness sometimes. The baby goes through growth spurts which also make them fussy. There are few recognized ways to sleep train a baby too. We have articles on “cry it out method” and about “baby sleep regression”. Read more here to know how you can make your parenthood less as a nightmare and more as a pleasurable journey.
