Table of Contents

Baby Schedule by Month

NOTE: These are my rough notes from various journal entries, so expect more thoughts than polish! [This part of the website is currently under construction.]

Schedule

For our own sanity, we adopted a schedule as soon as possible. Here are my notes from baby #2:

At 1 month old

We currently feed c every 3-4 hours of breastmilk during the day. Usually between 7-8am, 10-11am (sometimes I breastfeed), 1-3pm, 4-5pm, 8pm formula or breast milk, 10pm two oz to help her go to sleep or 12am 4oz, then when she wakes up between 2-5am, then starting the cycle again. She naps either between 7-10 or 11-2.

At 2 months old

These days, she often feeds between 9-10:30pm, sleeps until about 3:30 am (and sometimes we give her pacifier while we mix formula -- I gave her pacifier last night at 2:30 and she slept until 3:30), then she sleeps until about 7:30 then maybe from 8-9:30. We feed her some time between 10-11, between 1-2, between 4-5, between 7-8. She's also been quite calm about going to sleep. We lay her in bassinet between 10-11 and she may vocalize a little but quiets down and goes to sleep. Wow! According to "What to Expect the First Year" (book), at 2-3 months, baby naps 3-4 sessions for 4-8 hours a day, sleeps 8-10 hours at night, and sleeps 14-16 hours total per 24 hours. Breast milk should include 8-10 nursing sessions in a 24 hour period, or 12-32oz per day; formula is 4-6oz per meal, 6 meals per day, 24-36 oz per day.

• Bedtime feeding: 10pm, maybe only 2 oz, put in bassinet and she usually chats, but doesn’t cry, until 10:30pm or 11pm

• Night feeding: wakes up around 3am, pacifier keeps her quiet until 4 or 5am, 4oz

• Morning feeding: 8:30am-9:30am, 3-4oz

• Usually naps some time

• Lunch feeding: 11:30am-12:30pm (I try to breastfeed here, but will have to change depending on work), 3-4 oz, vitamin D (though we need to switch this to the morning)

• Usually a nap again

• Snack: 2pm-3:30pm, 4oz

• Usually a nap while I prepare dinner

• Snack/dinner: 5pm-6:30pm, 4oz

• Usually a nap while we eat dinner

• Night: 8pm-9pm, 4oz

• So that’s about 18-26oz per day.

At 3 months old

I think every kid (and parent) is different, but I can tell you what's worked for us, if it's helpful. For the past few weeks, Baby has been sleeping from about 10pm to 8am, which I attribute mostly to her pacifier. When she fusses at night and her eyes are still closed, we give her the pacifier, and she sucks on it heavily, then keeps sleeping. If her eyes open and she starts talking or crying, we feed her. (Before she was 8 weeks old, she would feed around 11pm, 3am, and 8am.) We also try to give her breastmilk during the day, and then give her formula for her last feeding, since it takes longer for her to digest. She'll also sometimes nurse before bedtime, but usually falls asleep (which makes it hard to tell how much she actually ate.) We aimed to get Baby on a schedule as soon as possible, so we feed her 3-5 oz every 3-4 hours, aiming for 18-25oz per day. When she was younger, if she was fussy or seemed to want to eat before 3 hours, we would give her the pacifier to see "is she really hungry, or does she just want to suck on something / be comforted?" This usually helped her nap to get to the next feeding. That said, she usually takes catnaps for 30 min to 1.5 hours, for a total of maybe 3.5 hours during the day (which is a bit short). I read in the "What to Expect the First Year" book that if the child stays up a lot at night, she may be sleeping too much during the day, so the book's advice is to not let them nap for more than 3-4 hours per nap.

At 4 months old

At night if she wakes up, she'll take the pacifier. Then in the morning, we usually change her diaper, and use the snot sucker. Then, usually around 7:30-8:30am, we feed her Poly vi sol with iron mixed in 1-2 oz of breastmilk then 4-5 oz of breastmilk. Then daycare, 5-6 oz every 3-4 hours. She usually naps every 3-4 hours but usually only for 30-60 min, sometimes with a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. At night, we give her 4.4-6.6 oz of formula around 7:30pm. Around 9:00pm, I usually snot suck her, change her, put her in a sleep sack, breastfeed her in an IKEA Poang chair, end with a pacifier, and she falls asleep. Then when Papi is done tucking kiddo #1 into bed or showering, he puts baby #2 in the crib.

At 5 months old

Our current routine:

• 7-8am, she wakes up, gets changed, aquaphor, bottle of 4-5 oz of breast milk

• 10-11:30am, nap in daycare

• 11-12am, gets first bottle of 5-6 oz in daycare

• 1-3pm, nap in daycare

• 2-3:30pm, gets second bottle of 4-6 oz in daycare

• 5-6pm, gets third bottle of 5-6 oz in daycare though they sometimes miscommunicate, and she gets it at home

• 6:15-7:00pm, bath time

• 7:15-8:00pm, dinner for us

• 7-8pm, gets bottle of 6.6 oz of formula

• 8:30-9:30pm, nurses and goes to bed

But then we started adding dinner with solids (cereal with formula and veggie food, like carrots) at 6:30pm, so baby had dinner with us, then a bottle of formula at 7:30pm, and bath at 7:45pm, then bedtime around 8:45pm.

At 7 months old

Current schedule:

• 7am-8:30am: Baby #2 wakes up. I nurse her. She gets 2-5oz. Often gets distracted. She then plays on the floor downstairs while I pump as Papi gets kiddo #1's breakfast ready.

• 9:00-9:30am: Baby #2 gets fruit (or leftovers) and oatmeal cereal for breakfast. Oatmeal cereal usually mixed with breast milk from my pumping.

• 9:30-10:30am: Sometimes she snoozes for ten min on the way to daycare. In daycare, the kids usually nap between 10-11.

• 11am-12pm: Baby #2 gets first daycare bottle. She usually has 4-6oz.

• 2-3pm: Baby #2 has second daycare bottle. 4-6 oz.

• 5-6pm: Baby #2 has third daycare bottle.

• 6:30pm: Baby #2 finishes any extra bottle. Gets a bath when she gets home to wash off daycare stink.

• 7:00pm: Baby #2 gets solids (veggies, rice cereal) and 4-6 oz of formula. Gets silicone feeder with fruit. Sometimes starts frantically wailing. Likes bouncing and playing on floor.

• 8:00-8:30pm: Baby #2 sometimes wails frantically. I usually wash off any dinner food in the Puj tub, then change her from a onesie to pajamas with feet, then nurse her. Sometimes feed her any leftover formula first. She likes clutching a soft blanket and sometimes whacking me with her free hand.

At 7.5 months old

• Between 6:00am to 8:00am: wake up, breastfeed

• Around 9:00-9:30am: solids for breakfast (about 1tbsp oatmeal cereal with 1oz of formula or breastmilk, 5 tsp of fruit)

• Between 11am to 12pm: 4-6oz of breastmilk

• Between 2pm to 3pm: 4-6oz of breastmilk

• Between 5pm-6pm: 4-6oz of breastmilk

• Around 6:30pm: solids for dinner (about 1tbsp of rice cereal with 1oz of formula or breastmilk, 5tsp of veggies, with fruit in silicone feeder, some formula if she wants drinking)

• Around 7:30pm: 4-6oz of formula

• Between 8:05 and 8:30: she starts shutting down, so happy giggles turn into harsh cries. Especially when putting her down on changing pad; she usually needs a pacifier to quiet down. I change her diaper, then change her clothes from a onesie-type during dinner to full-length footied pajamas. Then I feed her either 4-6oz of formula and/or breast feed her. Tonight, she had 4 oz of formula (gentle-ease b/c that’s what we have left), and fell asleep, so I repositioned her on the pillow across my lap in the Poang chair, then breastfed from the right and she sucked then fell asleep. I usually pick her up and let her head rest on my shoulder while I pat her back to burp her. Then I put her in the crib. Sometimes if she cries out and I feel like she hasn’t had enough, then I’ll feed her more.