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Urban Nurture
info@urbannurture.com
Here is an example of a good feeding & napping schedule to get your baby sleeping through the night as soon as possible. It is important that your baby gets enough, but not too much, sleep during the day. Control your child’s naps. Whether you adopt a 3 or 4 hour feeding schedule will depend on the age and weight of your baby.
Three Hour Schedule
| Time |
Activity |
| 7:00 am |
W ake up and feed |
| 7:30 am |
Gym |
| 8:30 am |
Nap for up to 1 hour, ideally in crib |
| 9:30 am |
Play/Outing/Gym |
| 10:00 am |
Feed |
| 10:30 am |
Play/Outing/Gym |
| 11:30 am |
N ap for 1² -2 hours in crib |
| 1:00 pm |
Feed |
| 1:30 pm |
Play/Outing/ ym |
| 4:00 pm |
Feed |
| 4:30 pm |
N ap for up to 45 minutes, either in chair or stroller |
| 5:15 pm |
Play/Outing/Gym |
| 6:00 pm |
Bath and quiet play/stories |
| 6:30 pm |
Feed |
| 7:00 pm |
Bed |
| 11:00 pm |
Dream feed. M ake sure baby w akes up and has as much to drink as possible. Turn lights on and change diaper if necessary. |
Four Hour Schedule
| Time |
Activity |
| 7:00 am |
W ake up and feed |
| 7:30 am |
Play |
| 9:00 am |
N ap for 45 minutes, either in crib or stroller |
| 9:45 am |
Play/Outing |
| 11:00 am |
Feed |
| 11:30 am |
Play/Outing/Music |
| 12:00 pm |
N ap for up to 2 hours in crib |
| 2.00 pm |
Tummy time |
| 2:30 pm |
Feed |
| 3:00 pm |
Play/Outing/M usic |
| 4:00 pm |
N ap for up to 45 minutes, in chair or stroller |
| 4:45 pm |
Play/Outing/Tummy time |
| 6:00 pm |
Bath and quiet play/stories |
| 6:30 pm |
Feed |
| 7:00 pm |
Bed |
| 10:45 pm |
Dream feed. Baby may not need to be fully w oken up to take a full feed |
The schedules outlined above are indicative and should be used only as a rough guide to appropriate schedules at different ages. Schedules can and should be modified to fit w ith individual lifestyles.
Ensuring your child gets enough food during the day
Excessive wakings during the night, particularly for babies under six months of age, are often due to hunger. It is important that your child gets enough food during the day and on a regular schedule. Babies fed little and often will find it hard to sleep for long stretches at night. It is important that you understand your baby’s nutritional needs. Top up breast milk w ith expressed milk or formula, if necessary. Check with your pediatrician, but if you feel comfortable you can introduce solids as early as 4 months for hungrier babies. Here is a rough idea of how much your child should eat at each feed:
- 3 hour schedule: 4-6 oz at each feed
- 4 hour schedule: 6 – 8 oz at each feed
A healthy sleep environment
- Have your baby sleep in a crib in her/his ow n room w hen you feel comfortable. 6 w eeks is a good age to try this. Sleeping in the parents’ room w ill only make you and your child more restless.
- Once your baby is in her/his ow n room, don’t have the baby monitor on full blast. Babies do make noises in their sleep. Don’t rush in at the first sound.
- Ensure that your baby’s room is not too hot or cold (w e recommend 68-72 F), dry or humid.
- Remove toys, activity centers and overhead mobiles from the crib during sleep time.
- Ensure the room is fully dark for the baby’s night time sleep.
- Sw addle your baby for up to three months after birth, using a cotton fabric. Thereafter put your baby in an age-appropriate sleeping bag (see w w w .grobagusa.com).
- Ideally, have your baby sleep in her/his crib during some/all nap times, as w ell as at night.
Settling your baby
- Introduce a calm, quiet bedtime routine. This can start from birth, consisting of a warm, relaxing bath and a full feed in a quiet environment.
- Settle your baby in her/his crib before s/he becomes overtired or falls asleep.
- Try not to constantly cuddle, rock or feed to get your baby to sleep, or let her/him become dependent on other “props”.
- If necessary, use “controlled crying” or the “pick up/put down” method to teach your baby to settle her/himself (see below ).
Dealing effectively w ith nighttime waking
- Don’t rush to your child too quickly w hen s/he stirs during the night.
- Learn to interpret your child’s cry. Is s/he hungry, w et, uncomfortable, in pain (diaper rash, w ind, teething), over-tired, over-stimulated, or just angry? If uncertain, pick your baby up and if s/he stops crying immediately, you know it’s just frustration.
- Encourage your child to comfort her/himself.
- If you know your child has eaten enough during the day (e.g. regular w eight gain and consuming less at the 7:00 pm feed), offer him/her cool boiled w ater. If s/he drinks it, you know s/he is hungry and may need bigger quantities of milk throughout the day.
- If necessary, use “controlled crying” or the “pick up/put dow n” method to get your child to resettle her/himself after a nighttime w aking.
Controlled crying
Controlled crying involves leaving your child to cry for increasingly longer periods of time before providing comfort and reassurance (w ithout picking her/him up). Over time this will teach your child how to settle her/himself. Parents should only re-enter the room for short periods of time to provide gentle reassurance before leaving again. To be effective, it is crucial that parents be persistent and consistent. Ideally, the same person should deal w ith the child during the sleep training. Alw ays set a stopw atch and record how long your baby takes to settle. It w ill probably feel a lot longer than it actually is!
Pick up/Putdown
For parents uncomfortable with allowing their child to “cry it out,” a more gentle option for teaching your child to fall asleep on her/his ow n in the crib is the pick up/put down method. This involves entering the child’s room w hen s/he begins to cry, providing gentle reassurance and, if necessary, picking her/him up, but putting her/him back down in the crib the moment s/he stops crying. The objective is to comfort your child, not put her/him back to sleep. This process is repeated until your child falls asleep. Pick up/put down requires a lot of determination and patience and takes longer to see results.
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