Newborn Schedule: What you Need to Know
By now you may already know that newborns are notoriously known for turning adult routine upside down. Sleep may have become a luxury in your house as a newborn tend to sleep in two or three hours stretch. You may be feeling confused and out of sync from lack of sleep coupled with the constant feeding and diaper changing.
Why doesn’t my newborn follow a schedule?
While you may be in sync with a day and night schedule – working at day time and resting at night time, your newborn cannot distinguish night from day, or vice versa. For your newborn everything tends to happen at a two or three hour stretch whether it is night or day. However, with a consistent routine your newborn can slowly learn that night time is for sleeping.
Now that you know why everything has felt like a blur ever since you brought your newborn home, here are some tried and tested tips that can help you better adjust to this new phase of your life.
Feeding Schedule
Do not worry about feeding schedules. Continue feeding based on hunger cues and eventually you and your baby would establish a schedule. Do not be surprised if your newborn needs to eat every two to three hours. Frequent feedings are necessary to obtain the nutrition necessary for proper growth and development of babies. Some hunger cues include irritability, sucking hands or clothes, and searching for milk. Please ask for help and sleep whenever your baby is sleeping so that you get adequate rest.
Sleeping Schedule
To help your newborn understand night from day, keep the room bright and well lit during the day, and dim the lights at night. At day time expose your newborn to different sounds around the house and carry your newborn around as you do housework. At night talk in a lower voice, shut down glares from all screens. In time, your newborn will understand that day is for activity and night is for sleeping.
Play Schedule
After around a month or two, the newborns start responding to their surroundings. This is a great time to incorporate play times in your newborn’s schedule. If your newborn is well fed but not sleepy yet, you can use the time to play and talk. Tummy time introduction can let your newborn try a new position to look at toys and interact with you or your partner. Activity time can also happen in strolls across the neighborhood when your newborn is awake. Keeping play times only for the day can be an effective way to incorporate the idea of night and day time in your newborn.
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