Zander's Schedule
Let me start by saying that I took the @takingcarababies newborn course and it really helped us to shape a schedule. I highly recommend taking this course, especially if you are a first time mom. Let me also say that this schedule looks different every single day. Some days he skips his first nap and some days he skips his last nap. You can offer the nap but you can't force your baby to take it. We started practicing this schedule the first 3 weeks of his life and really started implementing it at 4 weeks.
The first three weeks are just about learning your baby and your baby learning you.
Every baby is different and every parent has a different style of parenting. The course will help explain techniques and more. This is just what we've found to work for us. The reason that the schedule is just an outline is because naps can be 20 minutes or 2 hours. It totally depends on the day. During awake time we make sure to give his brain stimulation in some way, whether that be making eye contact and talking to him or reading a book. The awake time activities below are examples. We may go out of order, do more, or do less. It depends on the day. If he falls asleep on me right after eating, I don't wake him up. I let him snuggle. If he's tired, I let him sleep. I don't let his naps last longer than 2 hours because I don't want his feeding gap to be longer than 3 hours. The course will explain it all. I don't usually have to worry about this since he is. a little piggly wiggly and eats 3 oz of milk every 2 hours..on the dot. He will wake from a dead sleep and start smacking those lips.
Schedule
7:00 am: Wake up & eat
7:30: Sensory stimulation *I find these videos on YouTube-- just search newborn sensory stimulation. We only do 5-10 minutes of this*
Between 8:00 / 8:30: Down for a nap *I do swaddle for naps and night sleep. We use the Ollie swaddle. During the day he naps downstairs in the pack n play and at night he sleeps in his bassinet. He currently sleeps in the Snoo with no movement. I've decided not to use movement and use it as a still bassinet. A lot of money for a still bassinet. I'll talk more on that in the Q+A coming soon.*
9:30: Wake up & eat *Usually sleeps about an hour but sometimes it's 30 minutes and sometimes it's 2 hours, so this will vary*
10:00: Wake time -- tummy time, sit outside, black and white cards
Between 10:30 / 11:00: Down for a nap
12:00: Wake up & eat
12:30: Wake time -- Activity gym, back time
Between 1:30 / 2:00: Down for a nap
3:00: Wake up and eat
3:30: Read a book, tummy time, go for a walk
Between 4:00 / 4:30: Down for a nap
5:30: Wake up and eat
6:00: Bath, read a book, quiet time
Between 7:00-8:00: Bed time
He usually sleeps 7:00/8:00 until about 2:00/2:30. He will eat and then wakes up anywhere between 5:30-8:00 am to eat and start the day over.
I hope that this helps give you a little bit of an insight into what our day looks like. I am very happy with this schedule. Again, this schedule is what a perfect day would look like and it never looks like that. This is just what we go off of. I am currently working on a post all about my must-have baby products.
Xo