How to Create a Routine for a Baby
When you bring home your newborn, you might have no clue where to start. What do you do with this baby all day? This video is going to explain how you can create a simple routine with your newborn.
Schedule vs Routine
Let me start by defining a schedule and a routine. A schedule has specific times. And this doesn’t work for babies because they have no concept of time or a circadian rhythm. That’s why you should aim for a routine, which is activities you perform in a certain order, not a specific time.
For example, instead of saying, “my baby has to wake up at 7,” you start the day from their wake time. That way, if your baby wakes up earlier or sleeps in later, you’re fine.
When do I start a routine?
A newborn must eat 8 or more times in 24 hours, which ends up being every 2 -3 hours, or more when having a growth spurt. But after the first few weeks, you should be able to establish a general routine.
What routine should I follow?
Two popular “routines” are EASY (eat, activity, sleep, you) by Tracey Hogg and Wake-Eat-Sleep by Babywise. These routines say the same thing. Your baby will wake up and eat. The leftover wake time is for diaper changes, burping, and maybe some play or tummy time when they can stay up. Then back to sleep.
This forms your routine: Wake, Eat, Activity (play, diaper change, read a book) and back to sleep. And you do this all day.
In the early days, this will feel like an endless, constant loop. But as time passes, they’ll stay awake longer. This is where wake windows - or the amount of time they can stay awake - come in. A newborn can stay awake to eat - maybe not even that long. Slowly, their wake windows get longer and longer.
How do you know how long your baby’s wake window should be?
Start with a chart. But all babies are different. So - you follow their cues. If you start to rock them to sleep, but they’re staring at you wide -eyed, you probably need to stretch it out. If they’re screaming and can’t be calmed down, they are probably overtired and you need to shorten it.
Tips to make your routine support healthy habits:
Make sure that during the day, your baby is in bright areas and that you don’t let them sleep longer than 2 - 2 ½ hours. If they’re not eating consistently during the day, they’ll wake more at night.
Second, keep things dark at night. Don’t chat or play, so they understand it’s time to sleep.
Next, create signals to tell your baby what’s coming. Try singing the same song during diaper changes. Or follow a pattern: sleep sack or swaddle / noise machine / song / nap time or bedtime. This is comforting for your baby.
Lastly, don’t be too hard on yourself. There will be times that your baby is going through a growth spurt, or teething, or just wants extra comfort, and they won’t care about your routine. And that’s ok.
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Hi! I'm Gigi; I'm a postpartum doula, mother to three toddlers, including twins, and a wife to my high school sweetheart.
I help families get the tools they need to prepare, so once baby arrives, they can focus on resting and bonding instead of researching or stressing. I’m here to streamline the newborn learning curve and help birth parents, partners, and other family members. There isn’t ONE way to have and raise a little human. I’m here to guide parents to find THEIR way so that they can thrive in the fourth trimester and beyond.
