If your a new mom, I’m sure you’ve thought about trying to keep your baby on a schedule. It may seem impossible given the middle-of-the-night feedings, struggles with feedings, and the general exhaustion that comes with being a new mom.
But did you know there are many benefits to working to keep your baby on a schedule? I realize there are many different forms of parenting, and not everyone will agree with this. However, I just want to share a little about our experience and why I believe everyone should work to keep their baby on a schedule.
Before we dive in, I want to address one thing. A baby schedule should not be so rigid that you feel you must adhere to it at all costs. Remember, babies are people and living things; they cannot be forced or expected to follow a schedule all the time. There are days Little Man just has a hard time with naps or is teething. On those days, I have to be flexible and adjust his schedule accordingly.
With that in mind, here are four reasons to keep your baby on a schedule:
1. Routines help baby feel secure
Think about how you feel when you’re on a good routine. Chances are you are a lot happier because you know what’s going to happen next throughout the day.
The same is true with babies. When you keep your baby on a schedule, he feels secure because he knows what happens next in his day. This security helps him to trust you, because he knows you will take care of him.
2. Everyone knows what’s happening at any given time
This is one of my favorite reasons for keeping baby on a schedule. I like predictability, and I love knowing what’s happening when and where. And I believe children like that, too. In our house, there’s rarely any confusion about how the day will go, because we already know Little Man’s schedule: when he eats, plays, and naps.
This is not to say that spontaneity has no place in our lives. We enjoy doing some things at the spur of the moment, but the schedule helps keep us on track. We know that the schedule can be adjusted if need be, and that adds a comforting level of flexibility.
3. You are happier and healthier
When you keep your baby on a schedule, you and your husband (and the rest of the family, really) are much healthier and happier. Just like all new parents, our first few months after Little Man was born were difficult. But once we worked through establishing a schedule, we didn’t experience the dreaded new-parent fatigue anymore.
We got adequate sleep, which resulted in productive and happy days. I truly feel like we were able to enjoy that newborn stage so much more because we weren’t zombies. Of course, there were always those days when things didn’t go as planned and the schedule got thrown off, but because it was an established routine, we were able to quickly get everything back on track.
4. Baby’s needs are met before he cries
This goes hand-in-hand with our first point: keeping baby on a schedule helps him to feel secure. Babies cry to tell us that they need something: sleep, food, a change, etc. But what if you met your child’s need before he had the chance to cry? That would make for a pretty happy baby, and a pretty happy you!
The best resource I have found to help keeping baby on a schedule, is the book Babywise. My parents used it with my youngest brother, and passed the information on to me and my husband when we became parents. This book is amazing and makes a compelling case for what the authors call Parent Directed Feeding (PDF). According to the book, PDF is ideal because it uses a combination of looking for hunger cues, looking at the clock (the schedule), making a good parental assessment, and then determining when it’s time to feed.
Babywise also addresses the issue of sleep. The authors encourage a “feed-wake-sleep” cycle that we found to be invaluable. This is how it looks for us:
Feed: Baby wakes up from his nap (or in the morning)
We wake Little Man up in the morning and from his naps at relatively the same time every single day. Now that his schedule is well-established, he even wakes up on his own almost on the dot when he is supposed to. We immediately change his diaper and feed him. This gives him the calories and energy he needs to have a full and productive wake time.
Wake: Baby enjoys wake time
Wake time is very important because if he doesn’t have a good wake time, Little Man doesn’t end up having a good sleep time. We make sure he has adequate time to play, have tummy time (when he was smaller), enjoy cuddles with mom and dad, and read books.
It’s important not to over-stimulate baby during wake time, because it will be hard for her to wind down for sleep time. So avoid activities like watching television before she goes to sleep.
Sleep: Baby has a good sleep time
This is one of the best results of keeping baby on a schedule. We started sleep training at four weeks, and Little Man was successfully sleeping through the night by ten weeks. I’m not going to tell you it was easy because it took a lot of hard work and dedication, but the rewards have been immeasurable, for both my husband and me, and for Little Man.
Because baby enjoyed good wake time, he is tired and ready for sleep time. This is what so many parents long for: good sleep for their little one. And when you keep your baby on a schedule, he enjoys restful sleep time, which leads to good feedings, and therefore, good wake times. It’s all a fantastic cycle!
If you’re interested in learning more, I encourage you to check out Babywise. It worked wonders for us, and I absolutely recommend it to every single new mom I meet. I also have another post about what to do when your baby refuses to sleep, if you want to check it out.
Another word of caution about trying to keep your baby on a schedule:
As I said before, it’s important not to force your baby into a schedule she isn’t responding well to. When creating a schedule, it’s easy to become upset or flustered if things don’t go the way you think they should. Remember that it takes time to get baby on a schedule, and you may have to tweak it a little until you find what works best for you. The key is consistency.
So there you have it, mama. I believe keeping your baby on a schedule is a fantastic way to create a sense of security, predictability, comfort, and sanity in your home. I encourage you to give it a try and see the difference for yourself. Remember that you can always ditch it if it doesn’t work for you, so you don’t have anything to lose, right?
Do you keep your baby on a schedule? Tell us about what your schedule looks like in the comments!
