How to Create a Baby Schedule

This is an easy way to create a sleeping & eating schedule for your baby. So grab a piece of paper & try your best to answer the 8 questions below. If you are pregnant and preparing to make a schedule, answer as if you have a newborn. The answers you write will be the info we use to make the schedule. I used my daughter as an example.



1. How old is your baby? 4 months
2. How often is your baby eating now? She can go up to 3.5-4 hours a day and a night she can be erratic, sometimes sleeping 8 hours, sometimes waking up 2 times
3. Based on their age, what is a time between feedings during the day you can aim for? 3 hours
 4. Based on their age, what is a time between feedings during the night you can aim for? 8 hours
5. What is your baby eating during the day? Mostly formula, just began baby food
6. What time does your Consistent Wake Time need to be (account for other children's routines, getting kids to school, getting yourself to work, your morning routine, etc.)? I would like it to be at 7am, so if I want to I can take a shower before and feed her before my other kids wake up.
7. Based on their age, how many minutes of waketime is ideal? 60-90 minutes- remember this includes eating time!
8. Based on their age, how many naps should your baby be getting? 3-4 naps


So based on the answer to #6, that will be the beginning of your schedule. 12 hours after that will be your bedtime. You take the answer to #3 and use that as your goal for time between feedings. And you use the answer to #7 to gauge how long after they wake up and eat, should you be looking for sleepy cues and putting them down for a nap.

Sample Schedule

Looking at it, it seems you have SO much going on during the day, how will you ever brush your teeth, take a shower, eat a meal? It all works out and the more you get them on your schedule- you begin to have SO much time for other things! (Ask my husband how many Pinterest projects I completed last year when the twins were on a similar schedule)

Now- there are many things to adjust for and you can tweak it to fit your schedule- but for about a week or two work really hard to get them on it. This will open the door to be able to schedule the doctor visit, lunch with friends, going out of town, etc. Those things will all be much easier to plan once you have a schedule to plan them around.

I'll be back with how to set the ground work for good sleep- no matter what it takes!

As always, leave a comment below!

Check out these related posts:

The Difference between a Schedule & a Routine

My Top 5 Breastfeeding Tips

Getting Support

The Best Swaddling Technique

My Mommy Must Haves!

How to Teach your Baby to Fall Asleep

The Basics of Babywise

Wanna know more about me?

Check me out here!