A new born is like the beginning of all things - wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities - Eda J Leshan
The cutest thing in this world is to hold a newborn in your hand. Parents receives a sense of responsibility, an affection and bundle of fears with the arrival of new born. How they will going to manage their schedule and their baby’s schedule. It’s a full time responsibility to handle a new born, food, sleep, bathing and many more. There is endless responsibilities which every parent of new born have to fulfill.
For few parents handling the sleeping schedule of new born is a nightmare. But actually it’s not, once the mother understand the routine of the baby, it’s become very easy to handle the baby. Same is with feeding process - Feeding is the most fundamental task of a mother. They do it on daily basis but still it’s a tricky task to do. With various aspects like breast feeding, bottle feeding, allergies, obesity and many more things which has made feeding complicate. Where on the other hand it is not so complicated and it’s totally depend on the newborn feeding schedule and habit of the baby. Once mommy understood the need and requirement of the new born, at that time things become more easy and interesting.
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Lets discuss newborn sleep and feeding schedule separately:
New Born Bedtime Routine
According to any Pediatrician it’s good if you start scheduling your baby’s bedtime routine. In early stages you cannot force it on your little baby but once you start practicing it, he/she will get use to the routine soon and things will become more easy for you to manage.
Your little soul will disturb you whole night, if he/she sleeps more in the day time. Therefore, it’s your foremost duty to make him/her understand the difference between day and night. Try to do some chit chat with your baby when you are feeding him/her at day time, this will make him understand that it’s the activity time and the time to sleep. Try to brighten up the house, more light will give more positivity and will make him play more.
At night, do the exactly opposite things of what you have done during day time. Try not to talk much while feeding him/her at night and if you find him/her more interested in talking then let him/her realize that nights are for sleeping.
On the other hand, during the night you have to do exact opposite of what you have done during the day. You should keep the house dim and don’t talk much during night feedings. If he/she looks interested in other activities after night feeding, then let him realize that night is for sleeping.
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Remember one thing, you cannot follow the same bedtime routine pattern for long. You should change it after every six months. It depends on age that what type of sleeping pattern is beneficial for baby. If he/she is getting older then their would be no daytime nap, he/she will prefer to play more then sleeping. This routine may help you to plan the sleeping schedule for your baby accordingly.
New Born Feeding
You may find out that your new born is feeding very frequently - Nothing to panic, it’s perfectly natural. As newborn baby’s tummy is very small, so they cannot eat a lot at one time, they need to eat often. It also depends on type of feeding, formula-fed newborns eat less frequently than a breast-fed newborn, as breast milk get digested easily than formula-fed .
Lets check the feeding schedule as per the age
0-2 weeks Newborn
According to the research, newborn baby normally sleeps 18 hours day. But as per doctors they should breastfeed at least every 3 hours. They cannot sleep continuously for 18 hours, therefore, mommy’s should watch their sleep cue like yawning, rubbing eyes etc. And then is the time when you can wake them up for feeding.
2-8 weeks Newborn
Usually at this age baby’s start breastfeeding and the wake time increases as compared to initial 2 weeks. Generally newborn are more energetic during early mornings, that’s the time when you can do different activities with them, instead of feeding them all the time. If mommy feels that the baby is not sleeping at night then they can keep the baby active whole day and start the efforts of making them sleep by late evening. We recommend you to plan a proper routine for your baby and follow that routine daily, so that baby can get use to it easily.
8-12 weeks Newborn
At this age baby’s are more active and they keep awake for almost 8-10 hours a day. This is the age when you should try some sensory activities and follow a mini nap and mini feed routine. There is hardly any difference when it comes to wake and sleep time of breast fed baby and formula fed baby. But yes, formula fed baby do gain weight as compared to breast fed baby. It totally depends on you and your Pediatrician that what type of feed is beneficial for your baby.
With the arrival of new member in the family, comes loads and loads of planning and scheduling. Hope these little tips can help you and give you the idea of scheduling your newborn feeding and sleeping routine. Enjoy your parenthood and stay connected with us for more tips on parenting.