Baby Schedule (First Year)

This post is all about the baby schedule I used for the twins first year. I adopted the feed, wake, sleep routine from the book Babywise. I wanted to show you an example of the schedule I used and some tips that worked for me.

I’ve learned that babies are one big science experiment. Its hard trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Luckily I wasn’t completely on my own and used the Babywise book. This book is known for their FEED, EAT, SLEEP schedule. The book gives you a daily schedule and teaches you how to transition that schedule as they get older. If your interested in some of the sleeping tools I use like baby monitor, swaddles, sound machine, etc. you can find that HERE.

Daily Baby Schedule Example

Here is an example of a baby schedule I used with the twins. (Ages 4-6 months old)

TIME		FEED AMOUNT	SLEEP TIME
8:30am	Morning Wake Time
8:30am	Morning Feeding	4 to 5 ounces
8:30-10:00am	Wake Time
10:00am	Nap Time		90 minutes
11:30am	Feeding	4 to 5 ounces
11:30-1:00pm	Wake Time
1:00pm	Nap		90 minutes
2:30pm	Feeding Time	4 to 5 ounces
2:30-4pm	Wake Time
4:00-5:30pm	Nap Time		90 minutes
5:30pm	Feeding Time	4 to 5 ounces
5:30-7:00pm	Wake Time
7:00-8:30pm	Nap (flexible)		60-90 min
8:30pm	Feeding Time	4 to 5 ounces
8:30-9:30pm	Wake Time
9:30pm	Last Feeding	1 to 2 ounces
10:00pm	Bedtime		Sleep Through the night

You have to keep in mind that this schedule has worked out for me and might not work out for you. I am not a morning person and I would rather get up later in the morning and put them to bed later in the evening. Make sure you always do what is best for you and your baby. Some days the boys would wake up at 7:30am so I would start the three hour schedule from the time they woke up. You can modify this schedule to do what works best for you and things might change depending on your day.

When the boys turned 6 months old I changed the schedule and I started feeding them every four hours instead of three. I just made sure to increase how many ounces they got at each feeding to ensure they were still getting their daily amount. It was nice to change to four hours because I got more time to get things done.

Baby Schedule: Feeding Tips

You always want to make sure you’re feeding your baby enough milk through out the day. If they don’t get enough milk they won’t sleep as well. I used this as a general guide to know how much to give the boys each day.

“In the first four to six months when your baby isn’t eating any solids, here’s a simple rule of thumb: Offer 2.5 ounces of formula per pound of body weight each day. For example, if your baby weighs 6 pounds, you’ll give her about 15 ounces of formula in a 24-hour period.”

You always want to feed the baby right when they wake up from their nap. I learned in the book that if you feed them right before nap time they end up falling asleep during the feeding and they don’t get enough milk. If they don’t get enough milk it can effect their sleeping. The Babywise book includes tips on both formula and breastfeeding. They include tips for every situation.

If you are interested in Formula Feeding tips and tricks you can read my blog post about that HERE.

Baby Schedule: Wake Time Tips

One wake time tip that I remember from the book is to try and keep them awake as best as you can! As you saw in my schedule I had the boys awake for 90 minutes at a time. The younger the baby is the harder it is for them to stay awake. I would have to play with them a lot and do activities to keep them awake.

The next tip is to wake them up when its time for them to eat. I know it can be hard to wake up a sleeping baby, but I promise you it will be worth it! Stay strict to the schedule and feed them every three hours even if they are sleeping, wake them up!

Baby Schedule: Sleep Tips

The Babywise book helped me a lot with sleep tips and I wanted to highlight just a couple things they talk about that might be helpful. You will have to order the book to get more information about the rest of the tips.

One tip that was helpful was the sleep guide chart. They had a chart letting me know how much sleep my baby should get depending on their age. I followed this guide and changed their sleep schedule accordingly. The full chart is in the book.

Example of Sleep Guide Chart

Weeks	Time Spent in Sleep	Number of Naps
1-2	17-19 hours, including	5-6 Naps per day
3-4	16-18 hours, including	5-6 Naps per day
5-7	15-18 hours, including	4-5 Naps per day

I got a lot of tips from people, but mostly everyone said that you can’t really sleep train your baby until they are four months old. They won’t catch on until then, but I still started the sleep schedule and stuck to it as best as I could.

I used pacifiers a lot during this stage and they saved me. They helped keep them on schedule and sleeping during their 90 minutes. If they cried during a nap I would put the pacifier in and they would go back to sleep. Whatever problems they may cause later I was willing to take that risk because they were a life saver during those first few months.

I used the Dock A Tot (safe co-sleeping bed) a lot on the nights I was so tired and needed to put them in bed with me. You really want them to learn to sleep in their own crib, but some nights I needed sleep too. You might have to use this a lot until they are four months old or until they start sleeping through the night.

They have so many helpful sleeping tips in the book. They talk about letting a baby cry it out and if its okay or not. They give you tips on what to do if your baby suddenly stops sleeping through their naps. They really do have a solution for every problem and I would often go back to the book when things would change.

Baby Schedule: Advice

As a new mom I was unsure about what I needed to do. I welcomed advice and help when I needed it. Once I started figuring out their sleep schedule and reading things about what to do, I started to feel more confident. I had a lot of help, but with more people came more opinions. I wanted to be firm in my decisions, but I was still unsure about them at the same time. Take advice from books, videos, people etc and then you decide what is best for you and your baby.

My biggest advice with this schedule is to be strict and consistent. It will be hard in the beginning and take some time, but so worth it. My boys are now 16 months old and still sleep through the night. I rarely have to get up with them and if I do its because they are sick or teething. You might have to become a homebody for awhile to get them sleep trained, but well worth it!

I love to follow Sleep Shop Consulting on instagram. She is a certified pediatric sleep consultant and gives the best tips and advice! So go check her out!

I tried to highlight some of my favorite tips from the Babywise book, but I highly recommend reading the whole book and having it while you sleep train.

I did not partner with Babywise to write this post, I used this with my twins and swear by it! Its a great schedule and helped a ton! Let me know if you have any more questions about this post in the comments below!

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