Well, Joey just turned 9 weeks and I’m just now getting to this post. So is life my friends! Can I first start by saying where the heck has the last 2 months gone!? I told Wes the other day that I was almost in tears because she hadn’t fallen asleep on my chest in a while and I miss all the baby snuggles. I realize that I’m crazy because she is still very much in that snuggly stage, especially after she is fed, I just haven’t given myself the chance to relax and enjoy it because I’m back in full-blown work mode. That is completely my fault - but I’ll save that for another time. In my last post I talked about how we are transitioning to life as four (in case you missed it, you can read that here). And since that post I’m feeling like a new woman because Joey is sleeping through the night! Yep, you read that right, my newborn slept through the night at just 6 weeks old. Want to now how? Then you’ll want to stick around and keep reading.

First off, let me start by saying that the methods I will be sharing here are not for everyone. I’m not claiming to be an expert by any means, nor do I think these tips will work for every baby, but I’ve followed this exact schedule and methods with both my girls and they have both been awesome sleepers and easy-going babies. Remember that book “The Secret” where the philosophy was if you put good energy out into the universe it will come back to you? Well that is exactly how I feel about raising children. Especially with babies. They 100% feed off your energy and take after your cues. So if you relax, observe, and take care of yourself first, I promise you will notice a difference in your baby. And if not, then you are the rare Mama who unfortunately just got a really fussy baby and there isn’t much you can do about it. Just know, that like every changing season, this too shall pass and will soon be a distant memory.

typical joey passed out after her bottle

JOEY’S 6-8 WEEK SCHEDULE

5–7am: wakes up and cries, change diaper, feed 4 oz bottle, back to bed

9am: wakes up and cries, feed 2-4 oz bottle, then play

10:30am: nap

12:30pm: wakes up, feed 4 oz

2pm: nap

4pm: wakes up, feed 4 oz and play (may take a small cat nap around 5)

5pm: *cluster feed starts

6pm: Feed 2 oz (may fall asleep while eating or will stay awake, either is fine)

7:30pm: bath time, change into jammies, feed 4 oz bottle (sometimes she doesn’t eat that much and that’s okay), once she is asleep I swaddle her (I find that she gets a tighter swaddle when she is asleep, otherwise she tries to fight it). If she wakes up, that is okay, you want to put them to bed somewhat drowsy, but asleep is okay too. This is so they can learn to put themselves to sleep, but we have never had an issue with this whether she falls asleep in our arms or not.

10pm: Dream feed (optional). Depending on how the schedule goes, I will do a dream feed before bed. What is a dream feed? It’s when you feed your baby while they are still sleeping. So, I make a bottle and gently put in her mouth while she is asleep. Sometimes it takes few tries until she starts eating, and sometimes she isn’t interested at all, in which case I skip this. I usually just keep her out in the living room with me and don’t put her in her crib until I am done with the dream feed.

*Cluster feeding, is when babies space feedings closer together at certain times of the day and go longer between feedings at other times. This is very common, and often occurs in the evenings as they prepare for longer stretches at night. This isn’t something we do, it’s something the baby will do. So if you ever wonder why baby is extra fussy around 5 or 6, it’s because they want to eat closer together. Joey usually eats every 1-2 hours starting around 5pm until bedtime.

things to note

If she cries before 5am (typically this will happen around 2-3am), we let her cry. This is referred to as the “cry out method”. The first time we did this, she cried off/on for 45 minutes, but eventually she soothed herself back to sleep. I went in to check on her and did a smell check for her diaper, made sure her swaddle was still secure and then I turned on a lullaby playlist on the iPad and left the room. I know the “cry out” method is not for everyone, but we did it with our first, too and it worked. With Tayler (our first), it took 3 nights of crying - each session was less and less and by the third night she slept 10 hours straight. With Joey, she only did this once and figured it out. Babies are smarter than we think and they feed off our cues as I mentioned before, so if you constantly rush into the room to pick them up when they cry, they will start to think that is what they are supposed to do. It’s amazing how quickly they can adapt to a new routine, which is why setting one is key.

I also want to say, the schedule above is very “loose” as I like to call it. I’m not big on schedules and only follow this if I’m home with her all day. But some days, we are out and about running errands so I bring a bottle with me and time it so that she can nap in the car seat/stroller. This is huge beacause it means you can adjust your schedule based on your day to day and not feel like you are stuck at home!

She really is just the sweetest baby ever. She is so content and we are feeling very blessed we have another baby that sleeps and eats well. We can’t wait to continue to watch her grow! Last week she just started to smile and we can’t wait to see more of her personality start to shine through.

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Q&A

A while back, I put up a question box on my Instagram stories so you could ask questions about Joey. I’m answering them here.

What does she sleep in? She sleeps in a Dockatot in her crib. The Dockatot is intended for co-sleeping, but we used it in Tayler’s crib also and it is amazing. We swaddle her at night (we use this one) and during the day she naps in there as well (I don’t swaddle during the day, I just wrap her bottom half in a light blanket). We also have this small rocker that she likes to nap in that we keep in the living room (she can sleep through anything with the tv on and light in the room, etc.). We used this for the first month before putting her in the crib.

What is her nap schedule? Reference the schedule above. She typically naps every 1-2 hours with 2 hours being the longest she is awake.

Are you breastfeeding? No. At first, I was nursing her on demand and pumping as well so that Wes could do the morning feeding with her. We introduced formula after her first week at home because my supply was low. At 6 weeks, I completely stopped breastfeeding and pumping and now she is just on formula. I will be writing an entire blog post on combo feeding soon!

What about those Dr.’s that say you should wake them up to feed? I’ve never been a big fan of waking up a sleeping baby. If they are hungry or uncomfortable they will tell you. When we first let her cry it out, I knew she was fed adequately throughout the day (make sure to ask your Dr. how many ounces of formula or breastmilk they should be getting each day) so I wasn’t worried that she wasn’t getting that middle of the night feeding. The next night when she slept through the night, I knew that her crying wasn’t from being hungry, it was from a response that she has become accustomed to getting (me going into the room to feed/pick her up). Once she knew she didn’t need to cry/wake in the middle of the night, she didn’t do it again. A really great book that helped me practice this method was “Bringing up Bebe” where an American Mom raises her kids in France and adopts their methods referred to as “the pause”. It’s a very fascinating book and really helped prepare me motherhood.