I was never able to uncover the recipe for the secret sauce of the so-called “newborn schedule.” Since I’m not exactly a strict schedule follower myself, the idea of getting a newborn on one didn’t seem so important to me, especially in the early weeks when we didn’t DO much anyway. The baby hadn’t had all his shots so we weren’t going many places and I was still recovering from delivery.
My idea of a schedule was “getting the kid to sleep at night like everyone else.” A few ways I tried to accomplish this were keeping their naps to two hours (so they weren’t wide awake when I needed to sleep), keeping lights to a minimum at night and trying to keep the noise down during the times that I wanted the baby to sleep in the day. However, once I had two older kids to watch, keeping the noise down became a little tricky by the time #3 came around.
I think what’s important for new moms to remember is that as much as it pains us, at least for the first few weeks, the kid is going to be calling the shots. Definitely work towards getting the little one on a schedule, but remember he’s new at this too. In a few weeks (or months) all will be getting back to normal…whatever THAT is.
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