Question
We are trying to adapt to new life with two. My son is actually doing great. I wanted to ask you about my 2 month old. He has bad colic. On Monday I started him on Pepcid. He would cry for hours. Now he is doing better but we still have the witching hour from 7-10. The routine I have with him for bed is: warm bath with lavender oil then bottle and he is supposed to go to sleep but he stays awake. He goes to sleep around 10pm, wakes to eat again at 12am-1am to then wake again at 4am then 6am and then 8am. The 6am feeding is breastfed. Then he gets a bottle during the day. He eats about 4-5oz every 2-3 hours. I feel like I can’t get on any type of schedule with him. My older son, at this age, had a schedule at least to eat. My newborn is all over the place I feel. Any advice?
Answer
Infants under 4 months have no rhyme or reason to their sleep. The biorhythm of sleep is not set.
The biorhythm of feeding is exactly what you described every 2-3 hours.
What can you do? You set up a schedule for you but without expectation to follow. So… here is the schedule to aim for:
9am-10:30am Morning nap
12pm-1:30pm Afternoon nap
3:30pm-4:30pm Late Afternoon nap
7pm-8:30pm Bedtime
The trick to get to this schedule going is to do the same ritual of sleep for all the naps AND not to sleep him outside of his crib and home. Most parents make the mistake of putting an infant in a carrier and taking them places to sleep BUT that is not good. Especially when your baby enters his 4-6 month mark. That is the time to sacrifice and break up your day so he naps at those times.
When he wakes up in the morning make sure you get him out into the sun. The sunlight helps the brain begin to set his biorhythm.
At night time make sure to offer breast every 2-3 hours, not in-between. In-between, give him a binky see if he takes it.
Slow and steady is how you help his brain create a biorhythm.