I Am Trying to Start a Schedule for My 3 Month Old Who Is Breastfed.

Breastfeeding might be the issue, but she might just be a different kind of kid. I would wait until she sets up her own schedule a little and then build off of that. At this age she should probably only be staying up for a period of 2 hours in a row, so she'll take a lot of shorter naps. I know there are some real "schedule" people out there, but I tried to take advantage of this time with my second because I didn't worry so much if he slept in the car on the way to pick up his sister, or "missed" a nap because he'd just go down later. You can still do a bedtime routine (I think that's a great idea), knowing that she will still probably wake in the night, but then you've set up good habits for the future. Also, both of my kids who were exclusively breastfed at that age, started sleeping through the night (9ish-6ish) at the 10-12 week point, so you won't necessarily be up with her all the time forever.

hello, first of all i understood what you were talking about, because i just went through this!! my daughter is 4 1/2 months and is now finally on a good bedtime routine schedule(and breastfed). but like you, this being my second i was thrown for a loop because having the two of them made it harder to establish a "smooth" routine until now.

but i will tell you at 3 months, routine seemed nowhere in sight. 4 months hit and it was better. so believe it or not it will come and probably out of the blue and then you'll feel like super mom because in 2 hours you have managed to get the little and the twins bathed, fed, and to bed with little or no help from the hubby...let me just add that women are amazing!! especially at multi-tasking.

so here is what i do now. maybe you can take something from it. she goes to bed at 6:30 so i start my routine at 4:30

4:30 rice cereal(before two weeks ago it was breast feed)
5:00 baby bath(cereal does not take 1/2 hour so i give my 3year old daughter a bath around now so she is done and out of the way. while she is in bath i nurse(yes on toilet!) haha! the things we do with multiple kids that we would have never done with the first!
5:30 get her dressed for bed and then make 3 year old dinner.
6:00 wind down with baby on couch nursing(i call it topping her off! because she really isn't due to eat quite yet)while 3 year old watches a "show".
6:30 baby to bed, hour alone with toddler and husband
7:30 toddler to bed

now obviously every houshold works different so this schedule might not work for you. but hopefully you can take something from it. but really give it another month and it just keeps getting smoother and smoother

I thought that is what you meant by schedule. My schedule with my son was pretty much every three hours for a while but it turned into a schedule. 11 pm "dream feed" then 2 am feed (which was cut out eventually) 5 pm feed and back to sleep with mommy, then up around 8:00 am sometimes even later. Nap was usually around 11:30 or noon for 1 or two hours then feed again, then nap around 4:30 or 5:00. He usually had three naps a day early morning (which was still night-time to me), early afternoon, and then late afternoon. Then he would go to bed around 9 and wake up for a feeding around 11 for a night time feed. The every 3 hours thing eventually turned into every 4 hours and the middle of the night feedings ended after 7 months unless he was teething. So you will get into a routine soon. It might not feel like it but it was pretty routine. Sorry I rambled ... BF until 10 and half months. Now he sleeps 9 pm to 9 am. one long nap at 1:30. Good luck.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I was pretty flexible. Some mornings we would wake up at 7 am and some mornings we would go back to bed and sleep until 11. But I would consider that a nap for the both of us. If I had to run errands or drive a long distance I would wait until his 11:30 nap time. He would get fed, change diaper, put in the car and fall fast asleep. It was great and it would allow me to get some things done or drive to my sisters which was an hour away. I never cared if he slept in his carseat, he loved it in there. It was either that or he slept on me and then I would put him on the floor on a baby changing pad. He didn't sleep in his crib until he was 10 months old. Going back, I would probably change that but it didn't take him long to get used to his crib when he was older. Plus it was on the 2nd floor and it kept me from having to go upstairs to check on him. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a personal note. But it seems to me that if you have twin 2 year-old-boys you're probably an expert by now!! haha

A schedule for a three month old? Do you have a particular reason for putting her on a schedule? Every baby is differant and you need to listen to her cues. I would contact a Le Lech League group in your area and check them out online as well. Breastfed babies generally need to nurse on demand and should not be put on a schedule (especially at three months). My baby is almost three months, is breastfed on demand, sleeps in the bed with me (we both get a full night sleep because she barely wakes up to latch on and nurse a few times a night and falls back to sleep) and we go to sleep between 7-8 at night and wake up between 7-8 in the morning! Just let her nurse on demand and consider taking her to bed with you. There is also a good book called Co-sleeping by James Mckenna read it. Good Luck

Hi D.,
It's funny - my daughter is 2 1/2, and trying to remember what I did with her at that age - it just seems SO long ago...
My pediatrician kept telling me that it takes Breastfed babies up to 6 months to figure out sleeping all night - and it took my daughter until 5 1/2 months to figure it out! Maybe not even all night, just going to bed...I do remember that around 5 1/2 months old it just got a lot easier - and although I did do an evening "routine" with her, it felt pretty futile for a while...

I think we ran around the house dimming all the lights, did a warm bath, massage with oil, clean jammies, lullaby and then...my husband has memories of carrying her all through the house to get her to settle down!

I too breastfed on demand - and if I remember correctly, once she figured out sleeping, she was a good sleeper - going down around 7 and sleeping until 7, perhaps waking once around 2 or 4 to nurse.

You will figure out what works for you, given the demands of your 2 1/2 year old twins and what you are able to do - if you can do it, a bath, a story, a lullaby - that sounds like a nice start to me...

Good Luck, and remember that it will keep getting easier, and my Dr. kept telling me BF babies can take up until 6 mos old to figure out the sleeping thing - for us, it was 5 1/2 months it all just worked itself out!

Good Luck!
Warmly,
E.

she is only 12 weeks old her little body is not ready for a schedule especially if you are breastfeeding her. If you are going to continue breastfeeding her you should be prepared to nurse every 2-3 hours during the day and as needed when she is growing and at night she should have one good stretch maybe 4-6 hours. Whenever they are growing babies can sometimes nurse almost nonstop. Good luck but don't expect your little girl to have schedule this young.

I b/f my twins and was also not sure how much they were getting at their last feeding before bed so I pumped and bottle fed them the last feeding before bedtime so I new they were getting at least 6 oz. They have slept through since 3 1/2 months.

Good luck!!!

I breast fed my first son & he wanted to nurse every 1-1 1/2 hrs which means he was using me as a pacifier more often than not. Now with my 2nd son he is bottle fed (long story & I wanted so bad to nurse, I pump & give formula though). I got a paper from my sons pedi about "over feeding" a bottle fed baby & it says if they are nursing they should be eating no more than every 2 hrs if they are eating every hour then they are being over fed. So since you are nursing your daughter should only be nursing every 2-3 hrs. If she is fussy try a binky or cuddling her to calm her down rather than using "food" to calm her. Bottle fed she should be eating every 3-4 hrs only!
Also all babies are different. My 1st son, like I said nursed every hour and constantly wanted to be held especially to sleep. My 3 week old son eats every 3 hrs and sleeps great & doesn't need to be held as often (although I hold him as much as I can anyway...they grow up to fast). My 3 week old is on a great schedule eating/sleeping so far where my first son was so not on a schedule at all because it wasn't for him I guess. Good luck!

She's too young.

Putting her on a sleep schedule could literally be dangerous to her health.

Babies at this age NEED to wake to nurse at night. Also being left alone all night with no interim waking periods increases the risk of SIDS.

It's natural and normal and HEALTHY for a baby to continue nursing at night for many months to come.

Edited to add:

Ooohhhh...I get it! I'm sorry I misinterpretted your question :( :( Forgive?

I think your best bet is sort of to start creating the appearance of a night time routine without expecting it to have any immediate effect. Before bed time, shut down the lights and noise, create a quite place for fifteen minutes or so. Give a warm tub in a dim lighted bathroom, keep your voice soft and soothing. When she wakes to nurse, try not to turn the light on or do anything that signifies, 'hey, it's time to wake up!"

Good luck!!!

I can only say from personal experience that at 3 months my son was still nursing every 2-3 hours. He didn't always make it to 3 until we introduced food. I remember him being a pretty demanding nurser til 6 months. I imagine it's tough with the older two. Maybe you can try pumping after each feeding for one bottle feed during busy day time activities. You'll find what work Good Luck.