3 Month Old Baby Schedule
While I was pregnant, my MIL (mother-in-law) who has a total of 7 children recommended the book Babywise. Not only did I get the book from her, but I also got a copy from a family friend and from our pastor’s wife as well.
After having my first baby (Arwen), I also found out that most of the moms at our church used Babywise. I really liked Babywise and truly believe it helped me with understanding both of my babies better. Although I do have a few things I don’t agree with after using Babywise for my second baby (Post about this coming soon).
Arwen, my first born, slept through the night at 6 weeks old and did great with the Babywise schedule. My second born, Ember, is another story. She started sleeping through the night much later than my first, but having her on a schedule helped with the overall adjustment for me and the baby. Seeing other people’s baby schedules were really helpful for me and thought I would share what my second baby did at this age.
Sample Schedule
By the time my babies were 3 months old they were both on a predictable 3 hour schedule. Here’s my schedule for Ember at 3 months of age.
3 Hour Feeding Schedule for 3 Month Old Babies
6 AM -Eat/Wake/Nap
9 AM – Eat/Wake/Nap
12 PM – Eat/Wake/Nap
3 PM – Eat/Wake/Nap
5PM -Wake/Bed Time Routine/Eat
6 PM-Bed Time
Dream Feed Around 10 PM (Feed and put right back to bed)
MOTN Feed between 2-5 AM (Feed and put back to bed)
This is only a sample schedule and the schedule wasn’t always perfect, especially since there was a 3 month growth spurt that happened. I remember my babies eating a lot more frequently after turning 3 months old. The eating schedule also may be every 2.5 hours instead of 3 hours due to short naps.
Schedules are important, but being flexible is important too.
Sleep (Naps)
I do agree with and like the Sleep-Eat-Wake cycle. I think this helps babies to adjust well during the day and night, and to eliminate day and night confusion.
Another benefit of having your baby on a schedule is you get to know and understand your baby better. You and your baby know what to expect daily, and if something happens out of the ordinary you can assess the situation with confidence.
For example, I would wake my baby from nap, feed her, then have wake time. If she got fussy during wake time I could confidently know she was fussy because of gas, overly stimulated, or tired.
Because of a schedule, I also learned how long she could stay awake and happy until her next nap. Her optimal wake time was about 1 hour 30 min. As soon as she yawned or started rubbing her eyes, I would swaddle her and lay her down for a nap. When you lay them down for a nap before they get overly tired they will go down without much fuss (sometimes no fuss at all!) and have a nice, long nap!
Sleep (Night Time)
I also really like that you are training your baby to fall asleep on their own. Bed time routines are a great way to get your baby used to falling asleep on their own. I started doing a bed time routine right away with my second and she could fall asleep on her own pretty early on.
Don’t be afraid to let them cry before they fall asleep. Just because your baby is crying doesn’t mean there is something wrong. I had to learn this. Whenever my baby would cry my family members would immediately ask what was wrong with her. Nothing. She’s just a baby and that’s how she communicates. It’s totally normal.
You probably noticed in the above schedule that I nursed my baby and then put her down for bed. This doesn’t mean you nurse your baby to sleep. I fed her before she went to bed but I laid her down awake and drowsy. I know some moms who do baby massage to really relax their babies before bed too!
Now there had been several times where I nursed my daughters to sleep when they were newborns because I was so exhausted and needed any amount of sleep I could get. That is okay. (Try to get as much sleep as you can mama!) I believe a rested mom is a better mom. I felt I could be a better mom when well-rested.
Eating
Somehow I completely missed this in the beginning with my first born. Eating is part of wake time. Especially at the beginning they take such a long time to eat and I was so confused how some Babywise babies could stay awake longer than mine! (lol).
The older they get the more efficient they get with eating, so the amount of time in feeding may decrease while the amount of milk increases.
Remember, there is a growth spurt around this time. Don’t worry if your baby is eating more frequently and longer, because it’s totally normal. It can be very exhausting too, but hang in there- It will be over soon. You got this mama!
Dream Feed and MOTN Feed
Dream feed is where you feed your baby while they are asleep. I kept my babies in a swaddle and did not change their diaper (it can be too over stimulating for them sometimes) unless I knew my baby had pooped. I also kept the lights off or had a night light on so that it was still dark in the room but I could still see. I would feed my baby, burp her (this is up to you and your baby), and lay her back down in her bassinet.
MOTN (Middle of the night) feeding is still common at this age. If your baby is sleeping through then enjoy your beauty sleep (hooray!), but if not there might be one or two MOTN feedings. Just like the dream feed, I feed the baby and put them right back to bed. I also didn’t talk or interact at all with both of my babies to avoid overstimulating them.
Cluster Feed
Cluster feeding worked great with Arwen, but not so much with Ember because she had pretty bad reflux. I will talk more about reflux soon, but for now I’ll explain what cluster feeding is. Simply put, a cluster feed is where you feed your baby more frequently than every 3 hours towards your baby’s bed time.
For example, you could do something like this to include cluster feedings.
6 AM
9 AM
12 PM
3 PM – Eat/Wake/Nap
5 PM – Eat/Wake/Bed time routine
6 PM – Bed
8 PM – Dream Feed
10 PM – Dream Feed
Some moms swear by cluster feeding and believe it’s the key to their baby sleeping through the night! Maybe you can give it a try with your baby. It just all depends on mom and baby.
Wake Time
Wake time amounts are different for every baby. Arwen loved her sleep and could only stay awake for 60 min total for her first wake time, whereas Ember was much more active. She could happily stay awake for 90 min at 3 months!
Diaper Change
Diaper change would also be included in the wake time, but you can do this before or after the feeding. Since Arwen was my sleepy baby I would change her diaper before she ate so she would fully wake up to eat and take a full meal. With Ember I would always changer her diaper after the feeding because she would get so relaxed and seemed to always poop while eating lol.
Diaper changes can be overstimulating for babies, so I try to avoid doing it right before I lay them down for a nap unless they have a poopy diaper. Same as in the MOTN and Dream Feed.
I really hope this helps give you ideas for a more predictable day and a better rested baby and mom at night. If you have any questions please feel free to comment below, or reach out to me by email. I’d love to help!
