There is a range of philosophies as to whether, when, and how to put baby on a schedule. On one end of the spectrum are those who think that baby should be put on a feeding and sleeping schedule from birth. On the other end of the spectrum are those who think that parents should follow the natural rhythm that baby develops for himself.

Personally, the need to put baby on a schedule emerged when I had to go back to work. In an ideal world, I would be able to feed my baby on demand; however, my baby refused to take a bottle or a feeding cup, even of expressed breastmilk, so I found myself having to juggle my work schedule with breastfeeding my son. At the same time, I wanted to make sure that whatever schedule I came up with would still be as close as possible to his natural rhythm of feeding and sleeping.

After just a few weeks of trying, my son is already on a loose schedule that makes it possible for me to work and nurse him during my breaks (I'm fortunate to be in a job that allows me to take my son to work). Here's what I did.


STEP ONE: Establishing Routines. When my son turned two months old, I started putting a little more routine into his day. I gave him a bath at roughly the same time everyday. At night, we had a certain ritual before putting him to sleep: talking softly to him, saying prayers with him, nursing him, then humming a lullaby until he dozed off.

STEP TWO: Logging Baby's Natural Schedule. Two weeks before going back to work (I went back when he was almost 3 months old), I began to take note of my son's natural rhythm. I began to log his sleeping schedule. I began to notice that he would always sleep for around 10 hours at night: if he fell asleep at 9 PM he would wake up, wanting to play, at around 7 to 7:30 AM; if he fell asleep at 11 PM he would wake up at 9 or 9:30. Up until this point, he was still being breastfed on demand, so I hadn't taken notice of his feeding schedule, but when I began to log his feeding schedule, I began to take note of how frequently he needed to nurse.

STEP THREE: Drafting a Tentative Schedule. Once I had a few days' worth of information regarding my son's natural rhythm, I began to create a tentative schedule for my son to follow. I tried to keep it as close as possible to his natural rhythm while also incorporating my own work schedule. I also bore in mind a few solid rules: (1) based on what I observed from his natural rhythm, he had to be fed at least every 3 hours, (2) babies have a natural 90-minute sleep cycle, which means that they can only stay awake for 90 minutes before they get sleep, and (3) at my son's age, he needed approximately 15 hours of sleep per day.

STEP FOUR: Tweaking and Implementing the Schedule. This is where I am now. I've been trying out the schedule for a few days. I still believe that demand feeding is best, so I've consciously made a decision not to implement the schedule too strictly; instead, I only use it as a guide. If his morning nap is shorter than 2 hours, I let him sleep longer during one of his afternoon naps. If he expresses hunger half an hour earlier than scheduled, I go ahead and feed him, and adjust his succeeding feeding times. If I know that I'll have to be away from him because I need to work, I try to feed him longer, and repeatedly offer milk until I'm certain he's full. On the other hand, when I'm with him, I don't restrict his feeding only to scheduled feeds: I let him take unscheduled snacks if he asks for them, but I regulate them by breaking his latch after just a short time so he doesn't get so full that he won't take milk during his scheduled feeds.

At the same time, I know that the schedule is a work in progress, so I've also been observing his typical sleepy and hungry cues to see if my schedule is on the mark, and I've also been paying attention for signs of increased fussiness to let me know if the schedule is working for him. I've made a few adjustments here and there with the tentative schedule I originally made and this is what the schedule looks like now, with approximate times:

7:30 AM - Wake up. Feed at 7:30 AM. Vitamins. Play. Get some sun while Mama and Papa have breakfast.
9:00 AM - Short feed at 9:00 AM. Then nap (almost 2 hours).
11:00 AM - Wake up. Feed at 11:00 AM. Activity (exercise, play, being talked to, being read to, etc.), or go with Mama to work.
12:30 PM - Nap (1.5 hours).
2:00 PM - Wake up. Feed at 2:00 PM. Activity.
3:30 PM - Nap (1.5 hours).
5:00 PM - Wake up. Feed at 5:00 PM. Activity.
6:30 PM - Short nap (30 minutes).
7:00 PM - Wake up. Feed at 7:00 PM. Bath. Get ready for bed. Last feed at 8:45 PM.
9:00 PM - Bed time.
11:30 PM - Night feed.
4:00 AM - Night feed.

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All in all, it seems to be working rather well. Our son seems to gradually be settling into a routine. Of course, there are special circumstances where the schedule doesn't apply: when he went through a growth spurt, he nursed every hour on the hour, and after his last inoculation, he was fussy and couldn't stay asleep for his naps. But other than those exceptional cases, on the whole he's managed to settle into the routine.

The schedule has been good for me, too. I used to be very worried about the fact that he wouldn't drink from the bottle; now I'm a little more confident that he won't starve even when I have to be away from him. Also, I have a little bit more predictability in my day, allowing me not just to go to work, but also to get work done at home when I need to work from the house.

Finally, it's also been helpful for my baby's other caregivers, because they know what to do. If, for example, baby stirs from sleep but it isn't time to wake up yet, they know to soothe him back to sleep. On the other hand, if he's been sleeping for more than 2 hours already, they know that if he stirs they should let him wake up and entertain him by playing with him.