Daily routine of a newborn baby at 1 month: what you need to know about sleeping, walking and feeding a month-old baby

Why do we need a regime?

A well-organized daily routine will benefit both you and your child. It is important that the schedule does not diverge too much from the baby’s natural routine. Then this will not cause damage to his nervous system and will contribute to the development of healthy habits, strengthening the immune system, rapid restoration of strength and adaptation in society. In addition, a child who lives according to a certain schedule grows up calm and disciplined. After all, he is sure that at the right time he will always be able to eat, sleep or play with his parents.

Serious discrepancies with the baby's natural rhythm (missed naps or feedings) will make the baby irritable.

If the child has developed a routine and the baby follows it, this benefits the parents as well. By predicting your baby's activities, you can plan your day in advance. All family members will get enough sleep, and unforeseen circumstances with the regime will be easier to bear. Read about caring for your newborn to understand its needs.

These are the principles on which building the correct daily routine is based.

Seven months

Some children at this age already stand up with support. Vision is already well developed, the child can distinguish objects at a distance. He explores the world by turning objects over, tasting them, throwing them and rearranging them. Many mothers are worried about what a girl child should be able to do at 7 months. Komarovsky never talks about the gender of the child, but it is believed that mental development in girls occurs faster than in boys.

A seven-month-old baby can drink from a cup, eat from a spoon and hold a bottle. During this month, the weight gain should be 600 grams, and the height gain should be 2 cm. At this stage, parents should pay special attention to speech. You need to constantly talk to your baby and describe everything that is around. This will help him call things by their proper names. At this age, the baby no longer needs night feedings.

Principles of organizing the correct daily routine for a baby

• Individual approach. When choosing a regime for your baby, it is advisable to take into account his individual characteristics and habits. The main thing for parents is to understand that the correct regime is built depending on the rhythm of the physiological processes of the body. In order for a child to grow well and develop harmoniously, it is necessary that his life regime be built taking into account his biological rhythms.
• A reasonable compromise. Undoubtedly, the rhythm of life is not least determined by the regime, adherence to which can facilitate falling asleep, ensure a good appetite or a calm transition from one type of activity to another. But in everything you need to know when to stop and not treat your daily routine as an immutable law of life. Maintaining a routine is necessary for the health and well-being of the child and parents, and issues of convenience and compliance of the routine with the natural needs and interests of each family member are not the least important here.
• Subsequence. Be regular, consistent and coordinated in your actions - this is a requirement for all family members. The skills of correct behavior in a preschool child have not yet been formed (and will not be for a long time!), and if adults are inconsistent in their demands and expectations, then it will be difficult for the child to gain a foothold in positions. It is also important that all family members are on the same page in their approach.
• Flexibility. Any daily routine will sooner or later exhaust itself and require adjustments. After all, children's needs change from stage to stage. As you grow older, you need to monitor the baby’s well-being and mood and make the necessary adjustments. Especially if you notice that the regime you have chosen is harmful to his health.

Tips for Parents on Setting a Daily Routine

Let’s first repeat together and make a short summary of what a newborn’s daily routine should be:

During the first month of the child’s life, parents should outline fairly flexible regulations, taking a closer look at the baby’s behavioral characteristics and the duration of the intervals between feedings. Over the course of all four weeks, the baby’s body will get stronger and get used to new conditions. Only after 2-3 months can you gradually accustom the baby to a more strict daily routine.

• Get up in the morning at the same time, regardless of the circumstances. Even if the night was restless, try to get your child up on time. Compliance with a certain schedule should not be occasional, but regular.
• Perform all actions of the regime strictly on time. After just a few days, the child will feel the imminent onset of walking, feeding and evening bathing and will begin to adapt.
• Family rituals can help in organizing a routine for a baby. If the morning begins with washing and gymnastics, the baby will understand that this is the beginning of a new day. Mom took out the stroller and started the music mobile - it was time for a walk. The bright light went out, the night light came on - sleep time was coming.
• Teach your baby with kindness and tenderness, try not to be nervous if the first attempts to establish a routine come out lumpy. Be patient, because creating an hourly routine takes more than one day.

PS Here you can find our tips on organizing the daily routine of a 2-month-old baby.

Newborn's daily routine

The two main points in a newborn's schedule are sleep and feeding. Sleep is the main regulator of a baby’s life rhythm. We must remember that all problems with falling asleep will affect the organization of the daily routine. It is important that the child sleeps at least 3 times during the day (up to 9 months) and at least 2 times at night (from 9 to 12 months). Night rest should last at least 11 hours. The normal amount of sleep for a baby aged 9–12 months is at least 14–15 hours a day.

You can teach the baby to go to bed at the same time from 2 months, and by 3–4 months you can put him in the crib until the baby falls asleep, and he will learn to fall asleep on his own.

As for feeding, when breastfeeding, as a rule, the “on demand” option is retained. Over time, due to growing up and the introduction of complementary foods, the child will be attached to the breast less and less.

One month old baby's sleep

How much sleep a baby should have at 1 month worries most new parents. In the first weeks of his life, a healthy baby sleeps approximately 16-20 hours a day. A child's sleep in the first month can sometimes be restless. The reason for this may be: hunger, inability to burp air, pain in the tummy, temperature discomfort (the baby is hot or cold).

You can find out how to prevent possible causes of awakening using the table below.

It is very important to think about where and how your baby will sleep after birth. There can be several directions of choice:

1. the baby will sleep in the same bed with mom and dad;
2. the baby will sleep separately in his own crib;
3. “from case to case” - it is assumed that the baby can fall asleep during the night both in the parent’s bed and in his own.

Advice! You should not categorically insist on one of the options for the location of the child during sleep. Try all possible variations and settle on the solution that suits your family.

Night sleep norms

So, how much do 1 month old babies sleep at night? At this age, a baby's nightly sleep rate is about 8-9 hours. But this happens on the condition that the child receives milk on demand. There are two factors at play here - if the child sleeps with his parents, it is more likely that the sleep will be longer. When the baby and mother sleep separately, the sleep is shorter than when they sleep together, and lasts no more than 6-7 hours.

How to organize a newborn's daily routine

Accustoming a child to a schedule is a very delicate process, largely dictated by the individual characteristics of the baby. To begin with, just watch him. You will notice that the baby already has his own routine. He performs all his actions at approximately the same time.

If you cannot determine the system in his routine, think about what could be preventing him from sleeping and eating at the same time? You may need help from a pediatrician.

What you need to do to quickly establish the regime:

• Develop the habit of falling asleep quickly in your newborn. To do this, you need to put him to sleep in the fresh air (on the street or by ventilating the room 10 minutes before bedtime), rock him to sleep for 3–4 minutes, and sing a lullaby.
• Avoid overtiredness (it is better not to play active games before bedtime).
• Walk in the fresh air (from 8 to 10 months you need to be outside not only during sleep, but also while awake).
• Organize feeding correctly (do not interrupt the baby’s appetite, do not overfeed, synchronize complementary feeding with adult meals: breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner).
• During the day, make sure that the lighting is bright, and at night, strive for silence and dim light so that the child gets used to the fact that night is for rest.

Breastfeeding helps maintain sleep patterns and strengthen the baby's nervous system. Therefore, it is better to preserve it for as long as possible.

• Saturate the baby’s life with active activities (visiting, getting to know the outside world, getting involved in everyday activities, games (including with water), classes, gymnastics and massage, swimming pool).
• Observe rituals (eating with other family members, a bedtime story, bathing and walking at the same time, a favorite toy for visiting).
• Follow the regime with the whole family (it will be easier for the child if everyone in the household eats and goes to bed at the same time, convenient for him).●\tAdhere to the schedule every day: make sure that the child sleeps, eats, plays and walks at the same time and the same time. It is better to tell him in advance about what will happen during the day.

Typical mistakes to avoid:

• Keep your child awake. If the baby is not yet six months old, then he should sleep every 2 hours. Otherwise, the baby will become overtired and capricious.
• Go radically against his natural rhythm. If a mother tries to accustom a child to a routine who previously had no routine at all or one that was radically different from the new one, then most likely she will not succeed, and the baby will be stressed.
• Start accustoming yourself to a routine during travel, moving or other changes. In the first two weeks, when you introduce a routine, you need to make this task a priority, and adapt all other plans to the child’s new daily routine.

Walking with a newborn baby

It is necessary to walk with your baby in any weather. A child who is often in the fresh air gets sick less often, eats with greater appetite and digests food better. Under the influence of sunlight, vitamin D is formed in the baby’s body, which prevents the development of rickets.

• The first time you should not be outside with a baby for more than 10 minutes, but gradually the walks will take longer and longer - up to 1.5-2 hours and preferably several times a day.
• In the autumn-winter period, walking for more than 2 hours is not recommended. Remember that the baby needs to be protected from the wind. At first, the baby's face is only slightly revealed during a walk. After a couple of weeks, the child can breathe air in a stroller or in his arms with his face open.
• In summer you can be outside almost all day, except for the hottest hours. During walks, the baby should be periodically given water or offered breast milk.

Reasons for violating the regime

Whatever the daily routine, the child will most likely make adjustments to it. Even if it seems to you that you have already adjusted and got used to it, sometimes there may be disruptions. This typically occurs during illness or growth spurts. Sometimes your baby may confuse an afternoon nap with sleep, and there is nothing you can do about it.

We talk about sleep in a special material, but for now here are the basic rules.

What can interfere with sleep patterns:

• Acquiring new skills - crawling, turning over, walking, standing on your feet, replenishing your vocabulary; during this period, the baby may need more food and rest, frequent awakenings at night are possible;
• Reduce breastfeeding as needed;
• Weaning (usually between 9 and 18 months);
• Teething (daytime dreams become shorter, the child sleeps more restlessly);
• Illness, psychological or physical discomfort;
• Decreased need for sleep;
• Lack of impressions (search for new opportunities to interact with the outside world);
• Insufficient physical activity;
• Time zone change, long flights and trips.

How to properly create a sleep and feeding schedule?

Previously, there were many opinions regarding how to properly create a sleeping and feeding schedule for a newborn.
There has been controversy surrounding this topic. Today we managed to find a middle ground. Pediatricians offer a daily routine that will suit the newborn and parents equally. Experts advise taking into account:

• child's biological clock;
• optimal timing, duration, and frequency of sleep, activity, and feeding that are age-appropriate;
• interests, temperament, activity of the baby;
• the baby's health status;
• what type of feeding the newborn is on (artificial or breastfeeding);
• parents' employment.

When creating a sleep and feeding schedule for a newborn, you should take into account the following recommendations from pediatricians:

• Give artificial animals food about 6-7 times during the day and 1-2 times at night. Infants fed breast milk should be fed every 2-3 hours;
• put the baby to the breast on demand;
• ensure daily sleep duration of about 18-20 hours;
• The optimal time for wakefulness should be 4-6 hours a day.

As you get older, your need for sleep and feeding frequency decreases. At the age of six months, a child needs 14.5 hours of rest. And a year old baby only needs 13.5 hours of sleep.

Day or night?

Children often confuse night and day. A similar failure can occur if the baby did not get enough sleep one night due to colic or noise.

In order to return the child to the previous rhythm, you need:

• Wake up your newborn early in the morning;
• Avoid sleeping during the day (within reason);
• Create a favorable atmosphere for sleep (ventilate the room, eliminate all noise, perform rituals before bedtime);
• Make sure that the child does not “run wild” before bedtime (do not play too noisily, it is better to talk to him in a calm voice or sing a lullaby).

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