What type of sleep schedule should a 4 week old be on?

Question

We are still in survival mode... is it to early to start establishing a sleeping routine with naps and bedtimes? Any tips would be helpful.

Answer 1

Yes it is too early.  They are going to do what they wanna do.  But sleeping is pretty much all they do that young. Should be eating every 2 hours..so probably sleeping in between those feedings.  My son is 3 months and is just now getting on his own little schedule. But up until now it was up in the air when he would wake up or how long he would sleep til.

Answer 2

let him sleep when he wants hes a baby

Answer 3

wait another couple of months  

Answer 4

whatever schedule they have decided. your biggest way to change his or her sleeps times is in between feedings.  some children are just not good sleepers but if you put them in a quiet room with a loud clock or vacuum running any constant sound that will lull them to sleep get advice on colic babies it should work the same.  good luck

Answer 5

It's too early for a 4 week old to be on a sleep schedule. Let your baby sleep when he or she wants and eventually they will set their own schedule.It's too early for a 4 week old to be on a sleep schedule. Let your baby sleep when he or she wants and eventually they will set their own schedule.

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Answer 6

Yes, it's too early.  Your child will naturally fall into a schedule in the next few weeks.  In the meantime, sleep whenever he sleeps.  Your survival depends on getting adequate rest than anything else.

Anytime I was overwhelmed by my baby's demands, my husband would say, "the mother must survive."  That was our motto.  Take care of mom, and the baby will be fine.

TX Mom

Answer 7

I know its really really hard to live in that completely sleep deprived zombie state, but this one you will really just have to wait out. Babies that young should not be on any sleep schedule and wouldn't stick to one even if you were to try. It gets better sometime after 8 weeks or so, maybe closer to 12..but at 8 weeks you might be able to catch a full 4 hours of straight sleep or 6 if you are lucky. In the mean time...try to take some naps whenever you can sneak them in. Or if you have a family member or good friend nearby you can see if they will come over and watch the baby for a few hours in the afternoon so you can get some sleep. On really tough nights, it helped me to just accept the fact sleep was not going to happen and I rented a few movies to help keep me sane. I would walk my daughter or snuggle her, rock her, whatever she needed at the time..and watch the movies. Hang in there!! It does get better! :)

Answer 8

It's too early for a 4 week old to be on a sleep schedule.  Let your baby sleep when he or she wants and eventually they will set their own schedule.

Answer 9

The only sleep 'schedule' a 4 week old needs is the one he has established for himself.  He's still far too young to tell time or know when he is 'supposed to' be eating or sleeping. (And he's probably still eating so often that any 'schedule' would be meaningless anyway. There's no real sense in saying that 8 p.m. is 'bedtime' if he's waking at 10, 1 and 4 to eat.)

  If you want to, you can keep track of his natural patterns and see if he seems to be falling into a rough routine of his own, but even if he is, it may change tomorrow, or next week.

Answer 10

I think you would be wasting your time trying to establish a sleeping routine now.  You are still in survival mode, so just survive!  One thing you can do is give a cue when you notice your baby dozing off.  Either pat her a certain way, say a certain word, swaddle him, whatever.  You can try to use that cue as your baby gets older and needs bedtime rituals.  I'm not saying it will work, but it's worth a shot.

Answer 11

4 week is too early to have a sleep schedule.  That time our little was being feeding on demand, and whenever he felt like sleeping (which was like 18-20 hrs a day, so most of the time).

Answer 12

My 4 week old goes to bed between 9-10 and wakes up around 1, 3, and 5 to breast feed... He goes back to sleep around 8AM and wakes around 10-11... Then he sleeps on and off through the afternoon...

Answer 13

The thing about babies is that they sleep when they want to, but that does not mean you can not try. They are not going to follow the sleep schedule exactly, but you can start implementing it in. You may want to wake them up at certain time in the morning and feed them and try to keep them awake as long as possible. They are going to need a lot more naps than what a two year old will but its a good thing to start early.

I never woke my babies up at night for feedings. I let them sleep and woke them up in the morning. I did not let them go more than six hours without eating but I did not wake them up every two hours. I have heard some say that their children continued to wake up every two hours after they did that for quite some time.

www.allformommies.net

Answer 14

None!

Ha!

Seriously, it depends on the baby.  Is your baby sleeping fine at night?  We just let our daughter sleep when she wanted to.  But she didn't have her days and nights confused.  

Answer 15

Their own. Seriously. It's WAY too early to try to set up a schedule as your baby still has his/her days and nights confused. Relax and go with the flow for now or you'll drive yourself even more crazy. My baby boy wasn't on a schedule(and even now it's not a FIRM one) until closer to three months.