The Wonderful Thing Called a Schedule for Soothing Babies

When our baby was born, he would often cry before going to bed, and then wake up at various times in the night as well. Sometimes he would cry for up to three hours, and it seemed there was nothing we could do about it. Some people just said he must be colicky and suggested various remedies. His grandmother soon pointed out that his stomach hurt and trying to soothe him was almost impossible. We were at a loss as to how to help him.

I felt frustrated because it was difficult to figure out what his crying meant. I kept thinking he was hungry and was nursing him so often I was worn out and did not have a chance to build up an adequate milk supply. My son slept when he was tired, so he napped a lot during the day, then was very difficult to put to sleep at night.

After talking with my sister, who has two young children, I realized that there was a better way to do things. I just assumed that as a mother I would know by instinct how to best care for my child and things would just work out. I decided I was willing to give something else a try to see what would work. What I discovered was a very simple solution that worked quickly and benefited everyone.

What is the trick to soothing babies? The answer was pretty surprising for us, but we found that our best way to help soothe our baby was to get him on a schedule. We began by putting our baby on a two and a half to three hour cycle of eating, being awake, and sleeping. This can be implemented when your baby is just a few weeks old. We started the first cycle when he woke up in the morning with a good feeding. Then I would keep him awake for as long as I could (though sometimes this was only a few minutes) and then let him sleep. When the 2 and a half or 3 hour cycle was over, I would wake up my baby to eat again.

You have heard it said that you should never wake a sleeping baby, but if you are trying to establish a schedule, sometimes you have to. The benefits will show if you are consistent. Then you do the cycle again of having Baby eat, have some wake time, and then sleep. I would continue the cycles until 10:00 or 11:00 at night. After a few days of doing this, I started to know what his cries meant, he was eating better, and he started sleeping for longer intervals at night. At first he slept for 4 hours at a time, and then it grew to five and six. As he grew older, the cycles became longer and eventually his bedtime became earlier. Before too long, we all were getting a full night’s sleep.

We found that soothing a baby can be a difficult task; however, a schedule worked well for us and soon out baby’s stomach aches went away and his grandmother proclaimed, "It is like he is a different baby." This worked to help us soothe our baby. Although we can't guarantee the results, it is worth a try, and if you are a parent who is desperate to find a way to soothe your baby it can't hurt.