The flexible newborn sleep schedule that helped my baby sleep through

Note to Reader: This is for healthy, full-term babies who are feeding well and gaining weight appropriately, and for moms who want structure without rigid clock-watching. If your baby has feeding issues, weight gain concerns, or your pediatrician has advised frequent overnight feeds, this approach may not be appropriate yet — and that’s okay.

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I had my newborn on a sleep schedule that gave us a solid 7 hour stretch of uninterrupted sleep per night before 6 weeks.

Read that again.

After 9 months of terrible sleep while pregnant, you enter into a stretch of even less sleep once baby arrives. That’s why when my friend recommended I invest in this book to sleep train my baby because her daughter was sleeping through the night in her own room by 8 weeks, I didn’t hesitate. I added that sucker to my Amazon cart within seconds and was reading it the next day.

When I tell you the book Babywise: Sleep Solutions is a must-read for every new mom (or a must-listen for our audiobook friends), I mean it. It’s the gold standard for newborn sleep training.

You’ll read so much doom and gloom garbage on the internet that tells you that newborn sleep training is impossible and you should accept your fate of sleepless nights for the next several months. I’m here to tell you that’s a lie from the pit of hell. My baby was giving us consistent 3-4 hour stretches of sleep by 4 weeks, slept in her own room at 5 weeks, and was giving us a full nights sleep by 6 weeks thanks to the Babywise method.

In a nutshell: sleep training your newborn is entirely possible!

You may be asking, when can babies sleep through the night? If your baby is feeding well, gaining weight, and your pediatrician says you’re good to stop waking up your baby for feeds throughout the night – then let your baby sleep and wake you up when they’re hungry instead of the other way around!

I only started stretching her feeds once our doctor cleared us at 3 weeks because she was feeding well and was gaining weight. If your baby is having trouble feeding or not gaining weight as they should I would still wake and feed them as recommended by your pediatrician.

Here’s how we followed a flexible newborn sleep schedule that helped our baby sleep longer stretches by six weeks — without cry-it-out or rigid clock feeding.

We started implementing the Babywise method on day one.

What is the Babywise method? The heart of the Babywise method is parent-led feeding. In so many words, the Babywise method is a hybrid between feed on demand (the dreaded and inevitable cluster feeds) and feed on the clock (developing routine that keeps baby on a predictable feeding schedule) for a parent-led routine that adds routine without rigidity.

The goal is to not be a slave to a baby who wants to eat at random hours throughout the day that it’s impossible to plan out your day (or night) accordingly but also not be a slave to the clock and give you flexibility (especially during and after cluster feeds).

By week 5 she had a very predictable routine and her body would respond like clockwork.

TL;DR: We followed a flexible feed-wake-sleep rhythm during the day, gradually stretched nighttime feeds once medically cleared, and protected the last feed of the night like it was sacred.

Week 5: Our Newborn Sleep + Feed Schedule

9am — first feed (size varies depending on sleepiness)
11–11:30am — second feed
1:30pm — big afternoon feed → nap in her room
4:30pm — feed
6:30pm — feed
8:30pm — big feed before bed (often a mini cluster feed)
2:30–3am — dream feed
6am — early morning feed

At the end of week 5 we found a new trick that helped give us an even bigger stretch of sleep and eliminate the dream feed: bath time.

The first night we tried bath time for sleep we bathed her before her feed which was a big mistake. The bath made her so sleepy it was too hard to get her to feed which resulted in her waking up hangry 30 minutes after giving up trying to feed her and putting her down.

Night two we learned the magic of the split feed. We fed her on one breast til she popped off on her own, then gave her a bath, then put her on the second breast til she fell asleep. It was our golden ticket!

Week 6: How Bath Time Helped Us Drop the Dream Feed

Between 8:30-9:30am — feed
Between 11-11:30am — feed
1:30pm — feed
4:30pm — feed
6:30pm — feed
8:30pm — half feed & bath
9:30pm — other half of feed
Between 5:30-6:30am — early morning feed

I feel like I should warn you, if your baby is anything like mine, as soon as she starts feeding again post-bath her bowels will empty. Our baby has even shocked herself with how much gas and poop comes out! The deer in headlights stare is comical.

At this point you might be thinking, how do I know if my baby is ready for longer stretches? They will tell you! When you stop interrupting their noisy sleep patterns and wait for them to actually wake up hungry, you’ll know. I had to hold myself back many times thinking her pterodactyl and gremlin sounds were a cry for help when really she was just sleeping, I know the struggle.

You may also be asking, what if my baby won't follow this schedule? It’s entirely possible that your baby will take time to adapt and won’t be as quick to hop on the sleep train as mine. Every baby is different. However, the Babywise method – or parent-led feeding – as described in the book has a high success rate so I recommend being patient with yourself and your baby as you find the rhythm that works for you!

Another sleep trick we found really helped is swaddling right after feeding (put a burp cloth by your baby’s head to catch spit up if needed) and then burping and settling. It’s one less thing that could potentially wake her up.

Something we noticed that you should be aware of: as she sleeps longer at night, her nap schedule gets a little out of whack for a couple of days as she adjusts to the new rhythm of things and she sometimes clusters a little more during the day to get the extra calories.

If you value your sleep (I know you do because you just read this whole article) and want to build a low-maintenance breast milk freezer stash without pumping, so your husband can help during inevitable cluster feeds, you can read exactly how I did that here.

I am also working on an article about my nap-time hack that helps us transfer our baby without waking her and allows her to sleep anywhere we go — I will link that here when it’s ready.

FAQ

Q: Can you sleep train a newborn? I don’t believe in cry-it-out for newborns. This was about routine, full feeds, and protecting nighttime sleep — not ignoring my baby.

Q: When did your pediatrician clear longer sleep stretches? At 3 weeks, once weight gain and feeding were solid.

Q: Did this cause an oversupply or feeding issues? No — in fact, it helped regulate feeds and avoid constant snacking.

Q: What is the Babywise method? The heart of the Babywise method is parent-led feeding. It’s essentially a hybrid between feed on demand and feed on the clock for a parent-led routine that adds routine without rigidity.

Q: Is it safe to let a newborn sleep 7 hours? If your baby is feeding well, gaining weight, and your pediatrician says you’re good to stop waking up your baby for feeds throughout the night – then it’s safe!