Our 3 Month Old Baby Routine

If you’ve been following my blog for long, you know I’m all about organization, schedules, and routines.  It’s just the way I’m wired and my Mom tells me I’ve been that way since I was a toddler, organizing all my toys and books from an early age.  I haven’t purposefully tried to put our newborn, Jordan, on a schedule but since she’s been born, I’ve tracked her feedings and sleep times on this tracker, and after a couple months, recognized her pattern.  I’m glad I did because having some expectation of when she’ll be napping and eating helps me know when I can eat or get some things done during the day!

I think whenever you have a young baby, you’re always wanting to know when they are going to nap and how to get them to sleep at night.  Lack of sleep (for parents) is no joke!  I’m lucky Jordan is a good sleeper, but she still wakes to eat in the night, so of course that means I’m up too. 

Jordan is actually 4 months old now and the routine has changed slightly from this 3-month post, but I wanted to start closer to the beginning, so this is what her routine looked like at 3 months. From what I’ve researched, this seems to be a pretty typical 3-month baby schedule.

 3-Month Old Baby Routine 

We basically follow the EASY routine: Eat, Awake, Sleep, You.  That means, she eats when she wakes up, except for when she goes to bed for the night.  While baby is sleeping is supposed to be the ‘you’ time.  I’m still exclusively breastfeeding. 

5:00 a.m. – eat and back to bed

7:00 a.m. – wake up, eat (she usually eats only a little here, then I pump)

7:30 – 8:30 a.m. – play, tummy time, sit/stand “exercise”

8:30 – 9:30 or 10 a.m. – nap.  I swaddle her and put her in her Mamaroo with a pacifier.  For the rest of the naps, I either do the same, OR me or my Mom are holding her while she sleeps.  That might be called a bad habit, but we do it anyway.  
a.very.bad.habit.

10:00 a.m. – eat

10 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – awake, play time

12:30 – 2:00 p.m. – nap

2:00 – eat

2:30 – 4:00 p.m. – awake, play time

4:00 – 5:00 p.m. – nap  
Figuring this one out has been huge.  That time from 3 – 6 p.m. has been known as the “witching hour” or hours, when you are so tired from taking care of baby all day and you really feel like you need a break. Now I realize that Jordan needs one more 45 minute to 1 hour nap and I can put a quick meal together at this time.  When she wakes up, we can spend that last 1 1/2 -2 hours playing and enjoying her with the whole family around.  That’s the perfect time for stepping outside and getting some fresh air after dinner.  A change of scenery is always good, especially if you’ve been cooped up inside all day.
I always watch for the first signs of sleepiness; a yawn, she starts becoming (even more) uncoordinated, she becomes fussy, she starts looking away when we try to engage her.  Even if it’s only 6:00 p.m. at that time, I’ll start the bedtime routine and she will go to sleep early.
5:00 p.m. – eat

6:30 – 6:45 p.m. – bath time & pajamas.  I know that by this time, she’s done for the day, so we start the bedtime routine, which means I take her into her nursery, undress her and get her ready for her bath (which she loves).  I keep the lights low and talk quietly to her to signal that it’s time to wind down.
7:00 p.m. –  Bedtime
After bathtime, I put her in her pajamas, and lately that’s a long sleeve onesie because she’s been pulling her arms out of her swaddle and I don’t want her to get cold.  Then I take her into my room, swaddle her loosely so she can pull her arms out.  I’ve found that she likes to suck on her hands or put them near her mouth and I’m all for that self-soothing.  We walk over to close blinds together, getting the room all nice and dark, and I say, “night night sunshine, nigh night daytime, etc.” every time we close another set of blinds.  I’ve heard these kind of repetitive things help baby learn to expect what comes next. 
She is still sleeping in my room, and I plan to transition her to her crib soon.  Once she starts sleeping at night in her crib, I’m hoping put her down for naps in there too.
7:00 p.m. – I was breastfeeding her to sleep, but I wasn’t feeling like she was getting enough milk, so now I feed her a 3 or 4 oz bottle (then go pump).  Her eyes are usually droopy and falling asleep by the time she finishes the bottle.  I usually lay with her for a few minutes and pray over her while she initially drifts off to sleep. 
9:30 or 10 p.m. – Pump 
2:00 a.m.ish – Feed
Jordan still wakes up around 2am to eat, but I’m going to try giving her a ‘dream feed’ where you feed your baby in their sleep around 10 or 11 pm and see if that’ll help keep her satisfied so she’ll sleep through the night.

We actually have her 4 month old check up today, so I’m curious to see how much our little chunk weighs now!

You can read Jordan’s birth story here or check in on my body after baby posts here
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keep in touch! 

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Meet Megan

Hi! I’m Megan, mom to a thoughtful teenager and spunky young girl. We call Houston home and recently moved into our dream home. I traded my lawyer hat to become a full-time blogger in 2010. I love sharing my passion for affordable fashion, home decor, organization, & fitness to help inspire you to take care of you!

20 Comments

  1. We have a 9 month old baby girl. I swear by the dream feed! Up until about 8 months I was doing 2 dream feeds a night, which was great because they allowed me to get a full nights sleep. We put her down around 6:30. I dream feed at 8:20p & 10p. Worked like a charm-got her to at least 5a, then eventually to 6:30a. At 9 mos, I have just dropped the 8p dream feed. She's doing well with only the 10p feed now. Totally worth it to me for a guaranteed good nights sleep!

    1. I did the dream feed last night about 10:30 (2 oz bottle) and she still woke up to eat around 3! Ugggg!!!! I'm going to keep trying it though! Do you feed with a bottle, if so how many ounces?

  2. Oh, reading this post just gives me chills and butterflies! I am about 6 weeks out from having our baby girl (and I have a 6 yr old boy just like you)! I'm loving (most) every second of waiting on her and preparing for her and I'm looking forward to all the early baby days ahead. Your children are just beautiful and I know you are soaking up this precious time with them!

  3. Oh, Megan. The picture of her sitting up with James holding her & her little pudgy hand on his leg…I can't. They are both so beautiful.

  4. LOVE reading this post. My baby is 2.5 months old and I like seeing other babies routine. Mine takes longer naps (at her swing) and wakes up once at night (she sleeps in the crib alone at night) to feed anytime between 2-5am.
    I wonder why should we try transitioning naps in the crib too.

  5. I also followed Baby Whisperer's EASY routine back when little man was a baby (he's now 6!), and I think it really helped in establishing his routine. He thrives on a routine, even nowadays. Re night feeding, he used to cry out of habit at around 2am until 15 weeks, yet wasn't really feeding much. So I had to ignore his cries for several nights and he stopped (he was bottle fed though). We stopped dream feed after around 10 months. With solids and then milk during the day, he was only taking a little bit or not at all during dream feed. I also found the baby whisperer forum very helpful ��

  6. I am wondering what size skinny jeans you are wearing in this post. We are the same height, and the length of these jeans fit you perfectly. Did you need to have them hemmed/altered? Thank you.

  7. I am wondering what size jeans you are wearing in this post? We are the same height and these jeans fit you perfectly! It is very challenging to find jeans that fit length wise. Did you have them hemmed/altered?

  8. I love that you take time to pray over her each day. We all go into my daughter or son's room before bed and do family prayers. It is a good time to reflect a n our favorite part of the day and thank God for something specific that happened that day. Also, don't feel bad about holding her during naps. I did the same thing with my baby girl and wouldn't change that time for the world.

  9. Dream feeds are great!! My son is 3 months too. I found it was important for him to have full meals (no snacking allowed) – so he gets a whopping 5 ounces of pumped BM. It keeps him full for a long time though and just last week we were able to drop the dream feed and now he sleeps 12 hours at night, Hallelujah! I exclusively pump so he gets 5 ounces, 5 times a day. We are still doing 4 naps though, he needs the extra daytime sleep, I find good quality naps actually help him sleep better at night.

  10. I swear by the Dream Feed! I'd pump about 10:30 10 feed every single ml possible while my babies slept! It totally got me a few extra minutes of sleep!

  11. My baby girl is just 1 week shy of 3 months and our "routine" is pretty similar! She normally feeds at 10 or 10:30pm and sleeps till 3:30 or 4 am.
    Is she sleeping in bed with you or a bassinet? Mine is in bed with me but I'm trying to get her used to her crib with naps.

  12. Beautiful photos, thank you very much for keeping your posts online!! This has been so helpful to me and has made me feel like I am not alone with LO going to sleep on me etc.

  13. Awww, those two are so cure together! I had pretty much the same schedule just few weeks ago, but – fortunately – with waking at 6, not 5am. Lately we’ve turned 4mo and tried the sleep training method. What a relief this is! We’re having even 8 hours sleep without feeding and 2 naps a day. The method was Hold With Love by Susan Urban and I’d recommend this to anyone! It’s a nutshell guide that can upgrade your life! Here it is: https://www.parental-love.com/shop/baby-sleep-training-pdf. We’ve waited until month 4, as written, but you can start preparing even sooner. And the method if without CIO wich was very important for me.

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