My LO is 8 weeks old today and I really want to be encouraging a schedule. But his naps are so inconsistent! I never know if he's going to sleep for 20 minutes or 2 hours. Though, lately, naps in the 20-50 minute range are a good bet.
Also, he has to be rocked or nursed to sleep. I've tried putting him down drowsy but awake and he's not having it. I want to do some gentle sleep training, but should I wait until we have some semblance of a schedule?
olive / 50 posts
Oh, and I should add, because I feel this is relevant, we don't have a consistent wake up or bed time. 
pear / 1823 posts
At 8 weeks I think all babies are pretty inconsistent. I wouldn't worry about it just yet 
pomegranate / 3160 posts
Not much advise as at almost 4 months I still don't have a super great schedule! At 8 weeks we were all over the board too though.
blogger / apricot / 378 posts
My LO is only a month old so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I'm pretty sure it's completely normal for them to still be inconsistent at that age. From what I hear, it takes until 3-4 months before they get really consistent.
That being said, a consistent bedtime has done wonders for us. My son's schedule during the day is still pretty sporadic, but I can count on bedtime around 9:00, up for the day around 7:00 (after 2-3 wake-ups overnight), and then he'll be awake for a couple of hours before his first nap, and that's usually his longest nap of the day. It's not a schedule I could actually put times to or anything, but he's been a lot more consistent since we started a regular bedtime!
pineapple / 12053 posts
i remember worrying about this at 8 weeks and then realizing that of course she won't be consistent, she's 8 weeks old! we've always been pretty go with the flow, but i think i did start implementing a wake up time at that point, like 7:30? it kinda gave her something to shoot for, if that makes sense. that went out the window later, but it can be a start.
honestly though, i wouldn't worry about a schedule at this age. for me, it just drove me crazy instead of just enjoying the time she was little.
honeydew / 7687 posts
@tiffanyanne: 8 weeks is way crazy young to hope for any type of schedule, IMO. My LO started consolidating naps and being more predictable around 4 months. It sucks, yes. It's completely normal for a baby that young to need help falling asleep, as well. The first 3 months are the 'fourth trimester' - they're still adjusting to being out of the womb It won't last forever!
olive / 50 posts
Thanks for the advice ladies. I guess I've read a few times that by 8 weeks a baby should start developing some kind of schedule so I thought we were way behind. Glad to know that we're not! 
@amandalynn @birdofafeathwe I'd like to have consistent wake up times. But I don't know how to plan that if I never know when his last motn wakeup is going to be. Do you know what I mean? For example, I thought about establishing a standard wakeup time of 7:30, but he woke up at 6:43 to eat and passed out while nursing. So was that to be considered his wakeup time, do I wake him up at 7:30, or do I just wait until he wakes up on his own? This is the predicament I have...
grapefruit / 4923 posts
yes, i also thought at that age that we had to start getting on some kind of schedule, especially since i was starting work at 12 weeks. i stressed so much about it. i know this is easier to say in hindsight, but i wished i had let it go. there are some babies that get on a schedule, but i believe many of them don't. mine was all over the place for quite some time even though i tried every which way until sunday.
pomelo / 5469 posts
You're not behind! We didn't have a schedule until about 3 months--and I was doing whatever was necessary to get her to sleep before then too. A schedule will emerge on it's own around 3-4mths and bedtime will become more consistent.
olive / 50 posts
You know, someday I'm going to look back on this and fondly remember rocking my baby boy to sleep. Like you said @edelweiss, I should stop stressing about it. I do stress about it a lot!
blogger / apricot / 378 posts
@tiffanyanne: When I instituted a consistent bed time he kind of naturally started waking up around the same time every day. Of course, we have off nights like last night where he doesn't sleep at all and is up for the day at 5:00, but for the most part it has helped, haha.
persimmon / 1355 posts
We were also all over the place at eight weeks! A fairly consistent bedtime developed at about twelve weeks, but we are still all over the place during the day at almost five months. On an ideal day, LO naps at 9, 12 and 3, but we deviate a ton based on wakeup times, nap length, etc. Besides it being difficult to plan ANYTHING, I wouldn't worry about your lack of a schedule!
olive / 50 posts
I really appreciate everyone's advice! Glad to know we're not hopelessly behind. I will start trying to implement consistent wakeup & bedtimes though.
pear / 1614 posts
I will say that I had my first DS on a consistent schedule by 8 weeks, but that did not work out so well with the second. My advice is, if what you're doing (rocking/nursing to sleep, etc) is making you miserable, or if DS is not sleeping, or if it isn't working for your family in any way, you could try to figure out a different way. But if you enjoy the time together, keep it up! As most have said, I think inconsistency is normal at 8 weeks.
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