1. When creating a schedule first decide what time you would like to start your day.
I chose 7:00 because I have an older son (15 months) who wakes up everyday at 8 am. So, a 7 am start time for Charley gives me enough time to nurse him, change his diaper, and start my day before my 15 month old, Maverick, wakes up.
2. Nighttime sleep
At this point, my main concern was nighttime sleep. Charley woke every 2-3 hours through the night to nurse. I fed him on demand at night, EXCEPT, after 5:00 am. I knew I wanted to start his day at 7 so after 5 am I did everything I could not to nurse or feed him anymore so that we could keep our daytime schedule.
-asked dad to hold/rock him
-put him in a swing
I also wanted to get as much sleep as possible. I knew I needed at least a 4 hour stretch to function with my oldest son the next day. So, my husband and I split the night. It looked like this:
11:00 pm I would nurse and pump to empty my breast then go to bed.
1:00 am my husband would bottle feed using what I pumped (it took about a week to get enough for us to do this every night) then he would go to bed.
4:00 am and on I would get up whenever baby cried and nurse and go back to sleep whenever he did. I would then sleep until 7 and we would start our day.
-those mornings when baby woke at 5 or 6 I basically started my day then
3. Maintain/Build Supply
During the day I would pump one side while I nursed the other using a haakaa. At night I would pump after the 11:00 feed. At this point there is little to no "extra time" so I used the time I had. I did not wake up to pump on the off chance my baby slept. These first few weeks are SURVIVAL MODE! Mama's health is just as important for maintaining supply as frequent pumping or nursing.
-Get sleep when you can
-Drink plenty of water
-Eat protein rich snacks (most babies have a dairy sensitivity so avoid whey protein)
-Take your post-natal vitamins
-Snuggle your baby
Tips, tricks, and my favorite products to help with infant sleep are HERE.
My non-nonnegotiable for scheduling was a start time to the day and then feeding times throughout the day. During these first few weeks, babies are not developing many habits. However, they are learning. I kept a daytime schedule to help teach daytime vs nighttime. I did not wake either of my babies at night to feed them but I did wake them both every time they needed to eat during the day if they did not wake on their own.
Schedules based on On Becoming Babywise