Is a Schedule a Good Thing for My Baby?

It seems that many people now days think placing your baby on a schedule is a sign of being a strict disciplinarian or cruel, heartless parents. But is it really?

One of the best things you can provide for you children in early on is order and routine-in other words, knowing what to expect. A chaotic schedule can often lead to confusion and frazzled parents.

Before my daughter was born, I considered many options. At one point, I thought that I'd just like to feed my baby whenever she cried. After all, this was probably the way it had been done for centuries. Besides, people didn't even have clocks for much of history. But then I realized that mothers of the past didn't have all modern conveniences that we do today. Keeping up with the home life was hard work. And how did they get things done? They had routine, an amazing work ethic, and yes, a schedule. Though it probably wasn't written, and though they probably didn't have a clock to tell the exact minute, these women and their families knew what to expect. Mothers who rose before dawn to get the fires started, begin meal preparation, begin tending to their gardens and animals couldn't just feed their babies whenever the child cried. And before long, their babies knew what to expect.

Putting you baby on a schedule is also better for their digestive systems. In the book Every Child Should Have a Chance, pediatrician Leila Daughtry-Denmark emphasizes this and explains that it takes approximately 3 hours for breastfeed babies and 4 hours for formula fed babies to digest their food. Feeding your baby every hour will never allow the stomach to completely empty before refilling. This can cause lots of tummy pains. Of course, there will be times where you must feed your baby sooner, and some babies digest their food more quickly than others.

Another benefit is that scheduled babies start sleeping through the night sooner. This is a benefit to both the child and the parents. I once had a friend express concern that my daughter was sleeping through the night (7 hours) too soon (about 5 weeks). So I decided to ask my pediatrician. He looked at me with a confused look, and very bluntly stated, "You can sleep through the night without having to get up and eat; so can your baby." We also have a friend who is a general practitioner, and each of his 7 children began sleeping through the night from 2 weeks to 8 weeks old.

Scheduling does take hard work and self-denial, but to me it seems like one of the most loving things I can do for my baby. And true love means hard work and self-denial, too. But the pay-off comes early and you and your baby will know what to expect.

Of course, putting your baby on a schedule does not mean you time everything to the exact minute or that your can never alter it. Times of sickness, growth spurts, visiting family, traveling will most likely disrupt or alter the schedule. But once you have an established pattern, you can quickly return...with a happy baby and happy parents.

Much of the tips offered to new parents today falls under attachment parenting. However, this philosophy of parenting fails to look at many of the aspects above.
On a practical side, we began working with a schedule with our baby when she was a newborn. Her first months schedule follows the pattern of eat, play, sleep, eat, play, sleep. We typically feed her every 3 hours (3 hours from the beginning of the last feeding).