The perfect schedule for a newborn and a toddler. I’m sharing our daily routine with a newborn and a toddler and how to align their naps and feeding times.
Life with two under two can be difficult, to say the least.
One way to make it a little easier is to have a daily routine or schedule for your newborn and toddler.
Plan out your day so that nap times align and feeding times are staggered.
And also don’t forget to (try to) schedule some personal time for yourself!
After our second was born I had to adjust our toddler’s schedule slightly (click here to see our prior one nap schedule for our toddler) so that it would work out with the newborn’s feeding and nap schedule.
It is a little rough at first because life with a newborn can be very sporadic.
Even with your best efforts sometimes they might not want to nap or eat according to plan.
However, after a few weeks our newborn has settled into a rough schedule and this has made it much easier on everyone!
I’m sharing our approximate daily schedule or routine life with a newborn (0-3 months) and toddler (16-19 months; but really this can be used for any toddler).
We love and follow the eat-wake-sleep and parent-directed feeding methods discussed in the book On Becoming Babywise. This has worked great for our family and we highly recommend reading the book!
Newborn’s Schedule
First, lets talk about our newborn’s “schedule”.
I have this in quotes because its a loose schedule and starts off as more of a routine.
We started off by feeding our newborn every 2-3 hours when he showed hunger cues. But, after a few weeks he has settled into a pretty consistent 3-hr eating schedule.
This is so helpful because I can predict approximately when he will eat throughout the day and can time my toddler’s schedule accordingly.
And also it makes it easier to plan any outings or appointments we have that day.
These are all things that I personally do in order to help my newborn fall into our routine and establish good sleep habits.
- We make sure to wake up our newborn at approximately the same time every morning to keep on schedule. It also helps to set his internal clock by knowing he will eat “breakfast” at the same time every morning.
- Focus on full feedings. We make sure he is wide awake to eat and don’t let him snack.
- Wake from naps if necessary to keep on schedule.
- We shoot for laying our newborn down for a nap after 45-60 mins of awake time.
- If our newborn is hungry, we feed him! The schedule is approximate but we follow his hunger cues, especially in the first few weeks.
- Never feed to sleep (have some awake time after feeding).
- 7:30 am – wake and feed
- 8:30 am – nap
- 10:30 am – feed then play
- 11:30 am – nap
- 1:30 pm – feed then play
- 2:30 pm – nap
- 4:30 pm – feed then play
- 5:30 pm – catnap
- 6:30 pm – feed
- 7:00 pm – bedtime routine (bath, lotion, pajamas, diaper change, books)
- 7:30 pm – feed & bed (feed until drowsy, but not asleep)
Our newborn also wakes 1-2 times overnight to eat, but we don’t schedule them.
Toddler’s Schedule
Our toddler has been on a pretty set schedule for quite some time now.
I tried hard not to adjust our toddler’s schedule too much when the baby arrived, but I did have to make some minor changes from our prior one nap schedule.
Here are a few changes that we made:
- We shifted his wake time and bed time back about 30 minutes. This was so we could still start our day at 7 am, but we now start with the newborn.
- This also shifted most of his other activities and nap back by about 30 minutes as well.
- We have designated “crib time”. Even if he wakes up early he has to stay in his crib and “relax” so that mom can relax as well!
- 7:30 am – wake
- 8:00 am – breakfast
- 10:00 am – snack, independent play or books
- 11:30 pm – lunch
- 12:00 pm – nap time
- 2:30 pm – wake
- 3:30 pm – snack, independent play or books
- 5:30 pm – dinner
- 7:00 pm – bedtime routine (bath, lotion, pajamas, diaper change, books)
- 7:30 pm – bed
What It Looks Like For Mom
Here is what the combined schedule for my newborn and toddler looks like for me.
I have found that its important to try and schedule some “mom time” during nap time and at the beginning or end of the day if possible.
I am not much of a morning person, so I find that having some “me-time” at the end of the day works best.
And that also means I get to spend some quality time with my husband then as well!
- 6:30 am – wake up and get ready
- Mom tip: I use my favorite Yeti coffee mug to keep my coffee warm for hours
- 7:30 am – wake up toddler and baby, feed baby, give toddler milk so he is occupied until breakfast.
- 8:00 am – breakfast
- 8:30 – 10:00 am – lay baby down for a nap, playtime with toddler, do laundry or chores
- 10:00 am – snack for toddler
- 10:30 am – feed baby, toddler has independent play, screen time, or reads books
- 11:30 am – baby naps, toddler eats lunch
- 12:00 pm – toddler naps
- 12:00 – 1:30 pm – mom time!
- 1:30 pm – feed baby
- 2:30 pm – baby naps, toddler wakes
- 3:30 pm – snack for toddler
- 4:30 pm – feed baby while toddler has independent play, screen time, or reads books
- 5:00 pm – prep and cook dinner
- 5:30 pm – dinner, baby naps
- 6:30 pm- feed baby
- 7:00 pm – bedtime routine
- 7:30 pm – toddler bedtime, feed baby and put to bed drowsy
- 7:45 pm – baby in bed
- 7:45 – 10 pm – mom time!
We started settling into this schedule when our newborn was about 4 weeks old.
At 6 weeks old I feel like we are finally getting back in the groove of things and I even have time to blog again (thank you aligned nap times!).
Of course there are days when the schedule goes out the window and things don’t go as planned because of sickness, travel, or other family activities.
But, I love that most days I can use this schedule as a starting point for planning our day.
If you are looking for more schedule help for different aged babies check out my posts for our 4 month schedule, 6 month schedule, 10 month schedule, 2 nap toddler schedule, and 1 nap toddler schedule.
Thanks for stopping by!