Learn how to implement a 3 month old sleep schedule with Babywise following an eat wake sleep routine. Get a sample schedule and age appropriate wake times for your three month old!
Many new parents wonder if and when they should start having a more solid baby sleep schedule.
I think between 8 to 12 weeks is a great time to start putting your baby on a regular schedule.
By schedule, I don’t mean that you religiously look at the clock all the time and only feed your baby at a specific time or try and force your baby’s naps to be something unrealistic.
That would be way too stressful with young babies and go against your intuition as a mom.
When I talk about schedules, I mean paying attention to your baby’s wake windows, putting your baby down for sleep at his optimal time so he doesn’t get overtired, and separating your baby’s feeds from sleep by a chunk of time to avoid feeding your baby to sleep.
Around 3 months old, your baby’s circadian rhythm is established and they’ve likely worked out their day night confusion.
Here are some tips if you’re want to start your baby on a schedule using an eat wake sleep routine around three months old as well as how to transition from a 2-month old Babywise schedule to a 3-month old schedule if you’ve been implementing Babywise from the start!
This post is for anyone looking for a 3 month old schedule. If you’re following the Babywise method you can use these schedules and if you’ve never even heard of Babywise you can still implement these three month old schedules for your little one!
Eliminate Short Naps with a Predictable Sleep Routine
Take away the stress of figuring out your baby’s sleep needs. With the Baby Sleep Schedule Binder, you’ll get sleeping and feeding schedules that you can implement for every age, even if you currently have no routine in place. Check out the Baby Sleep Schedule Binder here.
Can You Start Babywise at Three Months?
Yes, absolutely! I personally think three months is a great time to start your baby on a feeding and sleeping routine if you haven’t done so already!
Those early newborn days are for cuddles and getting used to being a new mom. For me it was way to stressful worrying about a newborn schedule when my daughter was only a few weeks old.
But around 2 to 3 months old, babies start waking up a little more. Many babies establish a feeding pattern or routine and some moms aren’t as worried about their milk supply or if baby is getting enough to eat. (Many moms still worry or struggle for many months though too!).
Three months is also a good age because you haven’t yet hit the four-month sleep regression (and might be able to avoid it completely by starting independent healthy sleep habits now!).
What is A Good Sleep Routine for A 3 Month Old Baby?
If you haven’t started following an eat play sleep routine, now is the time to start.
Eat play sleep or eat wake sleep means you separate your baby’s feeding times from their nap times, so you aren’t feeding your baby to sleep.
This can be tricky, but can also be a little easier to do around 3 months old now that your baby isn’t constantly falling asleep at the breast or bottle like in his newborn days!
Around 11 to 12 weeks, many babies can handle up to 90 minutes of awake time.
After the newborn period when your baby could only be awake for about 45 to 60 minutes, this feels like so much more time!
Many babies (and mamas) have learned the ropes of breastfeeding and babies can be more efficient at emptying mom’s breast milk while feeding. Feeding time time may decrease slightly in breast and bottle fed babies, simply because babies are quicker at it.
This will give you more time to play with your baby, practice tummy time, and maybe even run a quick errand!
If you’ve been doing Babywise for a while and have been practicing independent sleep habits, then your baby may be doing longer stretches at night as well. Some babies may even be sleeping through the night, and some babies might be doing a 12-hour stretch!
If your baby isn’t there yet, don’t be discouraged! Every baby will get there in his own time. My daughter was sleeping around 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night at 3 months old, but around 14 weeks she started extending to 12 hours.
Your baby can make great progress in just a week or two! Continue to do night feedings as needed and as they get closer to 4 months of age you can think about about sleep training.
Printable 3-Month Old Schedule
3 Month Old Babywise Sleep Schedule
This is a great sample schedule for a 3 month old, even if you’ve never heard of Babywise!
Sample 3 Month Old Sleep Schedule
At 3 months old, most babies sleep needs have decreased and they don’t need as much sleep as they did in the newborn days, but they still need quite a bit! 3 months old babies will take 3 to 4 daytime naps for a total of 3.5 to 5 hours of daytime sleep.
This schedule has baby eating every 2.5 hours. Some babies may be able to extend to 3 hours at this point. Make sure to follow your baby’s cues when it comes to feeds and always feed a hungry baby! I like to use 90 minutes as a 3 month old wake window.
7:00 am Wake Up + nurse or bottle
8:30 to 9:30 am: Nap Time
9:30 AM: Nurse or bottle
11:00 am to 12:00 pm: Nap
12:00 pm: Nurse or bottle
1:30 to 2:30 pm: Nap
2:30 pm: Nurse or bottle
4:00 to 5:30 pm: Nap
5:30 pm: Nurse or bottle
6:30 pm: Start bedtime routine + nurse or bottle
7:00 pm: Bedtime
Night feeds as needed.
If your baby is taking short naps, you can do an earlier bedtime to prevent an overtired baby. Move baby’s bedtime up by about 60 minutes on days where naps were perpetually short.
New Skills At 3 Months Old
Around 3 months old, many babies start rolling from their back to their tummy. This new skill can introduce new sleep problems, so make sure you’re prepared for when your baby is rolling in their sleep.
Should A 3 Month Old Have A Schedule?
I debated a ton if I should try and keep my baby on a sleep and feeding schedule, especially at 3 months old. In the end, I chose to follow a predictable sleep schedule, because I liked having a plan for my day and a solid routine to follow.
This included doing eat play sleep and aiming to put my daughter down at her optimal wake windows.
Sometimes she wouldn’t sleep through the end of her “scheduled” nap due to the 45-minute intruder and sometimes she needed a feeding before her “scheduled” feeding. That’s okay! Babies at this age are still learning how to transition sleep cycles.
If your baby only naps 30 minutes or 45 minutes, short naps can be really common at this age. Most babies will start to take longer naps closer to 6 or 7 months old.
If you are a person who likes to plan and have an idea of how your day will go, then I think having your baby on a relaxed schedule is a good idea! Just remember that he is still a baby and won’t always confine to clocks or papered lists.
Remember there are things like growth spurts, teething, illness, and general babyhood that can interfere with sleep this young.
Once your baby grows another month or so, you’ll transition to the 4-month-old Babywise schedule around 16 weeks, but make sure your baby shows you the signs that he is ready to make the transition before jumping right to it!
Good luck with the three-month Babywise schedule! Getting your baby to sleep well is a mixture of intuition and science that you’ll continue to learn as your baby grows!
My blog is full of things to help you celebrate motherhood including baby nursery ideas, sleep schedules and sleep tips, fun printables, baby registry must-haves, and so much more.
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