Newborns are sleepy little creatures. If you work to get your baby a full feeding even when she’s her sleepiest in the first week of life, you’ll have a more natural and easy transition to a 3 hour routine in the 2^nd and 3^rd weeks of her life.

Despite this, there are times when you may fail to wake your baby sufficiently to eat. What to do then? Put her down to sleep again but wake her in an hour or two, working on full wakefulness and getting a full feeding in her. This will change as she grows—just do the best you can.

“Waketime” is generally considered the time after eating when you and your baby get to explore her world a bit. Strive for waketime after every feeding; your times will grow longer as she grows.

Approximate waketime guidelines are:

• 0-2 weeks: 5-10 minutes AFTER feeding

• 3-6 weeks: 15-30 minutes AFTER feeding

• 7-9 weeks: 30-45 minutes AFTER feeding

• 10-12 weeks: 45-60 minutes AFTER feeding

These are very gradual steps in the process, and you’ll add the time it takes her to eat to these “after feeding” times to get a complete picture of how long she’s awake during the day. Remember that waketime doesn’t have to be “happy time”—even if she’s crying and unhappy, it counts towards being awake! Don’t stretch this too soon, either—you’ll have a fussy baby if you do.

Things to do during waketime:

• feeding

• singing

• reading

• bathing

• walking

• playing

Things baby can do on her own during waketime (as she grows):

• look at pictures

• watch mobiles

• play on a “floor gym”

• swing in an infant swing

• bounce in a bouncy-seat

• play in a playpen