Moms On Call Newborn Schedule: Beckham’s Three Week Routine

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Starting Moms on Call: what you need to know

Here is all about Beckham’s third week of life (two weeks old) and how we started the Moms On Call newborn schedule! Be sure to scroll down to see all the pictures!

Right around 2 weeks old (so starting the 3rd week), your baby will become much more alert and possibly fussy.

My husband and I jokingly refer to this as “the awakening.”

During the first two weeks of our firstborn, Theo’s, life, he was the perfect baby. He slept all the time, woke up to eat, and went right back to sleep.

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We had a friend come over to bring us a meal and he told us that apparently, babies were all like this during the first 2 weeks, but at 2 weeks old, it was as if they suddenly “woke up” and became fussier.

We didn’t like hearing this at all, especially since this friend had no children himself haha.

However, the more I thought about it, the more sense it made, and sure enough… right at around 2 weeks, BAM, Theo started to only want to sleep if we were holding him, cried if he was put down, and became much more awake and alert.

The same thing happened with our twins (although it happened at 10-weeks since they were 8-weeks early), and sure enough, it happened with Beckham as well (although he didn’t really become fussy, just more awake!).

It was a much easier adjustment with our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th babies because 1. we knew it was going to happen, and 2. we worked really hard on getting them used to sleeping without us PRIOR to the dreaded awakening.

And a lot of that had to do with the Moms On Call newborn schedule that we followed.

While I have a lot of blog posts outlining how to do Moms on Call, I still highly recommend the book, especially for new parents!

You can buy it here: Moms on Call: Basic Baby Care 0-6 Months

The Moms on Call Newborn Schedule

The biggest thing we changed during Beckham’s third week is that we started Moms on Call.

Moms on Call is essentially a book about how to care for a newborn.

It has sections on eating, sleeping, development, supplies you need, how to give baby a bath, etc. You name it, the book talks about it!

To be honest, I just skimmed most of it because it’s my fourth baby and I pretty much have things down, haha!

What I was most interested in reading about were the Moms on Call sleep schedules and sleep training method, and it did not disappoint.

We have been following Babywise with Beckham (and followed it with our other 3 when they were babies as well) with great success.

So why did we switch to Moms on Call? Well, I’d heard really great things about it from my friend Christine. She used Moms on Call in combination with Babywise and raved about it.

The sleep portion of Moms on Call is very similar to Babywise… in fact, I’d say it’s just like Babywise, but amplified.

It’s like it has bonus content and additional tips on how to get your baby sleeping through the night.

I know that online courses to help with nighttime sleep are extremely popular right now, especially with new moms. Sleep consultants are also incredibly popular!

However, I really don’t think they’re necessary. There are plenty of books and blog posts with all of the information that you need.

I’ll outline the changes we made to our schedule below!

PS. You can buy the book here! Highly recommend!

3 Week Moms on Call Newborn Schedule

This is an overview of our schedule, but below I talk more about naps, overnight sleeping, feeding, etc.

At this age, your baby should still be swaddled. The Moms on Call book sells their own swaddles that they say are crucial. Ehhh. I don’t believe that.

I have used tons of swaddles, and these are by far my favorite.

They are SO easy to use in the middle of the night and my babies never broke out of them. If you have a swaddle that works for you, great, keep using it! There’s no need to buy something else simply because a book or a blog post tells you that “you have to have it.”

What to Expect With a 3 Week Old Baby

Eating

Last week, I experimented with cluster feeding in the evening. I would feed Beckham at 6, and again at 7, right before I put him to bed for the night.

We had 2 nights where he woke up hungry every 2-hours overnight! It was crazy exhausting and a sign that he was not eating enough during the day.

Moms on Call advises against cluster feeding in the evening because your baby will not be hungry enough to take a full feeding.

This is exactly what was happening with Beckham.

I was thinking that if I fed him twice within an hour, he would be full enough to sleep for longer, but the opposite was happening. He wasn’t hungry enough to actually eat at 7:00, so he was waking up every 2-hours to make up for it.

They also suggest having the dad give a bottle at the bedtime feeding, which we had already been doing.

I would pump while Ben gave Beckham a bottle and put him to bed. It’s honestly a nice break for me because it’s much faster for me to pump than nurse, so it gives me a little break from being stuck under the baby.

Related Posts:

Time Saving Hacks for Bottle Feeding

The Best Tips for Exclusive Pumping

Sleeping

Middle of the Night

During the end of the third week, Beckham started consistently waking up only once per night which was amazing!!

We did treat his first early morning wakeup time (that was between 6 or 7) kind of as a night time feeding and put him right back to bed without any awake time.

Related –> How to Get Your Baby to Sleep in Their Crib

Middle of the Night Feedings

When I nurse in the middle of the night, I take Beckham out of his swaddle and turn his sound machine way down or off.

This way, he wakes up enough to take a full feeding. I don’t talk or play with him at all, and only use the light from our Vava nightlight (which emits the perfect amount of light for breastfeeding without being overstimulating).

At this age, I still change his diaper because they’re almost always dirty, and if not, are completely saturated.

He nurses for about 20-30 minutes, then I burp him and put him back to bed.

Putting him back in the swaddle and turning on the sound machine help to signal him that it’s time to go back to bed.

He goes back to sleep perfectly fine seriously about… 99% of the time.

Naps

As you can see from our schedule above, Beckham can typically handle an hour of awake time, followed by a two-hour nap.

There are times that he gets tired at around the 45 minute mark and I put him down then.

The book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child is another book that’s been influential in helping our babies become great sleepers. It helps you identify when your baby is getting tired (before it’s too late) and understand more about baby sleep needs.

Get the book here: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

He takes most of his naps in his crib. I put him down and he falls asleep independently, which is the best thing ever!

Usually about once a day he will wake up early or have trouble settling for his nap. If that happens I put him in his swing or hold him to help him fall asleep. I don’t worry at allllll about it creating a bad habit because he does such a great job falling asleep independently most of the time.

3 Week Old Baby Milestones

Awake Time

As I mentioned above, your baby will start to have more defined “awake” time during the third week.

They may be fussy and not want to be put down to nap.

Make sure to be consistent with this, make sure they are swaddled, in a dark room, with white noise on and the naps will come.

We started having Beckham “play” on his playmat and also trying to increase tummy time.

Alertness

During your baby’s third week of life, they will become much more alert and aware.

This also can mean an increase in fussiness, not wanting to be put down, etc.

We were very fortunate that Beckham didn’t go through that phase. While he definitely became more alert and had noticeable awake time, he didn’t become more fussy, thank goodness.

So far, he’s been our easiest baby by far, and I think there’s something to be said for fourth babies! They are just super chill and go with the flow.

Cooing

Beckham started cooing this week! Ahh it is just the most precious thing ever.

If your baby isn’t doing that yet, don’t worry, they aren’t behind!

Baby Acne

We had some pretty bad baby acne breakouts this week!

I doused his face in breastmilk several times throughout the day and it eventually cleared up.

Essentials for a 3 Week Old

Here are all of the new products we used and loved this week! Make sure to check out weeks one and two for all of the newborn essentials.

Playmat

I seriously love love love this playmat. With our other babies we had a super bright and loud fisher price play mat. It worked fine, but I personally love that this one isn’t overstimulating with crazy colors and sounds.

The main colors are black, white, and red, which are the first colors that your baby can see. The toys attach by velcro so you can move them around anywhere on the mat. It also is much more affordable than the other playmats out there!

Bouncer

We also started putting Beckham in his bouncy chair. It’s especially nice if he’s awake while we’re eating dinner and we can pop him in it so he can be in the room with us. I couldn’t find a link to the exact bouncer we have, but this is very similar!