Moms on Call 4 Month Schedule: Beckham’s 4 Month Update

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Beckham hit four months old on August 17th, which means it was time for a Moms on Call 4 month schedule change! This update is for his 4th month of life, from July 17th to August 17th and approximately weeks 13-17. Since it’s the beginning of November, I’m obviously behind a bit!

Phew. Not even gonna lie, the past few months have been a beast.

Between starting homeschooling, a few pretty big Instagram campaigns, and our first family trip as a family of 6, my time has been so limited.

I’m not complaining, things are GOOD. Homeschooling is fun, although it takes a lot out of me.

So, here we are, Beckham is almost 6 months old, and I’m writing his 4-month update.

Ugh.

I hate being behind, but at least I’m getting it done! Maybe this week I can get both his 4 AND 5-month update done!

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Moms on Call 4 Month Schedule: What to Expect With a 4 Month Old Baby

At 4 months old, Beckham was on a solid 4-hour schedule and we dropped the swaddle (you can read about how we dropped the swaddle in this post.)

4 Month Old Baby Moms on Call Schedule

We are still following Babywise and Moms on Call and will for LIFE. Haha.

I think it’s helpful to see comparisons, so this is Beckham’s 3 month moms on call schedule.

If you are new to Moms on Call and you’re just now trying to get your four month old on a schedule, you will probably benefit greatly from purchasing the book.

Find it here: Moms on Call Basic Baby Care 0-6 Months

At 16 weeks, Beckham was showing signs of being ready for a schedule change.

I was having to wake him literally every single time to eat and he was never waking up super or starving or really that interested in eating.

That’s a sign that your baby is ready to stretch out their feedings a little bit, which honestly, is a great thing!

Some people transition to a 3.5 hour schedule, and if that works for you, great! Personally, I really dislike the 3.5 hour schedule. It just confuses me trying to figure out how to fit the feedings into a 12 hour period.

So, I decided to try for a 4-hour schedule. A standard 4-hour schedule is 2 hours of awake time and a 2-hour nap.

At 16 weeks old, Beckham definitely wasn’t ready for 2 hours of awake time, since he was currently only doing one hour. Doubling that to 2 hours seemed crazy.

So, I decided to try a 4-hour schedule with one and a half hours of awake time and a two and a half-hour nap.

It was absolutely perfect!! So, if you think that your baby is ready for a 4-hour schedule even though they can’t handle 2 full hours of awake time, give this schedule a try.

You also might consider adding in a 5th feeding in the evening. For example, eat at 7, 11, 3, 5, 7.

4 Month Old Baby Eating

At 4-months-old your baby will likely be cleared to start solids. They don’t truly need it and breastmilk or formula should still be their primary food source.

However, if they are gaining weight well and can hold their head up on their own, you can start solids if you want to.

We chose to hold off on officially giving solids, but we did try a few spoonfuls here and there of pureed avocado, banana, and organic baby oatmeal.

Our reasons for holding off were pretty simple: with 4 kids, meal times can be quite chaotic! Adding having to feed a baby to that mix makes things even more chaotic.

Even though we aren’t going to be officially doing baby-led weaning, I want him to be able to start feeding himself pretty quickly.

Another reason is that my milk supply seems to be dropping, so I want to make sure that Beckham is filling up completely on breastmilk so that my supply doesn’t drop anymore.

At 4 months, Beckham is nursing 4 times per day and takes about 20-minutes in the morning and 10-15 minutes for the rest of the day.

If you are starting solids, here are my recomendations:

4-Month-Old Baby Sleeping

The 4-month sleep regression can happen sometime during the 4th month. We had a few days of nap boycotting, but other than that, the sleep regression didn’t affect Beckham’s sleep too much.

In my personal experience, if you have established really great sleep habits and your baby is able to fall asleep on their own, they aren’t impacted as much by sleep regressions. This isn’t true for every single baby, just what I have observed with my own babies

All the more reason to establish good sleep habits from birth (check out this post to read how to do that!)

4 Month Old Baby Naps

Your baby will likely be ready to transition from 4-3 naps sometime around 4 months old. Beckham was a bit early at 16 weeks, and if your baby isn’t ready, it’s nothing to worry about. Babies all have different sleep needs.

If they are still taking a 4th nap, it should be a cat nap.

Dropping the Swaddle

I personally like to drop the swaddle right between 3 and 4 months. I’ve had great success doing that with all of my babies and it gives me great peace of mind knowing that their arms are free in case they start rolling from back to belly.

We dropped the swaddle with Beckham during his 4th month, and it was a seamless experience.

We started with one arm out and had zero issues, so the 2nd night I swaddled him with both arms out. He had no issues at all!

You can read more about our method for dropping the swaddle, plus 3 other methods in this post.

4 Month Old Baby Milestones

During tummy time, Beckham is pushing up to his elbows and tolerates tummy time really well! These are the methods we’ve used to help Beckham enjoy tummy time.

I literally cannot handle his cuteness. We got these little toys from Hape this month, and we absolutely love them!

I also highly recommend this little mirror for tummy time. It comes with really cute little black and white, high contrast cards and Beckham loves to look at them.

He is also holding toys and bringing them to his mouth.

This little seat was a new purchase this month as well. It’s really cute but I wouldn’t say it’s an essential item.

Thanks for following along on our journey! Please let me know if you have any questions! I’d love to answer them 🙂

P.S. Make sure you’re following me on social media to keep up with our family and all the twin cuteness! I am on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!