A 2-week-old baby routine with a newborn is very similar to the first week with a newborn.
There’s sleep deprivation, the smell of sour milk, and lots of diapers.
Lots and lots of diapers.
By the end of week 2, we were working towards a pretty consistent sleep routine.
The most important part of getting your two week old on a consistent schedule is to anchor their morning and evening feedings.
Wake them up at the same time every morning, and put them to bed at the same time every night.
I have found that the more hardcore I am about this, the faster they get on a schedule and sleep through the night.
There are a lot of things that say you can’t have a 2-week-old on a schedule, and while I agree that things won’t be perfect, you can definitely start to have a routine.
Anyways, keep scrolling to find out what a 2 week old baby routine looks like!
*Post contains affiliate links.
2 Week Old Baby Routine: What to Expect
Eating
Beckham is nursing every 3-hours during the day.
At this age, babies typically take about 30 minutes to nurse, and he is right on target with that.
He occasionally has trouble latching and seems exhausted from nursing. I got a referral to get his tongue tie snipped, but they haven’t called me back yet.
I’m really hoping that will help him nurse a bit faster and not be so worn out every time he eats.
Beckham will frequently fall asleep while nursing and I will change his diaper to wake him back up. Making sure he gets a full feeding is really important, otherwise he will fall into a pattern of eating and then falling asleep every hour!
Cluster Feeding
During the second week, I was cluster feeding Beckham in the evening, by feeding him at 6, then again at 7, and putting him right to bed. I was hoping that it would help fill him up so that he would sleep longer at night.
Spoiler alert: this did not end up working well for us and we stopped pretty quickly. More on that next week!
Introducing Bottles
This week is the week we started giving Beckham a bottle at bedtime. I pump while my husband gives a bottle. It’s a nice time for them to bond, and I like the peace of mind from knowing exactly how much milk he had at bedtime.
Many lactation consultants will advise not to start a bottle this early, but I had absolutely no qualms about it, and it didn’t affect our nursing at all.
You May Also Like: Time Saving Hacks for Bottle Feeding
2 Week Old Baby Routine: Sleeping
A two week old baby will sleep up to 18 hours per day. That sounds really great for the parents, unless your baby will only sleep while being held.
We fell into that habit with our firstborn, and while it’s really nice to hold them while they sleep, eventually you will want to eat or shower or use the bathroom or sleep yourself.
For this reason, we put Beckham in his crib to sleep for most of his naps. At this age, when he sleeps so much, we will still cuddle and hold him while he’s sleeping, otherwise, we would hardly ever see him!
We aim to have at least 2 naps in his crib every day and usually try to start with the first 2 naps of the day as babies get increasingly fussy as the day goes on.
We always have him swaddled, the blinds closed, and with white noise on a loud volume.
(You can read more about how to set up your nursery for a good sleep environment in this post.)
If he wakes from his nap early or won’t settle in his crib, we will have him nap while holding him or in his swing (in the same room as us).
The Babywise Mom has a fantastic post on the newborn sleep hierarchy: basically, during the newborn phase, do whatever it takes to help your baby sleep when they should be sleeping.
That’s the first step, but there’s much more to it than that. I strongly encourage you to read her post!
Noisy Sleepers
It is also very common for newborns to be incredibly noisy sleepers, which I don’t think I mentioned in my one week summary.
All of my babies have been so loud when they sleep. Grunting, whining, sounding like they’re choking, etc. This is one of the main reason that we have our babies sleep in their crib from the beginning.
They make so much noise, we run over to them and end up waking them up from a sound sleep!
Read –> 7 Ways to Establish Good Sleep Habits…From Birth!
2 Week Old Baby Routine: Babywise Schedule
We are still following Babywise at this point (but starting at the end of week 2, we implemented Moms on Call, so make sure to check back next week to see the changes we made!).
The premise of Babywise is parent directed feeding. What does that mean exactly?
First, let’s talk about what it does NOT mean.
It does not mean you follow the clock and feed your baby strictly on a schedule. It also doesn’t mean that you feed your baby on demand, every time they cry.
It means that you take into account both the time, and your baby’s signs.
For example: if your baby is crying and they just ate 30 minutes ago, it is very unlikely that they are hungry, so try to soothe them before feeding.
On the flip side, don’t let them sleep for 5 hours during the day without feeding them!
At 2 weeks, your baby should be eating every 2.5-3 hours, having a brief bit of awake time, and then taking a good nap until it’s time to eat again.
Note that I say *should* because it certainly will not be the case every single time they eat.
Read –> How to Get Twins On a Schedule
Two Week Old Babywise Sample Schedule
- 7:00 Desired Wake Time
- 7:50/8:00 Sleep**
- 10:00 Eat, wake time
- 10:50/11 Sleep
- 1:00 Eat, wake time
- 1:50/2:00 Sleep
- 4:00 Eat, wake time
- 4:50/5:00 Sleep
- 6:00 Eat
- 7:00 Eat and bedtime routine
- 10:00 Dream feed (bottle of pumped breastmilk)
- Usually one middle of the night feed (between 12-2) and one early morning feed (between 5-6).
*Wake baby up at the same time every morning, regardless of what time they were last up in the middle of the night.
**Aim for at least two naps to be in baby’s bed.
2 Week Old Baby Milestones
Tummy Time
We started tummy time on his playmat during the second week. This often resulted in Beckham falling asleep, but we did our best!
My big kids love to lie on the floor with Beckham has tummy time and “play” with him and it’s really precious.
Baths
Your baby’s umbilical cord will likely fall out this week (I always am so relieved when it falls out, because it grosses me out!). Once that happens, you can give them their first real bath!
Reflexes
Their startle reflexes (also called the Moro reflex) will still be very strong, so be sure to have a good swaddle for when they’re sleeping so they don’t startle themselves awake.
Essentials for a 2-Week-Old
Here are all of the products that we used and recommend during the second week. I’m only including things that are new this week, but you can check out my one week update for things we used during the first week!
Beckham started to have some gas issues and I cannot recommend gas drops and gripe water enough. The gas drops help to break up big gas bubbles and help relieve tummy pain and discomfort. They are perfectly safe and gentle enough for newborns!
Gripe water is also amazing for tummy discomfort, but perhaps my favorite thing about gripe water is that it stops hiccups IMMEDIATELY. Beckham will frequently get the hiccups when I feed him in the middle of the night and they prevent him from going back to sleep.
I give him some gripe water and his hiccups literally stop within seconds. It’s amazing.
Beckham hasn’t been spitting up a ton, but I would say he spits up an average amount. These bandana bibs are perfect because they protect clothing from getting soiled and they are also super cute!
We have had this swing for SIX YEARS (including moving from Ohio to Rhode Island) and it still works perfectly. We like it so much that we even borrowed an identical one when we had twins.
These bottles are the bottles that we used with our twins and are hands-down my favorite bottles (and I’ve tried a lot!).
Since we started bottle feeding and pumping, we have been using our boon drying rack. This bundle comes with a bottle brush and other awesome accessories that will help keep your counters decluttered.
This bathtub support seat fits right inside the bathtub. It has little holes in it, so the water falls right through. Because of this, it’s mildew resistant, and also super lightweight and easy to store.