Three Hour Schedule

The Three Hour Schedule. Eat Play Sleep. The EASY Method. These are all varying names describing the same thing!

The three hour schedule is a daytime sleeping schedule for newborns.

Three Hour Schedule Defined

The 3-hour schedule incorporates both age-appropriate awake times and age- appropriate feeding stretches. We plan for a baby to wake up when they are hungry right at the 3-hour mark [meaning they get fed upon waking up from their nap]. They then have a bit of solid awake time, which we call play, and then they are ready for a nap again.

The three hour schedule is appropriate for daytime hours/wakeful hours. Usually a 12 hour period of time.

Three Hour Schedule Daytime Example:

Throughout our entire program we use images such as this one. The circle always represents when a baby is eating, the thin line represents awake time and the thick line represents sleep! [A smaller circle means a smaller feeding.]

A baby on a three hour schedule will wake up in the morning and eat, then they will “play” [which means be awake] until they are tired for their next nap. Then they will nap until they are ready to eat again!

Why the Three Hour Schedule works

It works for a variety of reasons. I’m going to talk about the top three.

1. Babies are confusing. We hear from parents all the time that they don’t understand their baby’s cues. Every time that their baby cries, they think that they are hungry. Or they don’t pay attention to their baby’s wake windows. Bottom line is it’s very hard to distinguish between a baby that is fussy because they are hungry, tired or because something is wrong. The three hour schedule can remove hunger from the equation. Babies are fed every three hours during the day, so when a baby is fussy an hour past a feeding, it’s pretty easy to eliminate that as a cause. In addition, when using the eat play sleep schedule most parents focus on age appropriate awake times, and tracking naps. And because of this, tiredness can usually be ruled out as well. When you understand your baby’s needs you are better able to attend to them! Less crying, and less stress for everyone involved.
2. Getting started on the right foot for newborn sleep training. Sleep training a newborn is called sleep conditioning. For daytime sleep conditioning the ultimate goal is to be able to lay a baby down when they are “drowsy but awake“. The Eat Play Sleep schedule is designed so that your baby does not fall asleep feeding. Falling asleep at a breast or bottle is the hardest habit to break, and the leading cause for parents that come to us for sleep training advice for their older babies that won’t sleep independently.
3. It works as an ideal sleep schedule for most babies, is relatively easy to follow and leads to generally well rested, more consistent and content babies. If a baby is in the NICU they will put them on a three hour feeding schedule from day one, because this is an appropriate interval to offer feedings to newborns. Because naps are worked around feedings, the baby ideally won’t wake up hungry in the middle of a nap! Leading to more quality newborn sleep overall.

Q and A about the 3 hour schedule:

What if I want to nurse on demand?

This isn’t the best schedule if you want to nurse on demand. You can still try to follow the nap schedule but it won’t be as effective as your baby will likely take shorter naps and nurse in between.

What if my baby can’t go three hours between feedings?

This happens! If a baby has a small belly, or a parent has a low breastmilk supply- the baby may only be able to do 2-2.5 hour stretches. The schedule can be adapted. The goal is that the interval remain consistent throughout the day, and ideally it can be SLOWLY stretched over time.

I have more questions!

Watch our video series! Where we go in depth on the three hour schedule and give week by week examples of how it can be implemented in real-life-examples.