To answer your question, we need first to address the larger issue: what is 
the real goal of parenting an infant? 
     Understandably, new parents often worry most about short-term goals, 
such as correctly diapering or burping their baby. But the ultimate aim that 
should guide all the parenting you will do with your baby, 
including burping her, feeding her, responding to her tears and putting her 
to bed, is your desire to raise a happy, optimistic, caring, functional individ- 
ual. The best way to achieve that goal is to do all of your parenting in a way 
that shows her that you love her and want her to be happy and not unhappy. 
     As we have often said, children adore their parents and learn to treat 
themselves exactly as their parents treat them, and this is why it is important 
not to focus on getting your baby to adhere to a particular eating or sleeping 
schedule. The reality is that babies are not naturally “scheduled.” One day 
they may be very hungry and want lots of feedings, the next day they may 
eat much less. One day they may sleep many hours at night, the next day 
they may be awake most of the night. Over time, infants’ eating and sleeping 
schedules will become more predictable. It is true that you can rush a baby's 
natural cycle and force her to be on a regular schedule by letting her cry 
when she's hungry until it's time for the next meal or leaving her to cry 
in her crib until she falls asleep. Eventually, she will stop crying and appear 
to have learned to wait for food or to go to sleep on schedule. But in reality, 
she stops crying because she has stopped believing that she can get you 
to respond to her distress. She is conforming to a schedule that does not 
fit her needs out of a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. 
     Babies’ minds are different from adults' minds. Because she adores 
you and believes you are perfect, your baby believes that whatever she feels 
is what you intend for her to feel. If schedules are imposed on her and she 
feels helpless and unhappy, the lesson she will learn is that you don't 
respond to her tears because unhappiness is what you want for her. Because 
she thinks you are perfect, she will misidentify the unhappiness she feels as 
the good feelings you want her to have and she will learn to desire more of 
those “good” feelings, which are really unhappy feelings in disguise. This is 
obviously not the result parents have in mind when they think about putting 
their baby on a schedule, but it is the way the baby's mind works. 
     On the other hand, if you forget about trying to impose a schedule 
on your baby and respond to her tears (feed her when she is hungry, pick 
her up if she doesn't feel like sleeping), she will feel genuine happiness 
and she will conclude that this is the good feeling you want for her. She will 
learn to desire more of that happiness and will grow into a compassionate 
person who fosters happiness in others. Rather than developing feelings 
of hopelessness and helplessness, she will feel confident and optimistic. 
You can see, then, that forgetting about schedules and making your baby 
as contented and comfortable as possible is the best and, in fact, the only 
way to attain your long term goal of helping her to become a happy, caring 
human being.