Hi ladies,

I wanted to ask your advice on having a routine for your baby.

Miles is nearly 2 weeks old and the health visitor was on at me to start a routine soon..... so, got a few questions:

1) At what age did you start to implement a routine for your baby?

2) What routine do you have for your baby?

For example, wake - feed - winding - change - cuddles /play time - bed

3) What kind of routine do you have if your baby sleeps right after feeding and doesnt need 'winded'? (As Miles normally falls asleep after a feed.)

4) How much do you STICK to this routine? For example I am finding that Miles will sleep sometimes more than 4 hours and I end up waking him by changing him first and then feeding, will that confuse him?!

Any other feedback / tips are more than welcome

xxx

at 2 weeks old Hannah really didn't have a routine. She ate on demand and slept when she wanted. Not even sure it's possible to get into much of a routine at that age

Thats what I wondered.... (gonna change my post to put that in)... what age did you have a routine for Hannah?
x

she had a loose routine at 2-3 months of age, very loose. She'd roughly eat at the same times and sleep at approximately the same times and her night schedule was the same (bottle, bath, bed--worked best for us). It wasn't until she was weaned though that we got into a solid routine (so 6 months). Now she goes to bed at the same time, eats at pretty much the same times every day and takes 2 naps at approximately the same time everyday.

It's hard with young babies as they need to eat so often plus the growth spurts and what not to get into a good routine (or it was for us)

my 4 week old baby seems to have gotten himself into a routine but really you cant start that early. The only thing I make sure to do is put him him in his cot when he falls asleep so he learns to sleep in it at an early age. I make sure to play with him on his baby mat around 12ish each day if we are in. I also try to take him for a walk every other day. I try to bath him around the same time each night if I can, I even wake him up to do it if he was asleep. Luckily my boyfriend mainly works from home so he gets up with the LO in the morning and has dad time until around 11am so I can sleep, I think this is the main reason he has a routine as he knows that dad time = morning when he wakes up.

I am surprised your health visitor has been on at you, mine is quite relaxed and says that at 4 weeks it is too early to be making a strict routine.

I do agree, putting them into their cot once asleep or allow them to go to sleep on their own--I held Hannah for 3.5 months of her life for naps because that's what she was used too

We didn't have a routine that early on she slept most of the time. I think we started ours when she was more awake during the day. then it was - wake up - bottle - chat/smiles - power nap - wake up - play/chat/smiles - bottle/breakfast - play - bottle/lunch - nap - wake up - play/walk - bath - wind down -bottle - bed.

1) At what age did you start to implement a routine for your baby? probably around 3 months, though Hannah did fall into her own pattern a little sooner--this is when we started a good bedtime routine with her (and it was a very loose routine until 6 months of age)

2) What routine do you have for your baby? she still ate on demand and slept when she was tired, but her bedtime routine was bottle, bath, bed. Whenever she woke she ate if she was hungry, if not than we would play until she either got hungry or tired. You'll find that they will set their own feeding patterns and routines as they get older (though these do change often)



3) What kind of routine do you have if your baby sleeps right after feeding and doesnt need 'winded'? Hannah never did this and we were always able to wind her before she slept (actually there were a few times that she fell asleep while winding)

4) How much do you STICK to this routine? I think it depends really, we never woke Hannah up to eat, though some say to do it during the day but leave it at night so they get used to eating during the day and sleeping at night. Goes down to personal preference I think.

Theo is 6 weeks on Friday and he isn't in a routine at all. Don't think you can get them in a 'proper' routine at such an early age hun. xx

Thanks alot everyone!!!!

I have a feeling over here (in Holland) they tend to be a bit more 'stricter' etc with birth / babies etc... and I guess this is another thing they tell you to do from a young age, but yeah Miles is just feeding on demand at the moment too.

xxx