Getting baby into a routine?????

[bolton_smiler]

I just wondering what im going to do with a newborn???
Ive been a nursery nurse 4 8years and i am just expected to know how 2 get my own routine, i know it just comes to you, but all my friends do it differently.

Im going to try and get in the 2,6,10 routine.....

But what kinda time are you going to bath your baby?
Put them upstairs? even though there in your room?
I dont believe in babies going to bed at like 6 oclock when there newborn plus if your out for tea etc?

Im thinking of bottle at 6pm then an hour of no nappy time to let her lil bottom breathe then bath about 7-7.30 cuddles downstairs last bottle at 10 then put baby in our room even if were not ready for bed as ive got a video monitor, then any feeds from this point are done upstairs until the morning..... just to get her used to bed time. obviously as she gets a few months old shel go up earlier than that and then when shes in her own room bottle after bath and bed..

Im so confussed??????

 

[NG09]

Sorry, your post made me laugh!!! You will soon discover you can plan to do what you want, the reality of it is you will fit in around baby. It will take a few weeks getting used to having a baby let alone trying to establish a routine. Good luck though x

 

[vaniilla]

we're just going to go for what feels right at the time, with no previous experience we're going on what we feels best along with research, I'm probably no help as we'll not have a routine for a while so will just go with the flow and even then it will not that specific, it will be just regarding a bed time routine but not beyond that, its not for us I guess.

 

[lexi88]

Huni i wouldnt plan anything right now ... you will have baba get used to her and all that jazz and with me and Theo we started to get into a routine from about 2/3 weeks old .. when vistiors slowed RIGHT down and I got used to feedin,changin,housework etc etc.
I must admit IMO routine is a big MUST have. but i would never rush or push it as u can go with the wrong routine for ur child and make life HARD.
Your baby will fall into a routine and u just follow and slightly alter it as days go on to fit you.
cant remember times but it was always... Bath,massarge (while creaming him), dressed, swaddled, milk , burp, put down even if he was awake.Never bathed him in morning or afternoon . I find it strange when people do .. dono why i just see bath as a bed time routine and think how strange to bath in middle of day LOL maybe its me who is strange PMSL

 

[Faerie]

My Mum was also a nursery nurse and was used to having lots of routine, but with us 4 she just went with our flow and that's what I did with Sofia too.

She found her own routine by about 10 weeks, although of course it changes every couple of weeks/months even now.

I've found following my baby's lead and not curtailing our lives to a strict timetable made for a much easier life.

Don't stress

 

[bolton_smiler]

ano i would neva bath in a morning unless a really messy poo or really sick. Well thanks for replies x

 

[Faerie]

ano i would neva bath in a morning unless a really messy poo or really sick. Well thanks for replies x

Some babies get really het up after an evening bath and then won't sleep - took me ages to figure out with Sofia, just a heads up. We had to give her morning baths until a year old, now she loves her bedtime bath. Another thing my Mum told me, 2 of my sisters were the same.

 

[JynxPhD]

The first couple weeks babies usually have their days and nights confused. After they get it straightened out then you can work on a schedule. When my kid was a baby she went to bed at 11 pm. As she got older we moved it up. You'll figure out what works for you and both you guys will adjust. Good luck!

 

[lexi88]

Oh maybe thats why then ... My nephew is 4 and baths wake him up! so my sister has to bath him in mornings or after a bath the other 2 all tierd and chilled and cody will b running round hyper and WIDE awake. cant remember what he was like as a newborn tho ill have to ask

 

[Mrs IKW]

Im a bit confused with all this baby routine stuff so Ive bought 2 books - I know Im not allowed to mention the authors names on this forum so all Ill say is that one book suggests a very strict routine for a newborn starting at 7am without fail, bath at 6pm, baby in bed for about 7.30pm, late feed at about 10pm ish and next feed at about 2am approx - it advocates waking baby for feeds at certain times and the aim is to get baby into a routine and sleeping through the night as early as possible.

The other book is still a routine but is a bit more relaxed and is all about picking up on LO's signals and different cries.

I'm definately going to get into a routine but a more flexible one and I might push everything back by an hour or so as OH comes home from the office at 6pm and I want him to be able to enjoy bathtime etc rather than LO be ready for bed by the time he gets home.

 

[Dancingkaty1]

hi there..

i too am a qualified nursery nurse....luckily i spose i was in the baby room so when i conceived my dd who is now 4 & a half yrs old i had some experience. i had worked there for 5 years. but i found its very different having ur own to looking after someone elses....i had learnt tips such as never rock to sleep, always put down in cot/crib when awake so they get used to going to sleep by them selves. we did this with our dd. she slept in crib next to our bed until 6 weeks old then i transfered her to her own room & own cot & from that very night she slept 7pm-7am & has done ever since! we would always bath her at 6pm...give her last bottle at 6.45pm ish & then put down in cot awake, leaving night light on & pulling door almost shut...never had any tears or tantrums & she would be asleep within 5-10 mins. up until 6 weeks old we would share the night feeds...and would be usually 10pm and 2am...never switching on big lights & she would always settle again after a few minutes by herself. I think getting into a routine is a very good idea...at 1st its hard especially during the day as they sleep so much but in the evening we found if you kept bath, milk and bedtime at the same time it worked really well.

i remember feeling so worried...everyone kept telling me how great i was going to be as i had loads of experience but it was still a daunting experience as all my babies at nursery had their own routines that we had to go along with.

xx

 

[waitin4numb3]

it will all come to you,itl work out fine try not to worry!

 

[BLONDIE35]

Routine, what routine!!! Babies will let you know what their routine should be as some feed every couple of hours, some every 4 hours. Don't worry about a routine at the beginning as this takes a few weeks to establish properly.

My dd never had a bath in the evening as it woke her up so have given her a bath in the morning. However at bedtime we quieten everything down to a wash, cuddle, milk then bed and she was a dream for us and still is and goes to bed every night at 7pm.

Think you'll have to go with the flow. xx

 

[trumpetbum]

I'm going to do what I did with my girls and see what his natural routine is first, then work with it.
I'm hoping to bath him before dd2s bedtime at 8 because that's something she wants to help with each night. I also want to be able to give his last feed of the night when I come home from work as he gets older, and I work 12.5 hour shifts. Dh comes home about 9 so ideally I'll wait until dd1s light goes out at 9.30 to take him to my room and settle him and on dh's days off he'll do the same. Once he's in our room he'll be there for the night, we want him to know the difference between night and day. We have the nursing chair in the room, and will feed him in the room rather than bring him in to the living room and stimulate him. We just go for dim lights, soft 'night time' voices etc.
BUT, it's all really hypothetical tbh until he gets here. Don't worry too much about it, too many people get upset when their babies don't follow the routine they were expected to.

 

[aliss]

I wasted a lot of time and money on routine books. Those books that tell you what time to feed a baby? Ugh. Baby does not read yet and certainly does not care to eat every 4 hours. My baby (formula) feeds 3-4x an hour. Nursing babies can feed even more frequently.

Babies do have a routine, you just need to take a few weeks/months to get to know what that is All I can say is to toss out the clock and don't worry about "X"am/pm.

Here's what made my life easier-
Rather than telling him/her what to do - follow and listen to what he/she wants to do. Your life will be far less stressful and hectic.

 

[DottyLottie]

I agree you ought to let baby lead you, you will see a pattern emerge after a couple of weeks. The only routine I set up quite early is the bedtime routine, bath, story, bottle, bed, never had a problem with evening baths as others have said, all my babies have had evening baths.

 

[chocolate]

I am planning on breastfeeding and will be generally feeding on demand so a routine for feeds will be led by the baby. But I will try to go by the Baby Whisperer principle of EASY - which stands for Eat Activity Sleep You time.

DS was a very colicky baby and had a few problems with intolerances of some sort and just wouldnt settle unless rocked or cuddled and spent the first year sleeping on me or in my arms, 24/7. It really was a hard year and I was pulling my hair out over his sleeping, but 2 years later its a thing of the past and just got easier with time.

So this time Im going by experience and relaxing, it ruined much of my time trying to 'solve the sleep issues' etc. so this time I know it will all work out.
There is no harm in trying a routine, but dont let it dictate your entire life.

My main routine will hopefully just be encouraging going to sleep without being reliant on just me to help him do this, and having a wind down period before bed - so going up with DS for a bath, milk, stories and then once about 3 months into his cot to sleep.

 

[NG09]

My LO also has an evening bath and fallen into his own routine. Bath around 7pm, bottle then in to his basket, sleeps until around 12, feeds, wakes again aroung 4ish, feeds again, wakes again aroung 7ish, we go downstairs, he gets top & tail and dressed, another bottle then a sleep!

Routine books are a waste of money if you ask me, don't see the point in doing anything if you have to stick 100% to the rules in a book. Where's the fun in that??

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

routine...na don't stress about it would be my advice.

I was very much a baby led mummy and it's the best decision I made. I never stressed about setting a routine, my little boy slept when he was sleepy and ate when he was hungry and got cuddles when he wanted them. I intend to stick with that this time to

We have a perfect little routine now, and it's a routine he set himself. He was a very colicky baby, so trying to put him to bed at 7pm would never have worked unless i was happy to leave him crying which i wasn't.

 

[mystika802]

I had a friend, our babies were born a day apart, she was really into "routine" and was always stressing about it, I never had a set routine, I mean generally babies fall into a routine of their own anyway. But I found it so much harder to do anything with this friend who was always saying her daughter had to be home for her naps between certain times, fed at certain times etc. My son was sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old so Im sure I wasnt doing anything wrong.
I like a routine myself but I also believe baby should fit into your life and you shouldnt revolve everything around them.