How do I start a Routine?

[Sarah88]

Ok, this might sound like a stupid qustion, but i'm a new mum so bear with me.

I'm just wondering how I got about starting to get bub into a routine? At the moment I just feed her and change her when she wakes and is hungry. Will she develop her own routine after a few weeks or should I try to introduce one? If I do need to introduce one, does it mean I should wake her to feed at certain times or what?

I'm not overly fussed at the lack of routine atm, but I'm thinking thast it might be beneficial to Savannah.

 

[BurtonBaby]

I dont think that babies go into a routine until they are a couple months old... We fed Erica on demand for a long time... Even now, we mostly just have a morning and evening routine, and kinda do similar things each day during the day... I think she will be ok for a little while without a routine, and you both need to get to know each other and you will learn her needs and around what times she usually eats, what time you choose to bathe her, change her.. etc...

 

[Abbys_Mummy]

with abby she goes on a 9 0 clock bases so she wakes a 5 in the morning feeds sleeps till bout 8 830 feeds at 9 plays till about 1030 bathes does wat ever till 1 than does what evr til 5 than feeds at 5 and does what evr till about 7 730 bathes bed time lotion massege works a treat feeds than between 8 and 9 she is very tired by than and than sleeps till 5 and we start again this works really well for both of us

 

[ryder]

BF babies wont have much of a routine as you spend so much time feeding on demand...

Although for a newborn, you can always start a day/night routine... IE: do your bath at a certain time of evening and after a certain time dont turn on many lights when you get up to care for baby, so they get used to day/night.

For me the big routine will be having our baby in her own crib from the beginning... I refuse to co-sleep at night for various reasons... Also if I bottle feed I will be able to have more of a routine too. I will be sharing responsibilities with my OH too, as I don't think me looking after her only is the best. I will definately be spending tons of time with her, non-stop in the beginning, but my OH will be participating when he is home too.

When im ready I will also leave her with people for short periods of time. I dont want a baby that is so stuck to me that I cant leave her to go out... Not that I go out alot anyways... lol!

 

[Sarah88]

Well it's good to know that she will slowly develop her own routine, at the moment i'm happy with demand feeding. She sleeps well in the afternoons so gives me a chance to grab a snooze

 

[leedsforever]

My LO is slowly getting into her own routine... although they shock you and completely change one day!! They are very unpredictable... but for the past 2 days shes slept through and had her feeds at pretty much the same times

like ryder said at night you could bath them at a particular time at night so they know that bed time is too follow.... or a song that they can associate with bed time is also something I have read

 

[clairebear]

i still demand feed jack during the day but we have a night time routine.(he is breast fed) i think if u just tryand do things at the same time everynight they eventually get used to it.

 

[nikky0907]

As Lola-Rose is a newborn,so far she only has a 'starter' routine, but she is bottlefed so it's probably easier.
However,I know this will be broken after a couple of weeks as they're growing out of being newborns.
Then slowly she'll start to develop their own,you bathe them at a certain times,make sure they have they're bed-time nappy changed and their pj's on so they know it's bed-time...

 

[Sarah88]

Just wondering, is it bad to wake them up to feed? I was thinking perhaps I can wake her at 9 to eat...

 

[Christine33]

ali found his own routine at about 6.5 weeks.
he sleeps from about 10pm to 5am most of the time. gets a feed/change and sleeps again until about 7.30am. gets another feed/change and will sleep again until about 10am or even later!

he was a terrible sleeper in the first weeks but is sure making up for it now!

he is bottle fed by the way.



Christine
X

 

[Whisper]

Just wondering, is it bad to wake them up to feed? I was thinking perhaps I can wake her at 9 to eat...

For some reason my LO started to get day and night mixed up she would feed every 2hours at night then every 4hours during the day. My HV advised me to wake her during the day every 2hours to feed her and get it switched over, which i did and it worked.

Sometimes she does sort of slip into sleeping too long during the day so i wont let her go more than 3/4hours during the day between feeds. She does 1 stint of sleeping 5hours at night, it all takes time.

As Kerry said one minute you think you have got their routine sorted and the next they go and change it!

happy days

 

[Sarah88]

She sleeps for long periods in the afternoon so i think i'll try waking her every 2 or so hours to feed her and see how that goes...

 

[ColtonsMom]

Colton is still fed on demand. I've started uping his feeds since he is older though so he might go longer between feeds.
He usually sleeps 10-10.30pm until 6-7.30am though, and I'm not much of a routine kinda person so I dont stress it too much. I do usually do his meals in routine though. Breakfast is usually 7.30-8 (changes though if he wakes later), lunch between 12-1pm (again with breakfast it can change) and dinner is no later that 6 (although OH feeds him and I'm not here and he will sometimes feed him a bit later.. which erks me cause then he has more energy when I want him to start getting sleepy!)
But then again, you wouldn't need that for awhile with a newborn. :LOL: