Recommendations for routines

[tb2962]

Hi, I'm a new mum to a 6 week old and was hoping I could get some recommendations on routines that other mums follow for their babies. There are so many different ones out there, I'm not really sure where to start.

 

[aliss]

Personally, I allowed mine to form his own which came naturally after about 4 months.

If you are looking for a pre-written one, the EASY routine is not so bad (Tracey Hogg, Baby Whisperer)

And I personally recommend against Babywise, 100%.

 

[EmmaM2]

I put my lo on EASY to start with (once he was about 6 weeks) as i was in a right mess. It isn't a strict routine but more of a guideline/structure. He fell into his own routine when he finally started to sleep properly in the day but he did it himself. I don't know what babywise is so can't comment on that one!
I'd recommend going for something loose as it is hard for babies to follow anything strict, they have needs that change from day to day and you don't want to end up feeling like you've failed because your baby doesn't do things exactly when you (or the book) thinks they should! hope whatever you chose works out. x

 

[aurora]

Sorry I'd be no help. Autumn does her own thing.

 

[Mrs Doddy]

my advice let them decide, honestly they will do it and its alot less stress as if they dont want to do something they wont

 

[~NEL~]

Alot of the mums i know swear by the EASY routine (baby whisperer) x

 

[CharlieKeys]

Yep we followed the EASY routine but now he has his own - wakes up at 9.15, bottle, play, nap between 11-12 (unless we're out), bottle at 1, play until 2, nap between 2-5, bottle at 5, then we play or do what we need to until 8, then bottle, get ready for bed, sleep at 9.30, then he has a night feed at 11.30 obviously it changes slightly if we go out etc

 

[Lotti1978]

Yeah I say allow them to decide at this point, they are still so young.
Mine is 7 weeks tomorrow and the days and nights are similar but not strictly the same....some are very different. They will find their own way. We make sure we show the difference btw day and night, thats it.

 

[2wantedpls]

Mine fell into his own by about 10 weeks. We started bath cuddles feed at 6 and at 10 wks decided it was time to sleep then too!

 

[aob1013]

I recommend 'go with the flow'!

 

[tb2962]

Thanks everyone, I'm going to have a look at the EASY routine, but I think I will keep it pretty casual. At the moment everything is so random it would be nice to have a bit of a routine

 

[Kota]

just keep in mind that whatever *you* may decide on, your baby won't read the book as well, so they'll still want to do their own thing, in their own time. You can't force a baby to follow a set timed routine and will more likely only cause yourself a lot of stress in the meantime. Just enjoy the snuggles and have faith that they will fall into their own routine soon enough. Then, just work what you need to do each day around them.

 

[minties]

I tried EASY (Eat, Awake, Sleep, You (your own time)).

It just didn't work for Thomas and I. If the EASY routine was a 3 hour one (awake for an hour, sleep for 2), it would all fall apart if Thomas decided to only sleep for 40 minutes, and all I did was stress about his lack of sleep.

Now the only routine we have is bedtime, he must be asleep by 8:30. He set that time himself.

I let him lead the way during the day and we are both happy with that, it works for us. He sleeps if he's tired, plays if he wants, and feeds when it suits him.

 

[LPF]

I think it depends on the baby - my lo seems to thrive on a bit of structure even though it's been fairly baby led - we do EASY but he can't get himself to sleep in the day so we have to watch the signs and help!!

Each cycle varies in time too - 2hrs or even 4 I'm not bothered and at lunch he tends to EASES!! Then back to EASY. He sleeps 12hrs at night with a quick feed at 6am which developed after we brought in the routine but I think it's because he needed better day sleep to get the good nights.

He was far more settledand less crying when we encouraged this routine from about 6 weeks.

 

[louandivy]

When LO was quite young I looked into the EASY routine too but I found it very frustrating and stressful trying to implement it, as soon as I just kind of accepted that I can't make Ivy eat and sleep at certain times I was just suddenly more relaxed and happy. So don't feel bad if routine doesn't work for you, some people are just more suited to a 'go with the flow' attitude!

 

[chelle7]

I let my lo work out her own routine- by 3 months she had got herself into a perfect one where she goes to bed between 7 and 8pm and goes through till around 3 for a feed, then will go back down until 8 or 9am. I let her nap in the day whenever she is tired and she is fed on demand- which is roughly every 3 hours in the day.

 

[marie73]

I have never enforced any routine with my lo. She's 3 months old and has established her own bedtime between 7 and 8. She'll wake then between 11 and 12 for a feed and then often goes through the night till between 6 and 8 dependent on time of her last feed. During the day she'll nap when she wants and feed when she wants although she doesn't sleep that much in the day. It suits me and it obviously suits her. I think a set routine would just stress me out.

 

[Bertsbaby1]

I let my LO lead but at the same time tried to implement the concept of EASY without the 3 or 4 hour structure. We set a firm wake time (since we need to get DH to work and DS to school), had a bedtime routine at roughly the same time and then LO led the way during the rest of the day and night. I fed when we was hungry and then tried to play a bit before he slept so that he wouldn't associate feeding to sleep. At night, we'd feed and keep the lights low and avoid diaper changes and wouldn't interact with him so he'd go straight back to sleep.

After a few days of this, I noticed that he would get hungry at the same time (give or take), play for the same amount of time and nap for the same amount of time. His night feed usually happens around the same time as well (varying by an hour or so).

He has a routine but it isn't one that I implemented. Thankfully it works for us!

 

[clarsair]

I recommend the EASY baby whisperer routine but would suggest you don't get hung up on having precise times for everything at this stage, it'll give you structure and predictability but still allow quite a lot of flexibility.

 

[Mrs Mayhem]

We just do our own thing and are baby led, however, it does kinda fall within the EASY pattern unintentionally!

The only thing we do structure is bedtime, we change her and feed her in the darkened bedroom then cuddles until getting really sleepy then down into cot. We are trying to encourage self settling at the minute but its not happening yet, but we will persist!!