Routines?!

[totallyashley]

So everywhere to do with how to raise your baby talk about routines! I thought it would be kinda easy to fit Daisy into a routine, erm what a lie! She gets fed, when she is hungry. Sleeps, when she is tired. Crys, when she wants to annoy Mummy! There is no routine here! So I am thinking I should be serious with my routine plan. I need some help though. Does anyone have any plans for a newborn or wishful plans that they may like to share so I kinda get an idea about what everyone else is doing? I always feel silly asking these type of questions but I am new to this and none of my friends have children

 

[Nats21]

We only started a routine at 7 weeks as we thought Callum was too young beforehand to be put on a routine.

We started with a bedtime routine, gave him a bath at 8 and then a story and then put him into our room in the dark with classic fm on, after a few days he did start to realise that it was bedtime. We still let him feed when he wants though, although he does tend to feed 2.5 to 3 hourly.

With his daytime naps I tend to put him down an hour after hes been awake as any more and he gets overtired. He tends to sleep 40 mins for his morning nap, has about 1.5 to 2 hours for his afternoon nap and then has another couple of 20 min naps in the late afternoon/early evening. He found these naps on his own though, we don't wake him but he does tend to sleep at these times everday. Hes fighting them a lot more now though as he wants to stay awake as he doesn't want to miss anything! xx

 

[better2gether]

Congrats on Daisy! It is still really early yet. They will be feeding and sleeping on demand for weeks to come. The only "routine" we started from the very beginning was giving her a bath, massage time, and a bottle before our bedtime. Whether she went to sleep or not is a different story.

 

[sunshine114]

My lo has slipped into a bit of a routine over the last week or so. He feeds every 3-4 hours, then has a change then if it's daytime plays for an hour or so
before nap time, if it's night time then we try and get him down to sleep pretty much straightaway. It's not a cncrete routine in terms of time, I can't say he feeds at x time and sleeps at y time, it's more of a pattern to the day. You might notice one emerging over the next couple of days x

 

[hannahR]

Id say you are way to early to start worrying about a routine, the first 6 weeks are all over the place. I started thinking about a routine when Hazel was about 7 weeks. xx

 

[fi123]

I was the same could not wait to get him in to a routine. I soon found out it was not going to happen that early on. He is now nearly 7 weeks and just starting to find his own routine, some days better than others but hey we are getting there.

It takes a wee bit of time she will get there.

 

[stephx]

Im trying to get in a bit of a routine, I know its not gonna happen this early.. but i want to get things started

We go for a walk at 7.30 to get her settled, bath time at 8 and then cuddles/bottle upstairs and then she gos down after that. Been doing that for the last week and she is sleeping sooo much better

xx

 

[Lena]

A 'routine' is just doing certain things at certain times, so I don't see anything wrong with starting to try and get a 'routine' early on.. at least for bedtime. It may not work all the time, but its worth a shot? We started doing bath, pajamas, feed in the bed (no other feeds are done in the bedroom) then sleep very early on and LO drops off to sleep like a dream right after his bottle. He recognises its bedtime and has done for a while. He goes from crying his eyes out to smiling when we bring him upstairs to give him his bath, because he's tired and wants to sleep.

We've moved the times around slightly though. He used to get really cranky and tired around 8:30 so thats when we would start doing his 'routine' and slowly he's moved his bedtime back to 7:30 so we start bath at 7. Just be flexible and follow your babys cues. Im absolutely no help on the daytime routine because getting my LO down for naps is a NIGHTMARE. One thing i would try not to fit into any sort of routine is feeding though. Feed your baby when its hungry, dont pay any attention to the clock in that respect. Congratulations and best of luck hun.

 

[aob1013]

Your baby is only a week old!

They are still all over the place, and too young to understand or benefit from a routine. All they want is feeding and changing in the early stages. I don't think you will be able to get into a routine properly until around 6 weeks. Just enjoy this stage right now, go with the flow and take it as it comes. x

 

[venusrockstar]

I am BF'ing on demand so I don't have a routine. I feed her when she's hungry, not at a set time. If she zonks out during a feed, she goes into her bassinet for a little nap.

 

[littleblonde]

AT your babys age the only routine i had was a bedtime one. I used to do it at 11 pm as that was when we where going to bed. Her sleeping and feeding where all over the place, I just did it on demand. But at around 11pm i would bath her and then bottle and we would go to bed. at 6 weeks she brought her bedtime down to 7pm and the rest sort of fall into place

 

[Laughing Girl]

Isla feeds on demand day and night. She's 19 weeks old now and we do have a first thing in the morning routine and a last thing at night routine. She seems to love these and they work really well for us. These didn't really emerge until she was at least 3 months old, particularly the bedtime one - in the early days she just fell asleep downstairs with us in the evening and we carried her up to bed asleep when we turned in for the night. Other than this, the rest of the day is really dictated by her and how she feels. It varies most days and varies a lot at the weekend when her Daddy is at home and there are more distractions.

 

[RJsMum]

Babies at that age should be on demand. You could *try* doing consistent things, but scheduling a "bedtime" for a baby who still hasn't figured out they're no longer in that safe and secure place isn't going to benefit them (as another poster put it so well).

Also...the crying isn't to annoy you (and I do know you were only kidding with this comment...so not being funny with you)...they cry because they have a genuine need. So at one week and some change, that's when we, as parents, get our crash course in "What the h*** do I do now?"

I did find the crying to be a bit much at times and was so thankful I could pass my son off to DH during those episodes so I could take 10 min away and gather my bearings.

Just roll with it and enjoy the time. Feed when she's hungry...let her sleep when she's sleepy...and give her cuddles while you can. It all goes by so fast.

 

[Mynx]

We've never put a routine on Evie, she's pretty much made her own daily routines.
The only thing that was consistant and that was a "loose" routine was her bedtime, even tho it wasnt the same time every night. She'd always have a bath, some chill out time, a bottle, then bed. This would all be based on what time her last nap was or how tired she was.
Now she's older it's much easier. She has her solid meals at fairly specific times (give or take half an hour) and the same with the 3 bottles a day she has. Her daytime naps are pretty spot on, in that after her breakfast she's tired so goes down to sleep. After her afternoon bottle she's tired and then goes for her nap, that kind of thing.

We never really tried getting her into routines because I think there's enough of that when they're older, we found it best to let Evie settle into her own little routines and habits, which she has done. To have such loose routines doesnt work for everyone but it has worked great for us and Evie

 

[MrsT&Ben]

I never wanted to put my baby in a rountine it just kind of happened really. But only recently.
The only routine we did put in place was bed time from 6 or 7 weeks.

 

[Moodyelf]

i would go with the flow for the first few weeks, while your LO gets used to life in the outside world. In a few weeks, I would start off with a bedtime routine (bath, feed, bed etc) but probably gear it towards when your LO usually has a last feed before any extend sleep period iykwim. you can always work on making it a more ideal time as LO gets older.

We're only starting to settle into a proper routine now that Annabelle is on 3 solid meals a day, but even now she naps when she's tired, and i can never predict when that will be. Bedtime and meal times are the only things with any structure, but it works for us

 

[totallyashley]

Thanks for all your comments they are really helpful! I know Daisy is only a little over a week so it is impossible to put her into a routine at this age apart from the bedtime bit. I just wanted to see what everyone else was doing as at the moment I am feeling so lost!
To RJsMum, comment about my little joke about crying. I know that she crying because she wants something. I am not luckly enough to have the support of FOB so I hardly (only when my Mum is about) get to get away from her when she is constantly crying which is why sometimes when I have tried everything and it is still not worked I find it annoying/upsetting.