routine?

[alli01452]

does any one know what age babies start getting into feed and sleep routines?

[Rycie]

Alli - i think it depends totally on the temperament of the child and the parent, some people get their babies into routines as early as a month - personally I got into a routine with my dd when she was three month olds.

[totallyawesome]

IME round about the 4mth mark, but it does vary hugely. My DD was in a very strict self-imposed regime by 16weeks. A friend's child never really settled into one at all. To be honest, I don't know what's best - knowing for a fact that you need to be in a position to provide food/a bed (had to be her own) at specific times (and therefore not really get out much!) or have a laid back one that would spring it on you unexpectedly.

I got used to the routine and now she's a laid back dream.

[alli01452]

i'm new and what is the crack with dd's and dc's

[Rycie]

Darling daughter - check out the acronym list. How old is your baby - is it a dd or ds?

[CharCharGabor]

DD wasn't a routine type baby, so everything was totally random with her. She fed, slept, played etc when she wanted to and was very happy and contented with that. She's still not really in a routine now at 2.2, we do things at different times every day. I will say, though, that she was slightly more predictable with sleeping around the 6/7 month mark. Feeding stayed on demand though.

[sweetnitanitro]

DD got herself into a nap routine at around 3 months but some days she would sleep more or less depending on growth spurts. I didn't try to force her into any routine, I just let her sleep when she was tired and feed on demand.

[alli01452]

how do you know whether they are hungry or just eating there hands
ds 16 weeks

[alli01452]

or just trying to get to sleep?

[Rycie]

alli - I think with a bit of time one gets better at reading your babies signals, and differentiating between their cries. It helped me to keep an eye on the time - not from a rigid control perspective but for example, with eating - a baby at that age generally needs to feed every 3 hours, so if its been 2.45hr since his last feed and he's fussing - there's a good chance she's hungry.

Same as with sleeping - again he probably can't manage being awake for more than 1h30-2h00, so if he's been awake for that long, its probably a good idea to put her down for a nap.

My dd always starts to rub her eyes and pull at her ear for example when she's tired, you will get to know the signals of your ds.

The most helpful (and relaxed!) book I read about this is called Baby Sense, it explains a lot about what babies need and how to read their signals, and gives guidance as to an appropriate flexible routine for each age.

A link to it is here
www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_0_10?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=baby%20sense%20book&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 ix=baby+sense&x=17&y=20

Also you can check out their website for some high level info www.babysense.co.za

[HeidiT]

I started Gina Ford at 8 weeks and it was great. She was kind of in the routine by then anyway so it was easy to follow. I like knowing what I am doing of a day so rioutines are great. We hardly have any crying as I know what she is expecting at what times. It worked really well for us and now she is asleep by 6:30 every night unless something is wrong with her (teething etc) and we have the whole night to ourselves.