Daytime Routines

[Lisamic86]

My LO is 7 months and I don’t really have a very strict/set daytime routine in terms of when she feeds & naps etc & it can change daily in terms of times. im starting to think maybe now I should introduce one as I feel I’m struggling to plan things in for the day as I never know when she will nap until that morning when she’s first woke. Can anyone recommend if they follow a strict routine & how this works or if a more relaxed approach works for you? We do have a very good bedtime routine in place but again times change for this depending on when she has last napped in the afternoon. Maybe this works for people & I need to lighten up but just want advice. Thanks

[mindutopia]

I'm is older now, but at that age, we didn't follow a strict routine. I'm not really a routine kind of person. I did make sure no matter what that she got her naps and that she went to bed roughly the same time of day (give or take about 30-45 minutes or so for bedtime), but the specific timing of naps didn't matter during the day. But she never slept in a cot for naps as I never wanted to be stuck at home, so from very early on, she always slept either in a wrap or in the car on the way somewhere or in the pushchair. So I made plans for the day and just went and she slept on the way or once we got there depending on what it was. I was really strict that we didn't skip naps. I know some people will keep them up if they have something they want to do, but naps were always a priority for us, just didn't matter when they happened or where. If she fell asleep too late in the day, I would keep the nap shorter and wake her so she didn't sleep so much that she wasn't tired at bedtime. This always seemed to work and we never really had any trouble at bedtime other than the usual things (like sickness, teething, etc.). This worked for us, but like I said, I'm really not a routine person.

[buckyou]

I've got a 7mo and a 2 year old and the little one just has to fit in with whatever we are doing really!

He gets up about 7 normally and then will have his breakfast followed by morning bottle and has his first nap around 9 or 10. Everything gets a bit muddled after that. He seems quite happy to go with the flow. Just do what you feel is best for you.

[Lisamic86]

Great, thank you both!

[Cuppaqueen]

We do have a regular routine for our 6 month old and it works well for us in predicting roughly when he'll nap, when would be a good time to take him out etc.

Times are give or take half an hour or so:

7am Wake up & BF (if he wakes before then eg 5ish, I bring him in bed with us and he'll normally go back to sleep)
8am breakfast
9am or 2 hours after he woke - nap (usually 40 mins to an hour, can be up to 90 mins after which I would wake him)
BF on waking
11.30am lunch
12.30-1 (or 2 to 2.5 hrs after he woke) BF then nap for up to two hours, usually 90 mins ish
2.30-3pm BF
5pm tea
6pm bath or wash, story and BF
7pm bed
10pm dreamfeed

He's just dropped a third nap although he might have a doze if we're out in the afternoon. Other naps all in cot unless he's having major teething/ development spurt.

We like that there's a couple of windows between 10-12 and 3-5 that we can pretty reliably arrange to do things. And I like having two solid naps when I can get stuff done myself. But each to their own!