Scheduled babies- how’d they work out?

[EverybodyJumpsuit]

There are lots of books apps and websites promoting various baby routines- I know there’s one major one who cannot be discussed on mumsnet. But there are others!

my DC are 8+4 now so I’m totally out of the loop.

tried to schedule DC1 for about 3 weeks before giving up. One NCT mum was maniacal about sticking to timings, she had no family support and was very isolated. Seemed like schedule made this worse not better but who knows? We lost touch anyway.

im wondering if the parents who did use the kind of minute by minute routines- how long did you do it for, and if your DC are older now, do you think it had any long term impacts either way?

please don’t name the schedule you used! Just in general…

I've also seen the same people posting on social media recommending what they did and how their child sleeps really well, which isn't what's going on behind the scenes!

SWCBN also did another book for multiple kids didn’t she?
seems like it worked pretty well for some though.
i remember with a new born reading it and feeling like I would do some damage by failing to have a routine… maybe that sort of thing was more popular 7 years ago….

Another NICU baby that came home from hospital on a schedule. She was a brilliant sleeper, still is, and I've never had to wake her up for school (14 now) and can sleep anywhere, anytime which is great for travelling. I think of it as my reward for 14 years of hospital appointments 🤭.

My dd was a big baby (9.5lbs) who slept and ate well after about 3 weeks when we got into routine. Was sleeping through the night by 10 weeks) about 10-6am with no waking up. As they were putting on weight hv said no need to wake. Was sleeping 7.30-7am by 4 months. We had the same evening routine from 8 weeks- calm music, bath, massage, feed.

Another one with a NICU baby here. We were def more routine driven than the rest of my NCT group - partially as we tried to stick to the NICU schedule but also i was triple feeding (breast, formula top ups and expressed top ups) to keep my supply going and DD gaining weight, so i felt like i had to stick to a schedule to keep life having some semblance of normality and not feeling like a milked cow. DD slept through from relatively early on - we didnt do CIO, but pick up put down instead. Like a pp, i feel like her being a good sleeper is compensation for the absolutely awful time we had to get her to gain weight though!!