Does a routine become easier when baby is on solids?

[LittleDoe]

I'm clearly hoping the answer is yes!

My DS (now 5 mths) has been a really difficult baby to get into any sort of daytime routine. Nights are not bad - we generally have bath at 5.45 followed by long bf then bed at 7, which seems to work pretty well. He doesn't sleep through yet though so he can feed at different times during the night and then consequently wakes up at different times in the morning. He is also sometimes less hungry in the morning because he has had feeds in the night. This seems to make it really difficult for us to establish a decent daytime routine.

Also he is not a good sleeper during the day - it's quite hard to get him to nap in his cot, and he ends up taking most of his naps in the buggy (a nightmare just now with all the snow....) Anyway the lack of sleep makes him cranky and I usually end up giving in to a bf before one is due....

We've just started weaning him but he's only on solids once a day at the mo, so it doesn't make much difference - will this all get easier when he's on 3 meals??

I would just like him to be on some resemblance of a routine...I really thought by 5 mths he would be!

It sounds that you are doing a great job so far, I found it hard with my 2 (3 and 7) to get them into any sort of regular routine before they were on solids.

When they were, they did seem to settle more easily and get into a familiar pattern.

It took a while, at about 7-8 months I think, when he was having 3 meals a day, they both went mad for porridge in the morning, set them up for the day, no overly fussed about lunch, but hungry at dinnertime.

My DS's did not sleep thought until about a year or so plus, but then they did not wake up as often or for as long.

I think it's a case of you get one thing sorted and another things comes along, just think of it as making major to minor adjustments as you go, a set routine day in day out for weeks on end is hard to acheive and it makes it stressfull for you.

I bet he's gorgeous and chubby and lovley!

I agree with you carocaro, neither of mine were in any daytime routine before solids but once they had 'mealtimes' they did get a pattern.

It might be worth trying setting a time for morning, say 7.30, that you will wake him to get dressed if he's not awake already. I found this helped get the day going with some regularity in the early days as otherwise I'm not a routine person.

Ds2 is now 10 months and is much less demanding despite like yours having sleeps in buggy or being bf to sleep. When he isn't dependent on the milk 100% it doesn't feel so tiring working this way and can be quite useful. I did the same with ds1 and as he got more active he started sleeping more during the day and dropping off on his own for naps.

Be patient, another few weeks and things will probably be less demanding during the day from a feeding perspective.