Basic question on Routines - any experts out there?

[pollyjw]

Hi, I've decided to try to introduce a bit of a routine to our day, basically in the hope that my DS (9 months) will learn when mealtimes and start eating something!

Q - when it goes a bit wrong (ie DS didn't settle for his nap till an hour later than usual) do you wake up based on original plan to keep mealtimes right or let them sleep the right length of time, mealtimes slipping a bit? Sorry so basic, i'm sure i used to be able think these sort of problems through without the endless debate that seems to accompany every decision these days!

That entirely depends what you feel the 'fixed point' of your routine (where you restart from) every day is and what you're targeting.

Rather than looking it as a routine with set times you (and your DS) might find it easier to think of it as a structure - A is followed by B, which is followed by C, D, E etc. So nap is followed by playtime, which is followed by tea, which is followed by a bath, which is followed by cuddles, which is followed by feed and then bed. The times are, IMO, largely irrelevant.

If you were targeting bedtime for 7pm every night to sort out his day/night sleeps I would say absolutely wake your DS so he will be awake and go down at the right time, but you're not so knowing your DS will he be too tired to eat if you wake him? As you are targeting mealtimes I would personally wake your DS up unless you think he'll be heinously overtired and not want to eat, which would be counterproductive.

When my dd was 9 mo she got up at 7 and had a BF, then breakfast about 8. Then play and a little snack before her nap about 10.30. Then lunch about 1, more play and sleep again about 3. Another snack when she woke up and then tea at 6 with all of us, bath at 7 then bed at 7.30. She has all her meals sitting at the table with us, I think that helps.

I'd wake them at original time to keep mealtimes on track to keep their body clock on the straight and narrow and help their circadian rhythms (body clock) get sorted for eating in the day and sleeping at night. At 9m my kids had a 7-7 routine with meals at 8ish, 12ish and 5:30ish (and milk first thing and last thing), sleep 9-9:30am and 12:30-2:30pm. If I let them sleep later in the morning then they wouldn't settle for lunchtime nap, and end up either overtired at bedtime, or having only just got up from a nap so not happy to go back to bed again! Its the nap after lunch that they tend to keep for years, so that's the one I protected. Dd dropped her morning nap at 11m but ds still has one at 16m. HTH.