Routine or not routine??

[fridh74]

Hi all,

Just wonder if you can please send me your routine for your 5/6 or 7 weeks baby if you have any or trying to stick to one? I bottle feed and are interesting to find out what other mums do...

If you can please include feeding, playtime, bedtime routine etc that would be great!!

Thanks

Fridh74

With ds1 I routined to the extreme!! Everything was scheduled in.
When ds2 arrived 18 months later, I wondered whether feeding on demand was teaching my baby not to sleep or settle for longer than 4 hours at a time, so I fed him on demand.
Ds2 didn't really have his own routine, he had to slip into ds1's.
I can't now remember the exact timings for everything, so not much help, I know.

I just wanted to say, there is no right or wrong and you just need to find what works for you both.
But then, even if you started feeding on demand, you might find your lo routines himself.

a feed every 3 hours or so and a sleep around every 1 1/2 to 2 hours was what we did. Dont think we had a bedtime routine till they were older.

I can only tell you what I remember.

Ds1 was BF but from about 4 weeks old was a 3hourly feeder. He got himself into Gina Ford's routine naturally. I'd never heard of her before but I read the book at a friends once and ds1 was doing her exact routine pretty much.

7am- wake up, full feed, nappy change.
Then he'd lie on his playmat whilst I sorted myself out.
9am- would fall asleep for around 45 mins/1 hour.
10ish- wake up, nappy change.
10.30ish- full feed. Then sitting on my knee listening to my awful beautiful singing/playing on mat/out in garden.
12noon- Fell asleep for 2ish hours.
2.30ish- full feed, nappy change, then a walk to shops or whatever.
5.30pm- feed from one breast, then bath, in pj's etc
6.30pm- sit on bed with him in dark and feed from 2nd breast. He'd be conked out by 7pm.

At this age he was waking at 12midnight and 3am for feeds but gradually started sleeping through the midnight feed and just waking at 3am. Then just stopped waking at 3am and sleeping through from around 16weeks.

With ds2 I just went with the flow as well. Fed when he wanted, slept when he wanted and now at 22weeks is in exactly the same routine as the above but still with night feeds. He did this himself in the last week or so.

Hi all,

Thank you for your replies.

I am a new mum and more worried about things then I thought I be. I am trying to get some type of routine but not sure if she is to young only 5 weeks on monday. She is however, on some type of pattern +/- one hour from day to day. Just worried if I am keeping her up o much or trying to get her to sleep etc. Haven't quite worked out the different cries as of yet but getting there.

Thanks again

Just another question, what if you are out and about and miss a feed, do you wake them up around at the expected time for feed? Even if this is every three hours or on a routine?

If your DD is pretty much the same from one day to the next it sounds like she is getting her own routine and I would just follow that really. There's no harm in tweaking it slightly though if you feel it would work better for you.

Ds's both used to sleep a lot in the pram when out and about so I just used to leave them to it and go and have a coffee in peace. They soon let me know when they where hungry and it was never usually more than half hour after their normal feed time anyway.

As for sleeping what seona did/does was the best tip I learned. A baby starts to get tired around 1 1/2-2hrs from when they last woke up so look for sleepy cues.

I think they say daytime sleep at this age should be about 5 hours (I maybe wrong though) so maybe an hour in the morning, 2 1/2-3 hrs at lunchtime and an hour in late afternoon, early evening. Obviously this will get less and less as she gets older.

Your baby will have her own routine - just watch her and do what she asks - you'll soon see it.