Routines....has one worked for you?

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I found The Baby Whisperer book for 99p in a charity shop today so I bought it and have started reading it, just out of curiosity of course.
I wanted to know how the routine had gone if people had tried it, good and bad experiences please, and I'm not trying to start an argument!
I have never intended to put my baby in a routine as I couldn't understand how it would be possible to get them to eat/sleep when they don't want to, but it seems to work for some babies, so that can't be a bad thing can it?

Come on, someone must have an opinion/experience to share!

helloooo yes routine worked for us (read GF) thought most of it was hideous so took logical base from it (ie when to feed them! when to try and nap and go to BED) PLUS I SOMETIMES USED IT FOR BIT OF A REFERENCE BOOK RE: SLEEP TIPS ETC ooops sorry and thats about it. went form there and have a wonderful 2 yr old and happy home life for us all. i get the impression from mumsnet that most people do a hybrid of baby whisperer and gina ford. its about finding your routine and what works for you. enjoy. different things work for different people so lots of posters here will start banging on about co-sleeping and baby led weaning. Its each to their own and what suits you as a family

I had my first baby in a fairly regular routine (of my own devising) by about four months iirc. By 6 months she was napping for 30-45 minutes at about 9.30 in the morning, another hour and a half to two hours in the early afternoon (either in her cot or the pram if I wanted to go out and walk or shop) after which she could manage to stay awake until 8pm and sleep through to 6-7 am.

It was a loose routine and we sort of cobbled it together ourselves and it worked very well.

By the time she was 12 months she was on one long two hour nap a day which usually started at about 12.30pm. As she got older, the nap time naturally pushed back to 1pm then 1.30pm, but she carried on sleeping for two hours a day until about her third birthday.

It wasn't quite so easy with ds, but we followed similar timings at least - although he often had to nap at toddler group or on the nursery run and just generally fit into our established routine, rather than having me focus everything on his needs - but that's the difference between a pfb and every subsequent baby, I guess .

Before i had dc1 i was watching so many baby programmes trying to get an idea of what to do with a baby.

I found the baby whisperer the best and after dd was around 6 months i attempted the control crying and after one week she was into the routine of having bath at 6pm and in bed by 8pm and small naps during the day.

With ds it was so much easier as dd was already in a routine so he just fell into the same routine quickly.

The best thing i ever did was get them into a routine as it makes life so much easier and the dc are so used to it they keep reminding me its past their bed time if i try keep them up late!

Yes a loose routine.However it is easy with one,when then next baby comes along it's much harder to instill a routine and they have to fit in with DC1's activities.

Thanks for your replies. I want my baby to be able to get to sleep a bit earlier at night as she always seems over tired, but she is sleeping through at the moment (10.30-7) at nearly 3 months so maybe I should be glad for that and not mess with her own routine!?

You'll probably find now that your DD will naturally want to start going to sleep earlier in the evenings.
So then you can do a dreamfeed at 10:30 so she'll still go through the night.