Opinions please - 10 week old routine

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OK! We are ready to try a routine. I've just posted about my DD excess napping so am thinking now might be the time to add some structure to our days. This is my plan. What do you think?

Adviced needed and welcome...Oh I am following the Baby Whispers ideas of Sleep, Eat, Activity.

7am. Wake-up.
Eat/ Activity
8.30am - Nap Time (possibly in sling while walk dog)
9.30am -Eat/ Activity
11 am - NT
12pm - Eat/ Activity
1.30pm - NT
2.30pm - Eat/ Activity
4pm NT
5pm - Eat/Activity
6.30 - 7pm bed time

I have to say I really struggle to get my girl to stay awake for more than an hour but I am gently trying for a little more structure. Also do you think it's okay to have naps out and about.

If you have any better ideas PLEASE TELL ME!

Looks good to me...my 13 week ds has as follows:

6.30: wake up (his choice that it's so early, not ours!!)

7.30: feed

8.45-9.45: nap

10: feed

11.45-12.30(ish): nap

1: feed

2.30(ish): nap...can be anything from 20 mins to an hour...working on increasing this)

4: feed

6: bath, feed, bed

I am keen to be out and about so it's pretty flexible and the later naps are often in the pram or car. We have just followed his lead really rather than imposing it on him and seems to work...

Yes I prefer to be out and about. I am so stressed. I simply can't imagine a 2 hour afternoon nap. She doesn't stay away longer than an hour, as I've said.

I totally try to just follow her lead but this is mixed in with my desire to be out and about. Bloody Hell this is hectic.

Remember she's only 10 weeks and the main thing is to enjoy her. I was lucky that ds sort of put himself into a routine. If your dd doesn't want to yet, you might be best just to go with the flow, get out and about and let her nap on the go? Don't stress yourself too much about routines!!

watching this thread with interest i have a 10 week old too, but no routine as such. He does something for a couple of days and i think a natural routine is forming and then it all changes. Some days he sleeps for 2/3 hours in the afternoon and a couple of 20/30 min naps in the morning and other days its cat naps every few hour throughout the day.

Yes, it is OK for the baby to sleep when out and about. It sounds to me like you are pretty stressed out so you need to get out of the house and get some fresh air.

As to the routine, try to monitor whatever happens now. If you were just to answer DD needs what would that look like. Take note of every nap, feed, nappy changing for about a week. See if you find a pattern. Then see how that matches with the routine you would like. Then try and change one thing at a time. Increase activity time by 5 - 10 minutes every day for example.

Hope this helps.

I know it looks like you will never get your life back and that is true. But you will get into a routine pretty soon. Babies/children like routine. It is just that not always the routine we had in mind.

For us it worked monitoring her, then finding a pattern and then we had a routine that everyone was happy because everyone knew what to expect. Of course the routine is never rigid always flexible, but it is much less stressful.

Oh i need help with this napping.

My baby is 9 weeks old and this is the routine as follows.

8am - wake- feed

She just wont go to sleep at all, and is sooo ratty

11am- feed and then usually sleep on and off till..

3PM - FEED

and ratty on and off till ..

6pm- bath and bed.

She just gets so ratty and nothing i do will get her to sleep

how do you all manage it??

Okay do beware growth spurts mess up any routine. They need to sleep a lot this age.

I am not sure that the words "10 week old baby and routine" can realistically exist. Although I think a lot of it depends on how you feed your baby.

I breastfed my daughter which meant that she was basically fed on demand. Also, she was small so feeding at set times was not an option. I would just go with the flow because if you try and set a routine and your daughter wrecks it you will just get more stressed.

xkatyx we are in the same boat with napping - 10 week old DS gets increasingly hysterical with tiredness through the day.

He never just 'drifts off' so it's hard to know what his 'natural' routine or rhythm is.

I think he's best if we front-load sleep in the morning - if he gets a decent 90 min nap within an hour or so of waking, and another couple of hours around lunchtime then the days are much easier, and he actually smiles and appears to have fun.

On days when we miss his first nap window (very easily done as I have 2 year old DD) he won't settle anywhere for more than 20 mins and is a right mess by the end of the day (as am I!)

So how do we get them to sleep!! I am 99% certain it's overtiredness. He twitches and wakes up, whereas when he's not overtired he'll twitch but then settle peacefully back to sleep.

Oddly, he will settle quietly at 7pm, regardless of how much of little sleep he's had in the day. It's just that he's miserable for the rest of the day, poor thing.

In all honesty, I would just go with the flow a bit lot more.

Maybe aim for one or two fixed points in the day - perhaps bedtime - and a trip out during the day at - say 11am or 12. Gives the day some structure and takes away your focus from what your baby is/is not doing.

In my experience they find their own sort of little routine around the 12 week mark, and then it all goes to hell in a handcart at 4 months.

my grandson lives with us and he is 10 weeks,we have never thought about a routine he basically does his own thing.I take him down about 8am and give him a feed,he either goes back to sleep or sits in his bouncy chair while i get my breakfast.

he either naps or goes on his mat,we take him out most days and he sleeps in his pram for a couple of hours,once the pram is back and stops he usually wakes up.

he is really good and once fed at night sleeps right through,he is a happy little boy.

Tbh, it sounds far too regimented. My children are now 9, 8 and 4 but when they were 10 weeks old we didn't follow a routine as such, every day was different. That's the beauty of newborns - they're v portable and you can more or less carry on as before but with the baby in tow!

My dds used to nap anywhere - in the car, going for walks in the pram. It doesn't matter - babies sleep as and when they need to. If you like to be out and about, can't she just sleep in the pram or car? You don't have to be at home.

Errm, not sure what you mean about activity. I didn't 'do' anything specific with my dds at that age - they fed, slept, nappy changes, had cuddles, chats, bit of sitting in the baby chair watching the world go by, bit of time under the baby gym etc....all very as and when.

Dh and I used to go out in the evening quite a bit and take the baby with us.

I would try and relax and enjoy your baby and don't worry about the routine. You can start to encourage a bedtime routine from 5/6 months or so if you like.

Advise please 10 week old routine

Hiya looking for a bit of advise. I am a first time mom to a beautiful 10 week old baby boy, I have read several posts on here about routines: what to do what not to do. With me I find that each day is different and my little ones sleep/ awake time is different every day. His morning wake and feed time and evening feed/bath/ bedtime is the same, but it's everything in between that seems to be 'go with the flow'. Is that ok, should I be trying more structure during the day? I visit family/ friends during the day which I enjoy and they enjoy having cuddles with my little one. Am I ok to carry on doing this or should I be at home to allow a more structured routine or just carry on letting him sleep en route to and from places? I also feel guilty if I am laying him on his play mat whilst I do a bit of housework, should I be cuddling him or giving him constant attention or is he ok to play on his play mat.
Any advise you have I would be greatful of