Baby has no routine at all, how to start?

[OnlyLove321]

how should I start a routine with LO? He is almost 6 months and every day is so different. I wake up when he wakes (6am-8.30am) and then just do wake windows of 2-2.5 hours. Naps vary in length from 30mins to 2 hours and bedtime can be 7-9pm depending on when last nap ended. any tips on making the day more structured?

I never had a strict routine, and routines change as babies grow and drop naps etc. But I do think having a consistent bedtime is beneficial. This may mean you have to curtail the final nap of the afternoon for a few days if it's running late but hopefully you'll find that a consistent bedtime will reduce variability in morning wake time, and so naps will then fall early enough in the day to suit bedtime. Along with this, now you're at weaning age I think it helps to have consistent meal times. But it's all definitely more an art than a science!

There are websites that make them for you.
Can't think of any to hand but i used one as a base and modified it a bit.

Put in wake up time that suits best and it should give you a readymade schedule.

Found this on google just now. Hopefully the link takes you to the right place.

www.nanit.com/blogs/baby-sleep-schedule/6-month-old-sleep-schedule

Hey OP, I sympathise, I really struggled with a routine as baby fed on demand and napped on the go a lot, but I found weaning really useful for getting into one. It forced me to have set times for meals and then the feeds and naps naturally settled around them. That being said things will still change but it should be easier to tweak as you’ll have your structure there. I’d also try to have a set bath/bed time if you can and work on naps around that as a previous poster suggested. Good luck!

I used to use bits of the baby whisperer but I am sure there are loads of options online now, so see what might suit

They adapt quite quickly

I didn't bother until we started weaning- then your day revolves around 3 meal times and thing fall easily into place.

Ditto pp. have a set bedtime and the rest of the routine will follow, although for us getting up was a bit varied until at least 18 months. Adjust the naps to make sure you hit that bedtime. Children thrive on routine. Regular mealtimes will help too.

DC1 didn’t have a ‘by the clock’ routine until he was firmly on 2 naps and 3 meals, so maybe 8 or 9 ish months.

You can create good foundations though. I would have a set wake up time personally plus potentially a set bedtime (although I’d keep this a bit flexible if naps have been a disaster). If 6am is a relatively common wake up time for him, I’d start getting him up at that time every single day no matter how your night has gone. I’d then start aiming to put him to bed at roughly 7pm. After a few weeks, I think you’ll find stuff solidifying around that, especially with the introduction of food.

Routine was something me and my daughter developed together.
I never recorded awake windows. I never looked at the clock but we found some rhythm to the day regardless.
We got up around 10. She woke up a bit earlier around 8.30 but was happy to have cuddles and play in the bed whilst I came too. She had a feed whilst I had breakfast and a drink. Not long after she and a nap. The was usually a short nap. A bit of play if we could and then I had lunch and she had a feed. We then went for a long walk and she had a 2h nap. Home for play and a feed then we did dinner she had another nap and slept on me until I went up to bed at 10. Or I took her to bed at 7 and she slept on me until I went to bed at 10.

This routine developed between 5 and 7 months. Prior to this she fed every 90 minutes, slept whenever I could persuade her too and spent the vast majority of the day 16-20h screaming!

I started with getting into a consistent bedtime between 16-20 weeks old. Once bedtime was consistent, DS getting up for the day became consistent (within a 20-30 minute window). Once getting up was consistent, naps became more predictable. I think by 6m he was on 4 30min naps a day (could not get him to link sleep cycles for the longest time!!) and I capped the last nap of the day so he was awake about 2h before bedtime (this got longer as he dropped naps).

He still woke through the night til about 11m so it wasn't that having a consistent bedtime made him sleep through, but it did help us with a routine during the day.

I've never bothered with my second after making my life hell by trying with my first. She wakes for the day when she wakes 🤷🏻‍♀️ which could be 5am onwards, up to about 7am. Then she naps at about 9am unless she woke super early. Then another early afternoon. Then bedtime by about 7pm, usually no later than 8pm. Just go with it! So long as her day follows a pattern, I don't stress. So she wakes, has a BF, has breakfast, has a BF to fall asleep for her nap, then snack when she wakes, then lunch, then another BF and nap, then snack, then dinner, then BF and bed.