Routines - Who has them, what are they and did things get easier?

[LuckySalem]

My DD is becoming a complete nightmare (she's awake now cos she's been asleep all afternoon and wouldn't wake up) I've spoken to the HV who says she needs a routine. I always thought you couldn't get routines with someone this young (4 months on weds) but she is adament it will stop her from being so wingey and up at gone midnight.

Should I start one and if so what should be included? Also how do you start a routine? How do you persuade a wide awake girl to go to sleep at 7pm?

Any ideas will be grateley appreciated.
Cheers

With ds, I tried to fit him into a routine of my devising and it was very hard. With dd, I devised a routine around what she seemed to want to do and when, this worked much better.

I have to say, bedtime routines were really helpful. There is only a 15 month age gap between my 2 and once I got dd to go to bed at 7pm at about 4 months (with a dream feed at about 11.00pm), dh and I felt we had got our lives back. It made such a difference to us. Likewise, getting them both to have an afternoon nap at the same time gave me 2 hours peace for about a year.