Candy
Here's some info I thought made sense for me:
Establishing a routine for your baby's life has benefits for both you and her. A routine isn't exactly the same as a schedule; babies are too unpredictable and constantly changing to establish a rigid schedule and expect it to last. A routine gives your baby a sense of structure and allows you to plan your days as well -- always realizing that circumstances can and do change over time, requiring a routine revision as your baby grows.
PSYCHOLOGICAL BENEFITS
Most people and babies are people like knowing what's going to happen next. Small children especially like the security of knowing what comes next, which is why they enjoy watching the same movies and reading the same books over and over. Knowing what comes next helps a baby stay calm, even when he can't articulate his feelings. Babies who know what to expect out of life have less stress. So do their parents. If every day is a roller coaster with no one controlling the train, everyone on it feels stress and wonders whether all their needs will be met that day.
BENEFITS FOR PARENTS
You can establish a structure for your baby. Tracy Hogg, author of "The Baby Whisperer" book series, calls it E.A.S.Y, which stands for eat, activity, sleep and you. This allows you to plan to fit in your daily needs as well as those of your baby. While the number of times your baby naps, eats and plays and the length of each activity will change as he gets older, the basic order of eating, activity, sleeping and taking time for yourself remains in place. You can plan on running errands during his activity time and know that you will finally get time to shower during his sleep time.
SLEEP BENEFITS
Establishing a routine helps to avoid one of the major issues of infancy: the baby who won't sleep. When you develop a sleep routine, you can create a relaxed atmosphere that incorporates quality time with your baby. It can include giving him a massage or bath, reading to him, rocking or singing and a final relaxed feeding before sleep. While bedtime won't be the same exact time every night, your baby will begin to associate sleep with the enjoyable routine that precedes it. An effective sleep routine benefits parents as well as babies, since you will all get the sleep you need.
FUTURE BENEFITS
Children who live with families that have established routines develop a sense of competence and self-reliance, as well as the security of belonging to a group, Janette Benson, professor of psychology at the University of Denver, explains in "Social and Emotional Development in Infancy and Early Childhood." Children who live with routines also do better in school and experience fewer behavior problems. Living with routines might also help your infant adapt more easily to the structure of school and the ability to follow directions in the future.
From the live strong website