Are you planning on doing a routine with your baby?

[Saffra]

Originally, I was planning to be quite 'baby led' (esp when baby was very little) but after dipping into a couple of books - Baby Secrets and Baby Whisperer - I am now thinking that trying a routine would be beneficial, but I'm not sure really as don't want to make life unneccessarily stressful!

I am planning to breast-feed but will also be returning to PT work very soon - albeit working from home. DH will have 3 weeks pat leave. Can't really take lots of time off (as run my own business). So, because of my work circumstances, I'm thinking some kind of structure to my day will be essential.

So.... are you planning on a routine of any kind? If so, which particular one???

Thanks everyone for their comments, they have been really helpful! As I've been incredibly focused on my business (as it's still a young business and DH and I are reliant on it generating a good income), it's been difficult for me to imagine downing tools and completely changing direction with things. But, now there's only 11 weeks to go, I hope I have put enough plans in place to manage/cope with things when the baby arrives. Along with planning the nursery and buying baby things, I have been interviewing this week for a PT assistant.

threefeethighandrising - Actually, I have prepared myself for it being a mini nightmare, so anything better than that will be a huge bonus! Mumsnet is littered with stories of how hard the early days are, so this is what I will be expecting - to the point where DH thinks I'm being overly negative. But hey, it's mainly me that will be dealing with things, so I can have low expectations if I want!

It's unfortunate that DH can't be at home longer. It is sad that our culture doesn't allow for this. We did look into a greater paternity leave period, as were keen for him to be as involved as possible but, it's not financially viable.
threefeethighandrising - I have decided that I will only be working very minimally in the first few months (and basically nothing in the first few weeks, if I can help it). Fortunately, my work is flexible, and I will (THANKFULLY) have back-up support as well for all the day-to-day work.

My work will primarily be checking that all is running ok. It's not like freelance work for a client, where I need quality brainpower switched on for long periods of time. I don't think I could do that!

Once DH returns to work at 3 weeks, I have planned for my mum to come around in the afternoon for short periods. So, I was hoping to do a few bits of work then, primarily urgent phone calls.

We are looking at PT childcare from 6 months+.

Adair - good luck! The planning stage is very exciting - full of possibilities - but nothing beats seeing your efforts being rewarded.

Hi Saffra,
This just reminded me how I planned to introduce a routine and loved the Baby whisperer book and Gina Ford. Wrote long emails to my friends about them and being excited that I found the way. But then the baby arrived... I was so desperate to keep the routines. Most of the time when my baby was asleep I was going through the books desperately trying to find some solutions to my problems and left me very stressed out. My problem was that my baby was quite big at birth and wanted to feed a lot more than the books suggested the baby should feed. So I could not really fit his feeding needs into the recommended times. And I did try. Also the milk contains some hormone (Sorry Can't remember which one) which makes them quite sleepy during the feed and after. So again I got stressed out that sometimes the baby just wanted to sleep even though he was supposed to PLAY. (E.A.S.Y.) I spent a lot of time trying to wake him up or keep him awake but often was just losing the battle.
I think one good passage in the Baby whisperer book is about learning to read their signals. There is no point in putting them to sleep at certain times when they are just not sleepy so just watch out for those signals and it will make putting them to sleep easier. Dont't forget that as they get older they will be able to stay awake longer and longer so you can't really rely on exact times for long.
As I work for a family business I was helping out in the company from time to time since my baby was 4 weeks and it has been very stressful. The baby picks up on it and becomes more difficult. I wish now I would not had done anything for at least 4-6 months.
I just should have relaxed more and followed my baby and slept when my baby slept. Hopefully I will when I have another baby.

I'd forgotten that about EASY (baby whisperer). For most babies it should be ESYA!

I didn't find the early days/weeks a nightmare but I think that was because I had no expectations and did nothing but baby for the first 6 weeks! I literally just fed him, carried him in a stretchy sling (Close carrier) and slept with him and he was luckily very contented really. However I was a bit ambitious and had planned to submit two pieces of my degree coursework in October (ds was born in August) - managed to do one but no chance of getting the other one done.

From 6-8 weeks onwards we started doing some routiney things like bath-feed in the bedroom-bed at around the time ds had started falling asleep in the evening (think it was 9/10ish at first but gradually got earlier), offering a feed after 2.5 hours in the day if he hadn't already asked, keeping him awake for an hour or two before bedtime. A predicatable feeding/napping routine naturally fell into place by about 4 or 5 months without any stress or crying.