When did you start a 'routine'?

[LittleMilla]

Ds2 is a week old. I'm not planning to start him on a schedule any time soon, but curious to know what the norm is for ppl? Esp second babies as I'm sure that most are already in some form of routine for their other ones?

Ds1 was a pita re:sleep and I'm slightly paranoid about not getting in to the same habits. However, ds2 doesn't appear to possess the self settling gene and I'm already fretting slightly about not letting him rely on 'props' to fall asleep. I'm currently feeding to sleep most of the time or he's in the pushchair/sling.

Btw - I'm absolutely loving every second of him vs first time round. In no hurry to stop snuggling and sniffing him!

We started our routine at around 7/8 weeks with both DS1 and DS2. We found if helped as got both of them to settle relatively well for naps and night. Both in their own rooms from 8 weeks though so found that helped; although that's not for everyone. There's only 17 months between my two so a routine is very important to me!

We started bath, story and bottle in dark room at 6 weeks old. Ds was still in our room then but his moses basket was in our room but we would be downstairs on an evening.

I sort of built a routine around DD when she started sleeping, followed her cues. Until 8 weeks there was no order to anything, she just slept on either me or boyfriend, and we co-slept. It was lovely and we actually got quite a lot of sleep. I'm really glad I didn't stress about a routine at that time.

Around 6 weeks she started sleeping long stretches so we would sometimes put her in her moses basket, in the main room with us in the evening and then in our bedroom at night.

Around 4 months I think it was obvious she could get excited and overstimulated by things around her, so we started a "bedtime routine" to take her away from it. It was just a brief thing then, a feed and a cuddle in a quieter room and a rock to sleep. It's more extended nowadays (specific time, low lights, books, cup of water, change, breastfeed, cuddles till she sleeps).

We moved her into her own room at 8 months and the routine's been quite strict since then. I ensure she gets good naps (though they are often in the sling, pushchair, my arms - whatever, not fussed).

So I did things gently and slowly and she's always been a happy baby (and a good sleeper other than during developmental spurts - but I think babies just vary on that front).

She is now 10 months old, she still can't self settle at all, and she often sleeps 6.30-6.30 with one brief bf and no other wakings. Go figure.

So my experience has been the "bad habits" have just been a nice way to keep everyone happy and meet her needs and my own, and they have disappeared naturally with time, but obviously babies vary.

We started putting DD down to sleep from 7.30ish in her moses basket at about 10 weeks, I would feed her when I came to bed and then she'd be back in with us from her next wake up (around 3.30/4). Then I started working on putting her back down after that feed, and at about 16ish weeks we had cracked that so it meant I could feed her and pop her back into the basket. Establishing that took a couple of weeks of effort (I would feed her then put her down, pick up again if she cried. Repetitive some nights, but did the job in the end).

She moved into her own room at about 6.5 months, and now sleeps through as she rolls herself over onto her tummy to do it. I think establishing the putting down really helped - it meant middle of the night feeds weren't big dramas, and helped her learn how to self settle.

I think around 2 weeks we started to feed, bath/ wash, change, routine at the same time ish, then pop into Moses basket with a lullaby. Stayed sleeping in lounge until 6/7 months and moved at bedtime into cot in our room.

We still share a room now ( due to space), and do milk in cup, bath/ wash, teeth, change, story, song. As I didn't want milk to be associated with bed so moved last feed to before getting ready instead. They are now toddlers and have always settled very well

Oh and we always have done ' bedtime ' later at around 9pm as less stressful for everyone. We all have time to play/ go out/ stay out later with baby/ toddler without pressure of keeping the routine as the ' routine' didn't start until later.
I also used to cluster feed in early eve without any pressure of getting them to sleep

At 2 and 3 they sleep 9pm-9am most days which is fantastic and much more practical for us than 7-7. Relaxed eves where we can eat out/ take them jogging, or relax after one of us gets back from work. And them lie ins at weekends and in week for whoever is working from home with them.

Very early on.. even though they didn't get put to bed, it was the building blocks to later on.

Immediately, though I was a week in hospital so I suppose a week old. As worryingtrend says, we just picked a time and made a bedtime out of it. We knew he (and she and he again) would be up again in a couple of hours but it made a routine bedtime that was easy to stick to and gave us a couple of hours peace every evening.

I kind of had a "routine" from about a week old. Not rigid, more of bath / wash / pyjamas and quiet time from about 8pm. She slept through from about 12 weeks (10pm til 6am) but she was a big baby and was very predictable with regards to sleeping / eating from a few days old. I didn't impose a routine, dd just set it herself and I learned it. Plus, even from tiny, she didn't sleep during the day in huge amounts so I reckon she was (luckily) just more tired at night.

Now, at 3, we still stick to bath, pyjamas, milk and story bedtime routine. We just change the time, depending whats going on, earlier if she's tired, later if we are doing something with friends or family.

6 weeks. Until then, went with the flow!

She was sleeping through at 7 weeks, in her own room at 9 weeks, dream feed dropped at 16 weeks - bliss ever since

Thanks all for replies, really interesting.

We had a pretty shit night of feeding every 1.5/2 hours, combined with me having an upset tum . He'd done four hour stretches the previous two nights and so I'm guessing he wanted to up my supply. Fingers crossed tonight will be better. Although I know that it's all perfectly normal at this age.

DH keen to start the bath bed routine as we do for ds1, so I might just start it if/when he's awake (or due to be) around 7 ish which is when ds1 goes for bath. So not be rigid about it, but gradually phase it in perhaps?