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Original poster

Morning to bedtime routine

52 replies

xaneesx · 11/10/2015 20:29

My little one is now 3 months and he sleeps throughout the night a whole 12 hours. Thought id share my routine for any mummys looking for tips :)

7:30am wakes and has a 6oz bottle usually finishes by 8:00am
8:00am -9:00am he likes to play. Whilst im having my breakfast.
9:00am :12:00. He will usually take a nap whilst i get all my housework, cooking etc done.
12:00 he will have another 6oz bottle i will then change him for the day and quickly have some lunch myself.
1:00pm we usually go out, run errands, go to the park or into town do some shopping visit family or friends etc. usually get back around 5ish.
5:00pm he will have another 6oz bottle finished about 5:30 and he will play or take a cat nap till 6:30 whilst i have my dinner.
6:30pm i get him ready for his bath. I bath him every night as i feel it helps him sleep better also love the smell of a clean baby haha. When out of the bath around 7:00pm i give him a little massage with baby oil as it helps relax his muscles and settle down for bed. By 7:30 he is in his pjs.
7:30pm last feed of the day a 6oz bottle and after that i lay him in his cot and read a book, although he dont understand i like doing it anyway. By 8:00pm latest he is in bed and sleeps throughout the whole night.
8:00pm have some me time!

Hope this helps remember every baby is different so may not settle into a routine just yet. Dont feel disheartened as im sure every mum is doing an amazing job :D

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ffffffedup · 12/10/2015 20:11

My ds was very similar around this age he's now 7mo has a similar routine but is more awake than is asleep these days he sleeps around 12/13 hours a night. A lot of people on here are against a routine so young but I'm a big fan I did a bedtime routine with all 3 of mine from day 1 and they all slept through from around 2 months (before that waking for a feed around 4 then going back to sleep )

polkadotdelight · 12/10/2015 20:17

My one year old has never ever had a 7.30am wake up, we start at 6am or earlier, they are all so different..

Iguessyourestuckwithme · 12/10/2015 20:32

TBH

I don't think this is a helpful post - you sound quite smug and thats not really enough milk for a young baby.

We feed Dc every 3 hours - and he takes upto 5oz at each feed.

Arkkorox · 12/10/2015 20:39

Congrats .... Is this supposed to make new mums feel better?

ffffffedup · 12/10/2015 21:14

iguess 24oz is perfectly right for a 3mo baby he's just having fewer bigger bottles than many smaller ones it all amounts up to the same.
xan shout it from the rooftops I know I do don't feel guilty for having a baby who sleeps because every mother on this page ultimately wants that or they wouldn't be posting on here.
I don't think she's being smug at all she's merely sharing what's been good for her in the hope it might help others. When baby starts to teeth it might all stop it might not but for now she's in a good place with her baby so don't knock it.

Ladywithababy1 · 17/10/2015 09:19

Sorry but I do think this is quite smug! Also possibly quite naive given that babies change their routines all the time, so by tomorrow she may find her LO decides to keep her on her toes by waking up every hour. Also IMO the sleep board is for asking for advice and giving support, not just unprompted posts about how amazing your routine is!

(Sorry OP to sound mean, feel a bit mean this morning due to my non perfect DS waking at 5!)

OffMyAyersRocker · 17/10/2015 12:20

We've just introduced a night routine for 4 week old dd2. We did this with dd1 and it worked well because we travel a lot (across diff time zones too) and it meant she always knew when it was bed time.

However dd1 was breastfed so didn't sleep through until about 18 months but that wasn't the point of our routine, although would have been nice!

The OP sounds like a ftm and at 3 months so much can and will change but l think posting your current routine could be helpful for people looking for that.

Just be prepared to maybe be back in 4 weeks OP asking for help Smile

thesmallbear · 17/10/2015 12:41

I agree with Iguessyourestuckwithme that seems like far too little milk for a three month old. My DD is three months and has at least 32oz a day in total. DD is 75th centile (height and weight so in proportion), so I suppose your DS may need less if he's teeny tiny. Even so, leaving a full a five hours between feeds is unfathomable to me, your DS must be starving! DD will have 7 oz in the morning and than have another feed of between 4 - 6oz roughly three hours later.

Also, the fact you have a good sleeper is probably more down to luck than your routine. We were planning on starting a bedtime routine to encourage DD to sleep through, however she started sleeping from 11pm - 7am of her own accord (no routine had been introduced). No doubt if the sleeping through had occurred after introducing a routine we would have put it down to that.

I think a bedtime routine can be useful, but I have never been fussed about a routine in the day. I'd rather read DD's cues as to when she is hungry/tired/wants to play and respond accordingly. Do yo play with your DS, sing nursery rhymes etc to him etc? The only playtime I can see from your routine is him amusing himself while you make breakfast, dinner etc?

shutupanddance · 17/10/2015 12:48

Smug muchBiscuit good luck with sleep regressionHmm

luckiestgirlintheworld · 17/10/2015 13:08

Oho. You're going to love the 4 month sleep regression!

MadgeMak · 17/10/2015 13:36

This is really quite smug, even if the OP didn't intend to come across that way. It's a bit, hey mummies just do what I do and all will be hunkydory. Babies don't work like that unfortunately. A good routine can certainly help a little bit in getting a baby to sleep well, but it's just down to luck really and I can see how reading something like this would be a bit demoralising for a new mum who has a baby who doesn't sleep well despite all her best efforts.

shutupanddance · 17/10/2015 13:40

Agree woth Madge, its luck. Op you currently have an easy, routine loving baby.

MadgeMak · 17/10/2015 13:42

It's also totally patronising.

WorldsBiggestGrotbag · 17/10/2015 13:46

One of the smuggest posts I've ever read on here TBH. I have a 3 month old (DD2). She is EBF. There is literally nothing I could do to get her to follow a routine like yours has. She has never slept for longer than 40 mins at a time in the day, even at days old. She was up 4 times in the night last night. DD1 was the same.
You're lucky that yoy have an easy, sleep loving baby. Are you planning a DC2?

cabbageleaf · 17/10/2015 14:23

A daytime routine is fine, but I doubt your baby is sleeping through because of it, it's more likely you've been very lucky. And formula feeding definitely helps.
Also, I wouldn't shout it from the rooftops that your baby is already sleeping through, it might change very suddenly.

I don't know how anyone can say that's not enough milk for a twelve week old baby as long as we don't know the weight.

stoppingbywoods · 17/10/2015 14:31

Very smug. I'm not sure why you think this will be helpful. Your baby isn't following this routine because of anything spectacular you are doing, so following this timetable is unlikely to help anyone. If you shared that with me at a mums and tots group I would think you were smug, naive and bossy. Very. You obviously think that some mothers are disorganised and don't understand how to get their babies into a routine, whereas you are more evolved. This is almost certainly not the case! You have an easy baby and that could change tomorrow!

I also have a baby very close in age to yours - both he and my first child have been easy to care for. I've used all the Gina Ford principles (well, not all) to help them find a routine that's right for us and them. But mostly, we've been lucky. We are very aware that next time we could have a baby who doesn't like routines and simply won't go there - and it wouldn't be anything to do with what we were doing or not doing.

Most babies would certainly not be fine to go so long between feeds, especially when sleeping 12 hours during the night. I haven't heard of a baby who was gaining weight properly doing this. What weight is your baby? Is your HV happy with the progression?

WorldsBiggestGrotbag · 17/10/2015 14:33

The thing about a routine is that you can only instigate one if your baby agrees! I would love for our routine to be a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day, but she won't sleep that long. How do you make a baby sleep who doesn't want to sleep?

FindingNormal · 17/10/2015 15:07

Wow I bow to your superior mothering skills op. Smug much?

Artandco · 17/10/2015 15:18

That doesn't seem enough feeds, do you yourself go 5+ hrs without a drink?

At 3 months mine also slept through the night, but that was 11pm-8am for us so only 9hrs. In between they were fed every 2 hrs max, often more

Caterina99 · 17/10/2015 16:31

My ds is nearly 4 months. I thought I was doing well as he sleeps up to 8 hours at night and has a reasonably predictable daytime routine. However he then has nights when he's up every hour! It's very variable.

I agree that seems like very little milk. We feed every 3 hours, and a night feed. We only moved on from every 2 hours a few weeks ago!

Fleurchamp · 17/10/2015 19:49

Ugh. Shoot me now Angry

PosterEh · 17/10/2015 19:51

My dd slept 7-7 at 12 weeks. From 4m-3YEARS she woke up multiple times a night.

Jelly101 · 17/10/2015 20:41

My DS (5months) slept through at around 9 weeks. Then when he was 14 weeks that all changed. During the day he will only nap around 30 minutes at a time if I'm lucky. I've tried everything. Now, at nighttime he's waking around 4am & 6am. He went through a phase a couple of weeks ago where he wouldn't settle at all and he was waking up constantly. Here I was thinking I might be finally getting somewhere!

Lilipot15 · 17/10/2015 20:47

I couldn't even get through the whole OP! Struck me as smug very early on.
But I hope it continues for you. My DD1 slept well for her first few months then it changed, so all I can say is, enjoy your sleep now.

Hello Grotbag - I think our DDs are pretty similar with their sleep Grin

Lilipot15 · 17/10/2015 20:49

I've just read the OP - ladies I think someone is taking the P.