Routines?

[ryanreynolds]

DS is now 3 weeks old. He's generally not a bad sleeper, sleeping in 3 hour chunks through the night but I'm not sure if I'm helping or making things worse for him by having no routine (am led entirely by him)

Would quite like to get him in a bedtime routine even though I don't have any expectations of him sleeping through the night yet.

Any advice/tips for how to introduce a gentle routine...I don't want to go full Gina Ford but I feel more structure would be better and despite reading up I feel clueless of how to start!!

Thanks, RR

I'm sure you've read that at this age, a baby will have zero routine, and rather than torture yourself trying to create one, you should just follow their lead.
However, one thing I did find useful was to try and set some sort of structure to the day, that I'd always try to do the first feed at 7am... and sort of let it fall into place around that. Eventually (about 6 months), we were in a good routine of baby up at 7am, and down to bed at 7pm... but didn't actually sleep through the night until about 9 months

I, too, was eager to start a routine with my newborn. However, I soon learnt that it really was too stressful trying to organise a routine when she was so young. Especially as she was so unpredictable with feeds etc.
following your baby's lead at this age is probably best. I found my routines were mainly for me (e.g DH took her each morning so I could have a 5 min shower! In the evening, DH fed her so I could have an hour nap before the night began - she didn't really sleep well for the first 2 months).
Now DD is 4 months old, and we've had a bedtime routine going for the last 2 weeks. She was ready and so were we. It's still trial and error and I know some babies struggle to get into a routine even at 4 months. Follow your baby's lead and when they're ready for a routine, you'll know

Thanks. Do you do any routine a bedtime in particular? Should I be doing a bath/story at a set time at this young age?

OP,
Baby just wants to feed and sleep at this age. There will be no benefit to baby trying to implement a routine. Just go with the flow.

Rather than sticking to timings I found the E.A.S.Y routine worked naturally for my babies.
Eat
Activity (nappy change and cuddle in the early days)
Sleep
You

I think the point of a bedtime routine is just to establish that sleep time is coming. I've never bothered with the daily bath, or a set time when they're tiny, but done: a wash, changed into a different night clothes, white noise on, into sleeping bag, final feed and lights out. The idea is that they know you're going up to quiet time. I have no idea how much difference it's made, but DD1 did do good chunks at night from pretty early. Too early to tell with DD2! It certainly doesn't hurt, but I wouldn't worry about set times, or making it too elaborate. You just want a few key sleep cues: story, white noise, dummy, whatever you're doing.

Thanks all...even though no specific answers you've set my mind at rest that he's doing just what he should...!!

Will revisit this when he's bigger!

I did establish a routine as soon as we got home from hospital (followed GF which I know is very unpopular on Mumsnet), DS was in bed by 7pm every night, 6.30 would be bath time. It did work for us but of course I have no way of really knowing if it was the actual ‘routine’ or if we were just lucky & had a baby who would happily be put down to sleep - I never had another child, by choice. So nothing to compare .