Let's talk Routines

I totally agree, let baby lead the nap times specifically. But you can start a bedtime/nap time routine that you will stick to anytime. 4 weeks is early, but not bad! I think we started defining our bedtime routine very early, from nearly day 1. And did nap time routine around 8 weeks.

I felt the book Moms on Call was really helpful getting my son into a routine! After 2-3 days with anything consistent babies internal clock picks up on it. It’s pretty wild.

Schedules are for adults and capitalism. We kind of just lived and both of my kids eased into a routine on their own. It’s flexible and easy. My newborn was sleeping through the night out first week and is just thriving.

Start controlling what you can, even if it’s only 1 consistent nap/feed time! Our bedtime routine was the biggest, and the first thing we started taking control of - daytime naps were with lights and nighttime without, as well as pjs at a certain time, and out of a onesie during the day; she was sleeping through the night at 6 weeks which was awesome. It was probably around then that our daytime routine took to a noticeable pattern (though not one that synced with our clock!)

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How did you get your 6 week old to sleep through the night, my baby is 2 months and wakes up 2-3x at night to feed 😩😩😩

Following

At that point feeding all the time is normal. You have to think of routines as flexible in timing, but you can start to form routines in the sense of order of events. For example, you can watch for what time baby tends to sleep a longer stretch in the evening and then sometime near that time do a routine series of events (bath, change clothes, turn down lights, change diaper, nurse). I’m not sure that I did it by 4 weeks, but it helped me to declare a bedtime and put my LO in her bed when she fell asleep near that time.

My baby is 7 weeks today and we are still not in a full strict routine as his feed times change depending on what time he wakes up in the morning, he goes down around 7.30pm / 8pm the he sleeps all the way through to 6am / 7am. Thats as far as I've got. Some days he will fall asleep an hr after his bottle and wake up half hour before the next one is due, then some days he is in and out of sleep between bottles. I was told he sleeps too much still during the day but if he is tired he just falls asleep i can't keep him awake and surely at 7 weeks he still needs plenty of sleep? X

Like 2 years old 🤣🤣 I am a mom of 4. If your breastfeeding, just nurse on demand and let baby rule the world for a while.

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This is what I do. I’ve nursed her on demand since day one, she’s kind of in charge still and she’s 3 months, it’s working.. there’s definitely no schedule, I know one day I’ll miss it so I’m enjoying every minute!

We did circadian rhythm training from birth. Daytime naps were in the living room with low light and some noise. Night time was in our room completely dark with a noise machine. As she got more active we would play right after day feeds and no play at night. It worked for us (she was our first so it was easy to control the environment). Around 3 months we dropped swaddling during daytime naps.

I let create her own routine..by 4 months, it was pretty established

My 8 week old goes to bed around 10:30. We do diaper change, outfit change, swaddle then feed in the dark. I’m lucky because she falls asleep moments afterwards lol. Wakes around 2:30/3 and wakes up for the day around 6:30. I feed and let her nap on demand throughout the day though

For me the first 12 weeks are the most difficult to adjust to. After that it’s much easier to get into and stick to a routine.

A lot of people are against routines and prefer baby-led. But you need to remember that a baby doesn’t know what it wants and it’s only way to communicate is crying (eg to tell you it’s hungry). Routines help to preempt them from getting to that stage of upset/discomfort. We started to implement routines after a week or so. Back then, my baby would feed every 3 hours then have her nap. She is now 8 weeks old and feeds every 4 hours, followed by her nap. (This is the advised NHS time frame for how often babies of her age should be fed). She wakes once in the night to be fed. I also take her out for walks every morning so she can get familiar with noises, etc. So now, she sleeps restfully through anything — even if I’m hoovering or catching up with a friend. Overall, I would say she is now happier and doesn’t cry as much. It didn’t take long to implement the routines. As soon as we figured out how much food and sleep she needs for her age, it was fairly easy. Good luck!!

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Your routine sounds amazing. I wish I could get my little guy on something like that. Especially the eating. Almost two months and eats what feels like every two hours and wants almost 4oz’s I wonder if him being a preemie has anything to do with it

I think it’s about figuring out how much food they need for their age and weight. So let’s say, if an hour later they are hungry again, it probably means that they didn’t drink enough on their last feed. My baby was just over 5lbs at birth so she wasn’t a big baby. But she was well/healthy so it was ok to start slowly implementing routines after about a week. And as she grew bigger, I could increase the amount I was feeding her, which then could stretch out the time for her to be fed. She is 8 weeks old now and I feed her 150ml every 4 hours. During those 4 hours, she will sleep for anywhere between 2 to 3 hours. Once she is swaddled and has a full tummy, she will sleep right through so she gets her full nap. I also change her nappy before each feed, which means she rarely wakes during her naps for a change (unless she has a poo). Not sure if there is any useful info there, but good luck !

At 6 months I started keeping track of when he seemed to be tired and stuck to his schedule. It helped SO MUCH. Until then I never knew when he was supposed to sleep, so would find myself out of the house at the wrong time and it was stressful. After sticking to a schedule, I just knew to stay home when his naps were due and go out in peace in between. ✨

Start as you mean to go on. Routine and continuity is really important from the beginning :) well..that's my ethos. Sendinv love and luck to you x

I didn't start a sleep schedule until has 6 or 7 months old. When I noticed he was staying up until 1 or 2 am with his dad.

Newborn life was really a blur. We got into a decent routine around 3 months

I used to worry about this too. My twins are almost eight months, and let me tell you. Every baby is different and it.is.hard. Eventually you'll start to identify your baby's sleep patterns. We started with consistent feeding (every 3.5 hours), eventually aimed for a bed time (between 6-7p) at three months, and just around six months I started noticing their individual nap preferences. One takes a nap between every feed and the other can take them or leave them (yayyyy). I like what one person above said about worrying less about what time, but focusing on the order. They say routine is important for kids and it helps them feel secure. I think what it comes down to is your child knowing what comes next, regardless if it's an hour or so off. Because you can't *force* your child to fall asleep and wake and necessarily eat at exact times (just like adults can't), focus on the order of events! Hope you found something helpful in all that!

I dont have a routine down. We just go with the flow and everything sort of works out. I have a 9 month old boy.

The first 6-7 weeks were baby led (aka no routine) but I noticed she was generally starting to sleep at night so I implemented a schedule around 7-8 weeks. She caught onto it immediately. All it is is bedtime at 9 and up by 9 the next day. Feedings at night are still baby led but she only feds every 4-5 hours now which is amazing for my own sleep! Keeping it quiet and dark at night and bright and louder during the day helped her figure out day and night those first 6-7 weeks

A lot of sleep guides say babies can’t learn a 24 sleep/feed routine until 3 months, so prior to this I was baby led. Once my daughter turned 3 months, she’s is 18 months now, I used a sleep guide to help me, works a charm. Every couple of months their day sleep needs change in the day (ie reduce a little) and the timing of naps is key so they are tired enough, but not overtired come bedtime. There are classic sleep regressions to be aware of from 4 months onward, currently in the middle of the 18 month one now, but the pass much easier with a routine which helps set your baby’s body clock to regular feed/sleep intervals. Good luck mama 💪

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What’s a sleep guide?

@Salma lots of sleep consultants publish routines that can be used as guides or gospel to get the perfect sleep into your baby. For example, Taking Cara Babies, or the one I use Little Ones. I have had my second daughter on it since she was 2 months, loosely, because she had day/night confusion. All going well now. Of course you have off days but if you are patient you will get them into a really healthy sleep pattern. Good luck 🤞

I found the EASY routine to be really helpful. It basically means you feed the baby, engage in activity for an age appropriate amount of time and then he sleeps (Eat, Activity, Sleep, Your time). It really helped me to have kind of a plan so that I could better interpret his cries. It also helps avoid feeding to sleep. I also use the Baby Tracker app to keep track of how long he’s been sleeping, eating etc. He’s four months now and we don’t necessarily have a schedule with set times daily, but we do have a routine we cycle through during the day.

Babies don’t have a routine till they are at least 4 months and older..they won’t start forming any kind of routine will around then and maybe later

A bit further down the line I started using the Huckleberry app (about 10 weeks), if you want a bit of structure. I found gives you patterns to look at predicts naps etc and you can pay for more content which we didn’t do as the few app was enough . I agree with previous posters in that newborns need to dictate what they need to you. At my 6 week check the Doctor said you can’t influence a baby to sleep they influence you. Be guided by your baby’s needs and enjoy it if you can. Says me that’s just spent 2 hours trying to get mine down for a nap 😂😂😂😂

Tbh I was concern about this too. What I did was follow my baby signs & he did his own routine. He is a good baby. He is 4 months old & he goes to sleep around 7-8 until 7am the next day . Also what helped him a lot as well was taking night time bath. It relaxed him

I started a routine early with my kids.

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Same!! I based it off of what he was already doing, I feel like I started at 6 weeks and followed 12 hours by 12 weeks schedules

The first two months for me was no routine then i started to recognise a routine so I made sure I would work around it. Eventually by 3 months my little one use to be sleeping by 9-8:30 until about 4am then up for a feed then back to sleep.

Me and my daughter just naturally fell into a routine at about 3 months. Don't stress about it just yet❤

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do you have any tips for naps during the day

Our routine now @7months: Wake @8. Nap @1030/11. Wake @1230/1. Nap @3. Wake @5. Bath starts just before 7 and bedtime @730. She has been sleeping all night long for a month now, with a few hiccups in between. Feeding is a bottle after she wakes, solids an hour after that, and a bottle during bathtime. When I lay her down for naps and bedtime, she is completely awake and puts herself to sleep usually within 5 minutes. I don't know how I figured this all out by myself as a 1st time mom with no experience, but we are both very well-rested and happy❤ Before that 3 month mark though....omg I didn't think I'd make it to 5 months without ending up in an insane asylum😂😂😂

We had a routine from 6wks on... it was one we worked out together based on the cues she gave us. It hasn't altered too much yet, but we are flexible with it so we have "windows" instead of strict times, which works for us. We were trying for an 8pm bedtime... she chose 7pm, lol... up between 6-7am. She eats @ or near 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, and 7pm with about an hour window give or take to keep or day flexible. Her naps usually start 2-2.5 hrs after she gets up, we really try to make sure she's tired and stick to her time awake as close as possible with her sleep cues. It seems we naturally follow the EASY routine mentioned above, and i didn't even know it was a thing. Lol. Our girl is strictly formula fed though, too, which i think helps ease you into a schedule too.

I basically let my daughter rule (slept in bed w me and needed me to lay w her to nap) the schedule until 6 months. Then I let her cry it out and it was a little difficult but she got the hang of up and now she is a champion Now Wake 8am Nap 10am Wake 12pm Nap 2pm Wake 4pm Bed 730pm 0night wake ups Her naps are basically after 2hrs if awake time (besides the evening) I am very fortunate. But I just wanted to weigh in bc up until the 6 month Mark I felt like it was going to be HOPELESS bc she relied on me So much. don’t worry too much right now, there is light in the horizon!

I found that I couldn’t create/have a schedule for my son with much regularity to it for several months, BUT i could create “routine” from day one, and adjust it slightly related to developmental milestones and skill acquisition. For example bedtime has always been teeth/bath, PJs, read books (including 1 that we have read every night since he was born), milk, sing, into bed. We’ve made slight alterations like he now picks his books, milk is in sippy cup rather than nursing, etc. I have found that having routines like those help manage changes to time schedule. The activity is still a known thing so (my son at least) is pretty flexible with things not happening at the exact correct time.

Don’t bother with a routine until af least 3 months!! They are on their own individual schedule 😂 mine is 4m 2w and we’ve only just started a routine and she’s adapted to it really well, we’re on day 6 now and she knows the sleep cues/feeding cues etc so it feels really good as there’s not much resistance from her. When they are newborn they feed round the clock and so it’s important to nurture them and not feed and sleep to a schedule xx

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Hey! My little girl is 4mo now and am thinking of implementing a flexi routine. What kind of routine did you implement? Xx

You can start now. Do tummytime during the day when he is alert. Bath before bed. Infant massage etc

Just a side note: baby mainly leads routine at this stage so whatever you see works for your lil one.

What age were your babies when they started sleeping through? Also I want to start a routine now so was looking for ideas ... and how long it takes to be successful?

Because I had twins low birth weight I was advised to feed then every three hours including waking them from naps to do so. This was good because we could organise ourselves around their naps etc.they got into this routine very quickly. But they didn't start sleeping through the night until they were 5 months twin 1 and 8 months twin 2. So not sure the routine helped them sleep through the night at all really

We created a routine from the day we came home from hospital and it’s worked really well for us. I don’t think it can be too early to get them used to a bed time routine especially 🥰

I started at 6 weeks old and he’s in the pattern of it we notice around 8:30pm he starts yawning now so we do feed, bath time, baby massage and bed works amazing he sleeps from 9pm through to 5am he wakes up sometimes for his dummy but that’s it

I went to a nurse when mine was 6 weeks and by 4 months he was sleeping through the night. I would start now. It also helps you plan your day and know when you can go out.

You kinda can't at that age. Its completely baby led at this point. However when they're about 3-4 months they start getting more of a pattern

Look of on babymed.com or babycenter parent led and baby led and combination led schedules

At this stage I wouldn't stress about routine, once he's done cluster feeding he will put himself on a rough one and you can go from there, my daughter had a TOUGH first 3 weeks of life and then she got the hang of nursing just in time and put herself on a rough schedule that I the. Implemented helpful tools like lavender warm baths/ lotion, lights on / off depending on time of day and keeping consistent through night time & naps that sleep happens in the crib.

My only kind of routine right now is keeping the home really bright during the day and dark at night other

Anytime, whatever feels right for you. We started a routine pretty much straight away. It didn’t always work but we preserved and it really helped us. Good luck! X