Do you have a schedule or routine for your baby?

[crunchy_mommy]

We have gone 11 months without any schedule or routine but I think it's a problem now

[Auraji]

DD is almost 8 months. I think sometimes is a problem, sometimes she seems to be predictable, but not always. I dont know, at times I feel like maybe I should have her on a scheduled routine and it's bad that Im not doing it that way, but all my life I've been unable to follow routines...

[crunchy_mommy]

I know. I have so much trouble following a schedule unless it's externally imposed (like a class or meeting schedule or work schedule) otherwise I just can't stick to it. Overall I like just watching DS's cues but I feel lately that it's just chaotic. He is missing naps and going to bed at almost midnight (which is OK because then he sleeps 'til 10am and I can actually get work done) and if anyone else is watching him (like my sis who has started coming over to help in the afternoons a couple days a week while I work) they can't read his cues... He rubs his eyes when he's hungry (NOT tired), for example... and I can't schedule/plan anything around him because I have NO CLUE whether he'll decide it's time for a nap 5 minutes before we're supposed to leave the house... AHHH I am having a frustrating day I guess...

[YayJennie]

Around 5 months I started to really pay attention to sleepy clues and he got himself on a 3 nap a day schedule that was pretty consistent. Around 6.5 months, he switched to 2 naps and moved his bedtime earlier. Now, at 9.5 months, his sleep is very predictable, and he's fallen into a nursing pattern that goes with his naps, so that is predictable. And for my sake, we have a pretty standard morning routine (we wake up, eat breakfast, he plays while I do the dishes, and then we walk the dog and when we get back we read and then go down for the first nap). So really, are days are pretty scheduled, but it is all on his cues and subject to change day to day.

[sunshynbaby]

I voted that we have routine, but it is really based on our baby's cues. Since I am gone during the day, DH tries to keep DS on a loose feeding "schedule" so he gets enough bottles and is ready to eat when they visit me on my lunch break. He naps when he acts tired. DS goes to sleep around 8 every night, but he started that himself (don't ask me how). I expect him to do that every night, but there are nights when he starts the long sleep cycle earlier, and there are nights that he starts it later. We make sure he is in his pjs after 6PM just in case he starts early (it is not pretty if we interupt the night sleep thing once he starts it) and start quiet time at 7PM, but the rest is up to him.

[LadyCatherine185]

We have a loose routine during the day like this--

Wakeup at 5/6
breakfast
play at home
nap around 9/10
wakeup, lunch
shower
errands, outside time, etc
dinner
bedtime around 6/7

He fell into this sort of nap/bedtime routine around a year old on his own. We mostly BF on demand still (he is 16 mo) and he snacks throughout the day other than his "meals." The reason we don't usually go anywhere in the morning is because he is usually ready for a nap around 9/10 because he gets up so early in the morning (between 5-6) and Mama needs to nap too. And we do our errands/getting out of the house in the afternoon because by then he is usually BORED at home. When he dropped his afternoon nap around 12 mos he started going to bed between 6-7.

Having a routine is great, though I have never been one to follow a routine/schedule myself. We just sort of fell into this because it follows DS's needs throughout the day.

[MamaPhD]

We have a pretty solid routine that my 13 mo DD worked out for herself. She has always been consistent, always yawning at the same time, etc, since she was 3-4 mo. I feel this makes things easy for me, so I'm happy with it. I would say times are almost exact (+/- 15 minutes?) which I find is pretty cool. Obviously, if we are out, traveling, etc, we have to skip or push things but DD seems to be OK with those, too.

wake 7:30am
breakfast 9:30am
nap 11:30-1pm
lunch 1pm
snack 3:30pm
nap 5:30-7pm
dinner 7pm
bed 9:30pm

[lexmas]

No. Baby girl is just along for the ride. She lives in the mei-tai, mostly, and does most of her eating and sleeping while we're doing everything else. I didn't even come close to developing a schedule with DS until he was between 18 months and 2 years. Worked fine for us. In fact, things are harder now that DS is 3 and has a schedule, because I have to work around naptime and such (okay, it's a loose schedule. He eats meals and takes a nap in the afternoon ).

[Llyra]

I don't have an infant in the house right now, so I picked other, but with all three of mine we implemented a loose routine for sleeping at around 5 or 6 months, that changed as they grew and their needs changed. They also naturally fell into some predictable nursing patterns, at about that same age, but I never implemented any definitive nursing routine until they were toddlers, and that was because we were consciously weaning (I weaned them early, because I went without a much-needed medication while nursing, and I could only go so long before my health deteriorated too much.) Once they started eating solid food, though, they ate with the family, and we do have regular mealtimes, so they wound up eating solids on a regular schedule.

FWIW, though, my oldest LOVES predictability, and did even as a baby, and really wanted and needed a sleep routine. And the other two are twins, and without a routine, I would have gone off the deep end. So we really felt the need for structure. Lots of families get along fine with less structure.

If you do want to implement something, I found it helpful to write down, for three days, every time baby ate or slept, and then look at it to see what kind of pattern emerges. Once you see that, you can say, "hmmm, she's always tired around 10am, so why don't we just make that naptime." And then you try for a nap at about that time every day. Etc., with eating.

[Shy0717]

DS pretty much makes his own schedule though I do try to reinforce it if that makes sense. It goes a little something like

7:30-8 Wake up
8-9 Diaper change, let dog out, floor play
9:30 ish Nurse down for a nap
9:30-11:30 We both nap
11:30 ish -1:00 errands/more floor play/excersaucer
1:00 ish nurse again and down for second nap
1-3 nap time (again I usually nap with him)
3-5 ish we play more....might eat some solids
bedtime is between 8-9 ish

All of this is pretty flexible but I try to go with it since ds has made this schedule for the past few months. We nurse on demand and sometimes our naps are off due to errands or outtings. When I work nights 3 nights a week he goes with my mom and pretty much does whatever he wants whenever he wants lol.

[Auraji]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy

I know. I have so much trouble following a schedule unless it's externally imposed (like a class or meeting schedule or work schedule) otherwise I just can't stick to it. Overall I like just watching DS's cues but I feel lately that it's just chaotic. He is missing naps and going to bed at almost midnight (which is OK because then he sleeps 'til 10am and I can actually get work done) and if anyone else is watching him (like my sis who has started coming over to help in the afternoons a couple days a week while I work) they can't read his cues... He rubs his eyes when he's hungry (NOT tired), for example... and I can't schedule/plan anything around him because I have NO CLUE whether he'll decide it's time for a nap 5 minutes before we're supposed to leave the house... AHHH I am having a frustrating day I guess...

I feel you. The only person I leave DD wit is DP and when I do Im usually not 100% comfortable because he still doesnt know how to read her cues, hopefully in time he will. I guess we do have a routine that she has set herself, but there are days with their exceptions.

We wake up around 9-10AM (Sometimes later if she decided to go to sleep really late or had a really wakeful night). She wakes several times before that, nurses and goes back to sleep. I have to stay in bed with her or she'll wake, but she wont wake up as rested/happy than she would if I stay in with her. Im also a night owl, so I like to sleep in. She's too, since she was in the belly, she would start her parties really late at night.
I sit her stroller next to the window in the kitchen so she can look outside, give her some toys and play some music while I make breakfast. We sit down and eat together the same food.
Then we go to DSS room to play, around 12:30-1pm she needs a nap, that sometimes gets interrupted by daddy's arrival for lunch. His lunch is always a different hour, he leaves work when he can. The time she sleeps varies a lot.
Then when she wakes she nurses, I give her a snack and we go downstairs to do chores or out to do errands (if it's warm enough).
She sometimes needs another nap around 4-6pm, depending how much she slept (I know late). I make dinner during this time, she usually wakes in time to have dinner with us. After dinner I give her a bath, she nurses and then plays when I notice she's sleepy 10-11pm. I start walking her and singing her a lullaby then when I transfer her to bed she nurses until she falls really asleep.

This is how it USUALLY is, but not always, there are always surprises