Daytime routine

[DIANNEKB]

Does everyone have a daytime routine with there baby??? I do not have one at all for daytime btu I do for night time....

Does that make me a bad mum that I dont have one for the day??? I just see it pointless having one for the day cause no day is the same for us where as night time is a different story... During the day I pretty much let him tell me what he wants to do.

What does everyone else do???

Di..xx

[dormouse]

I dont have a daytime routine either. For the same reasons as you. No day is the same as the last.
I don't like to have a routine for bub as she gets cranky if she doesnt want to do what I want her to do. Our night time routine is one that she designed herself. I just take cue from her.

If you are a bad mum, then I am an even worse one! :o

[elissas]

I think you're doing exactly the right thing, what comes naturally to you and bubs. I take my cue from DS, and every day is different.

There's plenty of time for him to be ruled by clocks and rigid routines. Let them be free for a little while - you'll learn much more about them as an individual, their natural patterns and rhythms. I believe that this is the groundwork that saves a lot of fighting and heartache later.

I believe it's also important that we all learn to be flexible. What happens if someone has a strict routine and then has no choice but to break it? Is it traumatic? Do they have a screaming bub on their hands who can't handle the flexibility? I don't want to find out for myself... :)

The only thing I do make sure of is that he knows the day-night-day transition. So just as it's getting dark I bath him and put him in his pjs (white bonds wondersuit), give him a feed and start behaving like it's night. If he wakes at 10pm and feels like a play, I won't go overboard but I won't deny him that little joy. He goes straight back to sleep afterwards, no problem. Then in the morning when he decides it's time to start the day, I change him out of his pj's into something else (it might still be a wondersuit, just a different colour), and first thing he does is spend a few minutes under the playgym - or longer if he wants. Then the day is his.

Regimented days IMO are for people who don't like surprises :rolleyes: I figure the day is about him more than me right now.

[sopolicha]

No routine here. Sleep when you are tired, eat when you are hungry.

Seems to work for us.

[Sara's Boys]

Hey, routine is overrated, especially if you are breastfeeding. I am the most unorganised person ever. and routine only works if both mum and bub co opperate!!:laughing: My boy is just 8 months, and he has naturally started developing his own routine from about 5 months, example
6am feed
6.30-8.30 sleep
8.30-9.30 play on the floor
9.30-10 cuddle
10am feed
10.00-12.00 sleep
12.00-2.00 little bit of food then play or go for a walk
2.00 feed
2.30-4.00 ( if i am lucky!)
4.00-6.00 bath and cuddle/play
6.00 feed
6-7.30 cuddle and comfort- this is usually where he's just had enough of the day
then attempt to put him to bed!

Thats roughly what my day is like, but every day is always a little different. There's no such thing as right and wrong with routine..it just has to work for you. Although it does help knowing what he needs when, if he stays in his routine he sleeps better and is happier, but ultimately it's his routine, I just listen to him. Hope that helps

[lukaelmo]

Yep, the dude and I have a routine. It works for us. If you don't have one though and that works for you, I would be sticking to whatever you are doing.

[emilysmumma]

I don't know if you'd call it a routine but the sequence of events are fairly the same.
Feed, play, sleep.
Feeds when she wakes up
Awake for an hour to an hour and a half (including feed time)
Sleep between hour to an hour and half.

Breastfeeds are generally between 2 an a half to 3 hours apart.

Sometimes she wakes up earlier and we just play till she's hungry. If i try and feed her shes not interested.

We still go by her though. In the late afternoon she won't have a sleep so we don't try and make her, otherwise it's tears all round.

The day starts with whenever she wakes up, be it 5am or 8am, but bed at night is always by 7 as she is more than ready by then. Also I feed her to sleep at night, when during the day she plays straight after.

The feed, play, sleep works really well for us as I always know what stage she is up too.
I did start making sure we played after day feeds after the first couple of weeks so 1. she could hopefully get the difference between day and night and 2. also to hopefully get her on her way eventually to get to sleep by herself during the day and not rely on the boob for sleep.

But needless to say, there are days she goes 4 hours between feeds, days where she sleeps for 3 hours straight, and days when she won't sleep at all.
So do whatever works for you and your bubs. It seems like your halfway there anyway with the nights, so don't worry too much about it.
Enjoy them, they will still love and adore their mum no matter which way you go about things as long as there is love there, and obviously there is otherwise you'd never would of bother asking the question.

[Milis]

No daytime routine here. We try to follow the feed-play-sleep routine but sometimes it's more like feed - sleep - feed - play - feed - oh what the hell...

We do have a bit of a nighttime routine though, bath at around 7 ish, final feed and then bed at about 8pm and then he sleeps through till about 4 or 5 so it works well for us.

I have friends who have strict routines and it seems to work for them but I'm not much of a routine person and would find it impossible. It's whatever suits you and bubs' lifestyle and personality I think.