Routine?

[Malin]

I would love to read about what you think about Routine??

I feel strict routine is a horrible way to teach us in a very young age to be , conforming and passive, no ability to think for your self, it stops creativity and learning. I wonder who want us to have a strict routine some one that like to controll us ???

It's a huge difference in rhythm of the day and routine.

Needless to say we never practise strict routine in our house!!

Cheers Malin

(I'm sorry if there are a few spelling mistakes, English is my second language)..;)

[tickle]

We don't have a time based routine what so ever. If he is hungary he eats, if he is tired he sleeps etc etc. But I have found if we do things in a certain way he understands what is going on a lot more. It is a bit easier now that he understands what I tell him though.
E.g. At night we have a routine of sorts:
Wash our hands
Have dinner
Have a bath
Brush our teeth
Read a story
Then we lay in bed together.
I think the predictablity of this "routine" helped him to understand what we were doing. I think it depends on the child but if we just went and laid in bed together he would just want to play (tired or not).
But then I ask myself.....is this a routine or just our daily lives???
You've got me thinking now!!!
My little guy is a free spirit.......there is no "1pm, it's nap time" here!

[Angel_baby_1982]

my lil boy seems to have his own 'routein ;)

As in;

he wakes up wanting to play every morning at some point between 4am and 5am

he wants to feed every 3 hours during the day (you could set your watch by it!)

every night after his 9pm feed he goes to sleep, waking at 1am for a feed.

oh and when he hears the bath being run he gets all excited, starts cooing and smiling, and gets upset if its not for him!

I think because I am a stay at home mum and he is the first bub and is generally happy its been easy for me to just work around what he wants to do, he sets the 'routein', which is fine with me!

[Foxymoron]

The only routine adhered to here is getting my eldest to school on time. They say children with Autism like routine, well my son has no strict routine that he has to have, and he may sleep 3 hours during the day and be up til 1am, or no sleep and in bed by 10pm. He is naturally a night owl, if I tried to control that we'd both be unhappy. My girls don't follow a routine either. Being so sick with this pregnancy means I need a lot of rest so I'm glad I'm not knocking myself out adhering to anything too strict.

[JanetF]

Not routine followers here either :D Ds has always been fluid in how he learns and grows so we just support that. Roughly speaking he gets up around 9am and has for most of his 2 years. That's enough routine for us ;) We have stuff we do through the week that is pretty regular, like playgroup, but a breastfed sling baby is so portable that we've never needed to be at home for sleeps. He has always just gone to sleep in his sling or in other people's beds if we're out. I couldn't bear to graft an artificial routine over the top of his needs. He slept through a lot of playgroups early on which was great for me because I still got to chat and have company and he got a lovely sleep. I think having a pattern or bedtime ritual is quite different but we haven't really needed that either. He bfs to sleep most nights and is out within minutes. No sleep trainers would exist in westen countries if we all bf and coslept. I don't think they've figured largely in places where those are common LOL. And considering that about 70% of the world cosleeps, it's really westerners who are a weird minority :)

[nemosmum]

On the days that I work (mon and weds) there is a kind of routine......get up, bath dress and then off to work (DS gets breakie at daycare! :D )

But the other 5 days were very relaxed and DS kind of leads the way. I go on his ques when things should be done eg. he lets me know when his hungry, tired wanting to go out side and play etc. I find these days to be so much more relaxed and enjoyable then my work days as DS can feel the time constraints I think. Maybe he can sense Mummy rushing around like a headless chook trying not to be late LOL :D

I find at daycare he gets enough of the routine stuff to sink a battle ship so dont like to impose to much rigorous routine on him the other days.

DS used to co sleep but stopped by himself......he just thinks mummy and daddy's bed is a very cool, fun jumping castle now LOL :p

[Maghan]

No routine for us. Sometimes a bath before dinner, sometimes after, sometimes not at all and then there 's a bath in the morning.

Sleep time is whenever they feel tired or fall asleep. So that can range from 5.30 pm - 11.00 pm (usually 8.30/9.00pm)!

The only sort of routine is after breakfast, wash your face, do your hair, clean your teeth get dressed (not necessarily in that order as we only have one bathroom!).

Weekends, open slather...

It's hard to have a strict routine when half the kid's sleep with you!

[wattle]

Well I must be the odd one out (again). Ds LOVES a routine. In fact the more I stick to it, the happier he is. I'm happy to read his signs and go with the flow, but he just seems to love doing the same things at the same time each day.

I guess it shows that all kids are different. What works for some may not work for others. Dh is exactly the same, so perhaps there's some genetic factor in it. I also read somewhere that Capricorn babies love routines. It's certainly true for us.

[H&B'sMum]

My son and I have meet in the middle. For some things it's his routine like when to have his day time sleeps or lunch but other times it my routine. Night time bed is always the same routine, but only cause we have followed this for all his life and he understands that when this happens it's now bed time.
When we are home it's just cruise time and he leads the routine. I do worry though when he's in day care that he has a different routine and therefore doesn't sleep as much as he does at home.
It also depends on what I need to get done during the day. If we have an appointment I try to book it when I feel he will be awake or not needing a sleep. But if we have to go to the shops I wait until after his morning sleep.
So really it depends on what is happening and mood both of us are in.

[sasholi]

Hi All.

Wattle, I'm a bit like you. my bubs seems to have gotten himself into a routine and he really loves his little routine. I don't really stress about any routine (any more!) as I figure he knows when he's tired, hungry etc. But every day is pretty much the same!

He wakes up at around 5:30 then DH takes him for a walk to see the dogs in the park (other crazy people waking up at that time!) while I get an extra hour sleep. 6:30 he's ready for a bottle, then he's wanting solids breakfast straight after than. Then by 8am he's yawning, rubbing his eyes and getting annoyed. So he goes to sleep then and sleeps for 2 hours. he's ready for more bottle by 10:30 then lunch sometime within an hour after that. Then he may sleep around 1:30 or he may stay awake till about 2:30ish when he's ready for another bottle and then he will usually fall asleep on the bottle and have a 1/2 hour or 45 minute nap. Then when he wakes up he's ready for his next solid feed. then at 6pm we have a bath, then a bottle. He falls asleep again on the bottle and is out for the count by 6:30pm pretty much every day!!!

that's it. I like it as I know what to expect and I'm a bit planner by nature so maybe it is genetic and bubs has that too!!!

[jarrahsmumma]

i have found that Jarrah has slipped into his own routine (when he was about 6 months) where he has a long morning sleep between 8-10 and then an afternoon sleep for about an hour any where between 2 and 4 pm. He usually has some food about an hour or so after he wakes then we follow that with a bottle.

He goes to bed around 7 pm each night and mostly (if not sick or teething) willl wake at 6 am. Sounds lovely hey :) But before 6 months he would only ever sleep for 30-45mins in the day (3 to 5 times a day) and be drinking constantly when he was awake. I never got anything done, the house was a mess, i was exhausted and felt like i wanted to swap my baby. I should have just chilled out and gone with the flow.

Ahhh wonderful hindsight :)
peace