Do you have a routine... should i find one...

[Arimeh]

Kristy - I replied in our belly buddies thread on my opinion on routines so won't repeat but will say what we do here on the days that I have DS (of course it differs when other people have him!!)
6.00 - 7.00 - wake up!!
Have bottle
7.30(ish) - say good bye to daddy and play outside
8.30 - watch finley, sesame street, the night garden whilst having some brekkie
9.30 - nap time!!
Usually sleeps till around 11.30 - have something to eat
between 12 and 5 nothing is concrete - sometimes will go for another nap at 2.30 - depending on grumpiness and how much he has slept for in the morning.
then 5.30 - dinner
6.00 - bathtime with daddy
7.00 - bottle
8.30 - bed (unless only had one sleep during the day then goes to bed around 7.30 - 8.00)
So we sorta have a routine-ish type thing going here, but I keep it quite flexible because sometimes he wakes up at 8am, sometimes he is up at 6am. I sorta go by the three hour rule - if he is awake for three hours, put him down for a nap. If he goes, good, if not, get up for 15 minute block and then try again.
Nothing is set in stone around here - and because he is so demanding it changes constantly. I was going to do the vaccing and mopping today - and was planning on doin it whilst he was up this morning - but he played by himself (so didn't need to have him on my back whilst doing housework) but may get a chance to do it tomorrow.

My suggestion is to have a routine-ish thing, but don't get upset or stressed if it changes day by day.. lol

I'm sure you will do a wonderful job.

[bon]

I like routine in my life - it helps me stay organised. However I don't like those strict routines like you find in some parenting books - you know, wake up at the exact same time each day, feed only at set times, play at set times, nap at set times - I don't believe life needs to be that regimented. A fluid, changeable routine is great, and I found with all my babies that we just naturally fell into one. We have the same approx times for meals and bedtime, and of course we have to go out at the same time every morning and afternoon to get DS to and from school. But other than that we go with the flow and that is great for us.

[MantaRay]

Kristy, my boys really defined their own routines. I found with DS2 that we had a little less flexibility as we sometimes had to work around DS1 (or DS1 would have to work around DS2). But then they just got into a pattern around those things and still led me into a routine of sorts that suited them. I am not sure how much harder it will be with twins but maybe see how you go?

[ShootingStar]

Hey hun.. just thought id post in here too.

Ive kinda always just followed Jesse's lead apart from the dinner, bath, bed part i kinda alway inforce. And its always seemed to work.

His current routine is (when we're home for the day!)..
7am - get up.. he sometimes wakes anywhere from 6am but i leave him in bed until 7 unless he's screaming the house down. Then has his bottle/sippy cup of milk when we get up.
8amish - breaky
After breaky its just free play, watches some telly, go out side and play etc
11am & 1pm (anywhere in between depending how moody he is) - Lunch
Any time after lunch and usually BY 1.30-2pm he has a nap.
Then whenever he wakes he comes out and plays.
5.30pm - Dinner and he has a shower or bath straight after.
6.45pm - he has another sippy cup of milk
7pm - Bed.

Im pretty flexible with times.. sometimes its not spot on, but most of the time its roughly that. Ive always tried to have somewhat of a mild routine as i just like routine.. the dinner, bath, bottle, bed has always been around from an early age as its something that will always happen whether we're home or out for the day.

Hope you can work something out to make things easier on you.

[aussienic]

No routine here. we sort of have meals around the same time,, about the only thing I am really tough on is bed time..

I personally believe routines make you more stressed.. You might not be hungry at the time you have allocated.. I would go with the flow. but keep meal and bed times around the same time each day..

Good Luck on the rest of our pregnancy

[fionas]

So far I've just gone with the flow but now I'm finding that I would like a bit more structure so that I can get things done.

So this is kind of what I've been doing for the past few days:

DD wakes up (anytime between 6-7am): bottle
About an hour later: brekkie
While she's up, I have my brekkie and prep dinner (inbetween playing!).
9amish: nap. Meanwhile, I'll get on BB and hopefully do some chores too.
11amish: bottle then lunch
1pmish: get out of the house, think about next day's dinner and go buy stuff.
3pmish: bottle, then nap.
6pmish: dinner
7.30 pmish: bottle then bed.

I'm finding that if I prep dinner early and do chores when she has her first morning nap, I feel much more organised and happy, then when it comes to the arvo I'm not stressing about what's for dinner so can either use that time to do boring stuff like think about tomorrow's dinner or I can catch up with other mums or tootle around the shops.