Routine

[supa_star323]

I am trying o get my 13 month old son into a routine during the day, but it isn't working. He has breakfast at 7.30 and goes to bed at 8pm, but toher than that everything is just muddled and confused. I thought a bit more structure in both of our lives might help a bi, but I'm not really sure where to start. Can anyone please give me some advice or share their routines with me (inc. feeds and sleeps)? Thanks all.

[leanne30]

can i ask why you think you need a structured routine? is he not sleeping well during the day, or are there other issues? just that i dont really have a routine either.... and it feels ok! the only set thing we have is that i try to get my 14mth old son into bed at around 11.30am for a nap, so i try to make sure i am home at this time. occasionally, i get him to have his day nap while i am out and about in the pram, but mostly, i am home, he tends to sleep better then. as for the rest of the day, we make it up as we go along! and i look for his hunger cues to give him food, and also if he is acting bored i'll change the scene and go out for a walk. so no routine is a good routine for us!

[Rouge]

Our routine is pretty flexible.

Seth wakes up at about 7:30 but can be as early as 7 or as late as 9 on weekends. Then we have breakfast (he's 17 mths and weaned so he doesn't have feeds anymore) and then we'll play till about 11:30 when I start preparing lunch he'll have lunch and go down for a nap anywhere between 12-1 and then sleep from anywhere from 1-3 hours. Then we usually go get Paris from school have afternoon snacks, more play. Daddy is home at around 5 around 5:30 we have dinner and then bath then at 7:30 we have bedtime. Pretty flexible though...

The things we do in between naps & food are usually playing outside, going for walks, reading, watching a bit of tv, visiting friends, shopping etc It really does vary day to day.

Goodluck!

*hugs*
Cailin

[Lucy]

Mine is very very similar to Cailin's.

It is not a clock watched routine as such, but more of a grove to each day......

7am ish wake up
Brekky
Play
Out for the morning (by 8.15 on some days, other days not till 9.30)
Home for lunch at around 12.30
lunch
Nap (Charlie sleeps for anything up to 3 hours, same with Lexie.......it varies on how busy we have been in the morning) Olivia just has quiet time for an hour or so usually.
Play, usually with a bit of afternoon tea (ie a piece of fruit)
5.30pm dinner
6.00 Daddy comes home, so usually rough and tumble playtime
7.00 Baths/Stories/Hot milk/Bed

The morning activity is usually the bit of the day that is the longest......it varies, but it could be a park/playdate, or a stories and craft session at the library, or swimming etc.........

[paradise lost]

Mine is very similar to Cai and Lucy

8am wake up
8.15-30ish breakfast
after breakfast playing and reading usually indoors unless i have errands to run
11am nap until 1pm
1.15ish Lunch
after lunch we usually get out of the house and do fun things together for a bit, walk in the park, feed the ducks, coffee (and babycino ) with friends
5-6pm Dinner
After dinner play with Dada (XP comes ovr after work every night)
7pm bath, milk, teeth, story, bed

Usually in bed, lights out, alone (i.e. not being read/sang to anymore) by 7.40pm.

I offer food at every mealtime but i also feed her if she asks in between. She's quite like i was and thrives on routine as it seems if she can rely on certain things she can give her energy and attention in between to learning and not worrying or feeling insecure - i can REMEMBER feeling upset because mummy wasn't doing what i expected, so she's like me in this respect. XP is totally different and prefers no-routine. Just now DD struggles a bit with Dada if he has her for more than 24 hours (without routine chaos gets in and she starts doing things like waking up to play for 4 hours at 1am!) but she's getting better at communicating need (will pick up her lamb and go stand by her cot saying "bed. bed" at naptime LOL) so they do ok.

It depends how your baby is i think. SOme kids do fine without routine, others do better on it. I personally cannot just wing it and the only days i mix everything up are when DD is ill and has a temperature and we both spend all day doing whatever it takes to help her feel better in those instances.

Bx

[supa_star323]

can i ask why you think you need a structured routine? is he not sleeping well during the day, or are there other issues? just that i dont really have a routine either.... and it feels ok! the only set thing we have is that i try to get my 14mth old son into bed at around 11.30am for a nap, so i try to make sure i am home at this time. occasionally, i get him to have his day nap while i am out and about in the pram, but mostly, i am home, he tends to sleep better then. as for the rest of the day, we make it up as we go along! and i look for his hunger cues to give him food, and also if he is acting bored i'll change the scene and go out for a walk. so no routine is a good routine for us!

I mostly just want a routine because he never sleeps very well during the day, it's mostly just a whole heap of 20 minute naps and then he seems to be grumpy when he's awake. But when I try to get him to have 'big' naps, he just lays in the cot and plays games.

[mumof2beauties]

I have found that all my kids have responded well to some sort of routine. The first 2 had a reasonably 'firm' routine, in that I always made sure I was home at a certain time for their naps etc. Number 3 has had to be a bit more flexible, because we have to fit sleeps etc around school drop offs etc.

He has, in the past few days gone down to having 1 nap a day, which suits me much better, but our day generally goes like this:

Hopefully a 7am wakeup (sometimes 5.30 - 6am )
Breakfast about 7.30 am
School run at 8.30 am and then we will head out for the morning (friends, shops, walk etc)
Lunch around 11 - 11.30 and then a BF about 12 and straight to bed and usually sleep about 1 1/2 - 2 hrs.
Up about 2pm then school run at 3
Afternoon tea about 4, dinner at 5.30
Bath at 6.30, BF straight after and straight to bed by about 7pm.
Still wakes for feeds usually 2 times during the night ( maybe one day he will sleep through )