Do you work outside the home? At home? I work from home.

Do you encourage a daily rhythm for your baby or toddler? How / what? We have a great groove going. Luckily Charlie is a very easy placid baby boy, and he fits in beautifully with Olivia's routine......she is 19 months, and gets really tetchy if her routine is broken, so we tend to go with her routine and Charlie at 9 weeks slots in with her.......

Both Olivia and Charlie follow a feed, play, sleep routine.

Olivia has brekky, plays, and has a big nap after lunch from 12 till about 3. She then has afternoon tea, followed by play, with dinner at 5.30pm, books and quiet play and family time till 6.30 bathtime. By 7pm she is asking to go to bed!

Charlie is on 3 sleeps a day. He has, quite beautifully, fallen into a 4 hourly pattern.....wakes at 7am for a feed, then plays, then sleeps, to wake again at 11am. Same deal takes us to 3pm. Same deal till 6pm. He has bath, boob and bed from 7pm, so he is down & alseep for the night generally by 7.30pm. (He then generally wakes for a feed again at about 3 or 4am?) Charlie has self settled from birth (thank goodness) so we spend a lot of his awake/play time cuddling and smooching, because I don't get the chance to cuddle/rock/pat him to sleep, as he just drifts off by himself quite happily in his hammock.

Do you have any specific routines - ie mealtime/ bath time/ bedtime rituals that are special to your family? Helpful to encourage transitions. The main one is the same one as everyone else.......feed, play, sleep. And most certainly the bedtime routine for both our lids is lovely.......bath, boob, bed. They know what is coming next and so sleep well.

Edited to add: both Olivia and Charlie have a special CD that they both sleep to.......Peacebaby. Olivia has had this played to her from birth, as has Charlie. It works wonders!!

I am not a clockwatcher or really strict about timings (apart from bedtime). We kind of go with the flow, and I feel lucky to have babies that seem to get into their own groove quite happily. I can make appointments/set dates/arrange our social life quite well, knowing approximately what time they will be up/down/asleep/cranky etc. It all works well for us.