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

[kristy J]

Ok to keep this short i as hoping that all the beautiful mummy's out there can help me.

I have never had a rutine for DS1, we have never needed one. but this morning i was thinking that now with DS2&3 on their way maybe a rutine may be a good idea.

Im talking things like set breakfast, lunch & Dinner times; a set bath time & set nap times. I'm feeling that having 3 babies under 17 months is going to stress me a bit and i'm thinking that organied chaos might help.

I would love people to tell me if they have a rutine; does it work for you, and what is it ???

hope someone can help...

[*Elle*]

hmm I have never really had a routine as such either, we kind of do but nothing like a time table or anything and I prefer it taht way,

but

I have never had twins and IMO it may be less stress for you to have a routine set in place, it doesnt have to be a strict one but one that will allow you to be as organised as you can ( which I imagine as being tough with 2 babies as I know it is hard enough with one ) maybe just a few things like bath time before bed time etc as I have heard that can help alot with the settling for a restful nights sleep

sorry I am not much help

[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.

[Rouge]

We've always had routines with some things, and other things we don't. I still like to shuffle things up a bit so not to create a rigid personality that doesn't adjust to change, but I also have 2 routine junkies and they are fine now with routine and change.

We always did wake up (between 7-8:30), breakfast play, (around 10:30-11 for a 8-12 mth old) nap lunch, play, (around 2)nap. But that was when Paris was at kinder, when she started school it changed to what it still is now:

7- 8:30 (on weekends): Wake up & Breakfast
8:45 School Drop Off
Play through till
10:30 Snack time
Play through till
12:00 lunchtime
12:30 Naptime (usually sleeps till 2-3)
3:20 School Pickup
3:30 Afternoon Tea
5:30 Bathtime
6-6:30 Dinnertime
7:30 Bedtime

My kids are fine with this and it work well for us. Every family is different routines work well for some families others they don't. Seth's sleep cues would go by the clock so it was very easy for us, but when it came to breastfeeding I would play it buy ear. Of course sometimes the routine goes slightly out of wack but nothing too serious.

[kristy J]

wow thanks guys. i have decided that for the next few weeks ill try a few different things.

all your babies/kids sleep so long Isaac gets up at 5.30am every day. dad gets up with him and i get up at 6.30 when dad goes to work. i wish he would sleep longer.

Today we had breakfast at 7.30am
play till 9.30 than a nap till 10.30am
lunch at 12ish
play till 2.30 than a nap till 4ish (it was a broken nap as we had to go shopping)
afternoon tea at 4 (bickie and milk to hold him till dinner)
5.45-6pm Dinner is on the table for the whole family (felt like i was in a nursing home)
Bath strait after dinner (he is such a mess) i have just made this daddy's job everynight not just sometimes.
and i put him to bed at 7.15pm

I'll stick to this for a few days and see if it works out. I just feel so un-organised and today i did get more done than usual, so i'll see how we go. once the twins are born i know it will have to change.

[~Belinda~]

This is Madeleine's routine:

Wake and Feed (Milk) - 7.00
Back to Bed - 7.30-9.30
Solids - 9.30
Play - 10.00-11.00
Feed (Milk) - 11.00
Play - 11.30-12.30
Catnap - 12.30-1.00
Solids - 1.00
Play or Go Out - 1.30-2.00
Feed (Milk) - 2.00
Catnap - 2.30-3.30
Play - 3.30-4.30
Bath - 4.30-5.00
Feed (Milk) - 5.00
Awake - 5.30-6.30
Solids - 6.30
Asleep - 7.00-9.00
Feed (Milk) - 9.00
Bed - 9.30-7.00am next morning

What does everyone think of our routine? Do you think it's normal? Am I overstimulating her do you think? She only catnaps through day...

[fionas]

Hi Kristy

Yes - early wake-ups are a bugger aren't they? My DD went through a phase of waking up between 4-5am and not going back to sleep so I feel your pain.

You've probably tried this but what tends to work for us is if she wakes up that early, I feed her without getting her up and then she nods off again for another hour or so (more if I'm lucky) She's bottle-fed so if I actually brought her down to the kitchen (don't like to leave her in her cot crying) then she would be wide awake by the time the bottle was ready and not want to go back to sleep. So now I put her in with us (often she's in there already anyway), get DP to hold her so she doesn't fall out and then make her bottle and take it back to bed, keeping the lights off.

Even if she only goes back to sleep for another hour afterwards, I feel a whole lot better if I'm getting up for the day when it's light rather than dark.