For those who use routines

[trishalishous]

Honest question- how do you deviate from the routine?
My sister 'did' a certain book, and it had her in a tizzy!
She didnt go out at nap/night time for the last 4.5 years.
How do others do it? or dont you?

[miss.cinders]

My sister did the EXACT same thing for 2.5yrs.

I guess if you want a 'strict routine' but still go out and about.
Get bub used to sleeping in a pram or sling while at home too.

My kids always ate[bf] & slept whenever they wanted & where-ever we were... so my advice probably means nothing lol

[toomanyshoes]

DS we had a routine but I wouldn't say we didn't deviate from it, we keep doing most things at roughly the same time but we worked with it if we wanted to go out etc.

DD really didn't have a routine at all.

They were completely different and required different approaches.

[megs]

I use a routine to a point but am flexible with it. I did read a book, but I just picked a few things out of it. Such as my youngests son always went down around 9am and 1pm for a sleep. I never every woke a sleeping child just because a book says to I figured if one day they needed 3 hours then their body needed it.

If we were going out I just tried to keep with it. Say we spent the day in town I would still give him lunch around the normal time then at 1pm I would lay his pram back give him his dummy and teddy and he would pretty much go to sleep.

There were days though (especially with 2 older brothers and fitting in kinder etc) where the routine just didn't happen.

I think the key is flexibility, my little man knows that when he is put in a sleeping bag, dummy and teddy then it means sleep whether we are at home or staying at Grandma's house.

[sasha]

The only routine I've really stuck to with both of them was the evening one, which we still keep to. It's not really, really strict, but it is roughly tea at about 5-5.30, bath, little bit of play time with Daddy and then teeth, books, bed. I find if I keep to that rough idea (sometimes we don't have a bath, if it's later than usual), then we can work with whatever during the day.

With the naps when they were really little, I used to wrap them, pop in the dummy and put them down (both were fine on the floor, because that's what they were used to at home - just used to sleep in a quiet spot in the loungeroom for naps so they could hear us moving around and we could hear them if they cried).

[angelaartsstudent]

We did routines from a book...strict at first when P was younger, then eased up as she got older and based it around her natural sleep times and etc.

She still goes to sleep at roughly time same time each day, for her one day sleep.

She CAN stay awake if we want to do something in particular, but she gets into a very bad mood later in the day.

[ladybird11]

We've got routines in the way of doing things eg, after dinner the kids know its bath, bottle, story then bed time. We don't always do things at set times though, so we get flexibility through that - and the kids don't go to pieces if we're running behind time, or having dinner out at night.

DH's step sister has a 5 yr old and 3 yr old and she is really strict with timeframes and routines. Now she wants to start going out in the evenings with her DH and apparently the kids scream their grand parents house down when they leave as they're so used to their routines.

[MummaSue]

My best friend has stuck to the CLB routine very rigidly and hasn't had much of a life the past year. And now because she's done that, her little man is quite rigid and it's hard for them to do things.

We have a "pattern" to the day but it doesn't revolve around times. DD can stay awake for around 2 hours - so we let her nap wherever we are. It works really well for us.

The only routine that we stick to is the bedtime one but again, there is no set time for that.

xxxxx

[black_rose]

Dd1 was on a strict routine, she was a premmie who needed 3 hour feeds as she struggled with her weight and then she was in a brace so we had to make sure she made the most of her free time.

Breaking free from the routine has been hard, she doesn't cope too well. Since having dd2 and Ds I am know only strict on the night routine, dinner, play, bath then milk and bed. We can do it anywhere so we can go to friends houses and on the odd occasion if we break it they are fine.

[CrazyCat]

A friend of mine follows a routine from some book..... but my opinion, she is WAY too strict with it. She follows it TO THE MINUTE.
She'll set her watch...... 2:05pm....BEEP BEEP... time for a drink of water. 3:14pm... BEEP BEEP.. time for a sleep. 4:45pm...BEEP BEEP... time to play...
you get the idea....
She has totally ristricted her life. She hardly leaves the house because she doesnt want to stray from the routine. She has never allowed him to sleep ANYWHERE but his cot, so on the rare occasion she goes out she will all of a sudden RUSH around in a mad panic to get him in the car, and get him home before 3:14, or whatever time nap time is.
She's made her life so difficult. I hate it. Sometimes she is miserable. I feel so bad for her.
She's turned having a baby into a chore instead of a joy. =(

[Livinthedream]

We have a routine, and generally its to within an hour or so, eg get up 5.00am, do stuff till sleep at 8.30 -9.30 ish sleep for 1 1/2 hrs, get up do stuff, back to sleep 2.30-3.30 ish sleep for 1 1/2 hrs, get up, do stuff, go to bed 7.30- 8.30
We have done this for the last 6 months or so and it works great.
This way,I know there are times during the day I can do things (while he sleeps) so when he is awake, I can make it all about him. If we go out,I try and make it after the morning sleep and that way he can sleep in the car on the way home if we stay out for a long time.
Its really easy and my little bloke never gets overtired or stroppy (still get tanties, but not tired ones LOL)
We had to do it this way, for my sanity and also because my bloke is not the sort to just go to sleep anywhere, he needs quite strong sleep cues. eg teddy, bed, dark room. the exception is the car. But he wont just fall asleep in the pram at the shops KWIM?
I like structure, to a degree, it allows me to budget my time and energies into whatever I have deemed important for the day.
Just me, though

[M D]

I followed the routine you referred to but I adjusted it to suit. SO for example I stuck to sleep times, but that could have been in the car or the pram or at a friends house. I still went about my normal life and incorporated bub and my schedule.

I think the best thing I did was went out alot (I was going crazy at home) from very early on so bub was used to noise and sleeping in the car/pram etc. I don't think it is resonable to keep the bub at home following a strict routine for months on end and then wonder why bub is so restless when you take it out.

[lilmisspositive]

I followed the routine you referred to but I adjusted it to suit. SO for example I stuck to sleep times, but that could have been in the car or the pram or at a friends house. I still went about my normal life and incorporated bub and my schedule.

I think the best thing I did was went out alot (I was going crazy at home) from very early on so bub was used to noise and sleeping in the car/pram etc. I don't think it is resonable to keep the bub at home following a strict routine for months on end and then wonder why bub is so restless when you take it out.

Yep, sounds like me. Baby is fitting into our life.... not the other way around. Already in the last few days of starting a routine... Little to no crying because baby knows what to expect. : )

[trishalishous]

Yep, sounds like me. Baby is fitting into our life.... not the other way around. Already in the last few days of starting a routine... Little to no crying because baby knows what to expect. : )

See we are still 100% baby led, after 13 months, and never have any crying either. I can tell DDs early tired/hungry/bored cues, so we make sure we attend to her asap, and she doesnt need to get upset, as we pre-empt.
Her natural routine is pretty awesome, though she sometimes only naps for an hour or so in the arvos (but then goes to bed early)
It makes it heaps easier being a SAHM, since it doesnt matter if we make it to rhymetime/kinder gym/etc.

[BeautifulMadness]

if my DS2 sleeps while we r out, he sleeps no biggie means its easier to get him to bed @ night lol

[peanutter]

we have a routine, but it's flexible.

sometimes I have to work late.

sometimes we have social events on.

sometimes I would rather shave off my eyebrows than unsettle DS to get him up and bathed, and I figure the world will not implode if his bath waits until tomorrow ...

but we have a routine, and WE decide when it will work for US to deviate from the routine, iykwim.

I'm a very organised person so routines and checklists are my friends, but I figure routines are only good when they're achieving your purposes - which in our case is to keep a happy, harmonised, balanced, healthy family!

[BeautifulMadness]

routines change as kids get older,

My youngest will sleep in a pram he is 2 yrs 2 mths my eldest doesnt do sleeps during the day he is 4 and half.

ive been out at night time and my parents just followed on from our routine.....

both boys are in bed @ 8pm...thats my routine lol