How do you get your DC into a routine/schedule?

DD is 6 weeks old and I know its way to early to get her into a schedule but is there anything I can do to form some sort of routine. We give her a bath at 7pm every night I guess that's a start. She eat all over the place. Every night is different. Any tips or advice?

Thank you

Re: How do you get your DC into a routine/schedule?

That is when I started getting the boys on a schedule, and they actually still have the same one! I just started a strict nap time and night time routine. Baths, music, nursing....and kept with it every day. Now they are excellent sleepers for both naps and night time. The key is to be consistent!

Re: How do you get your DC into a routine/schedule?

HI Tara- IMO I would work on an eating schedule first. Try to feed her every 2.5 to 3 hours. I read the book on becoming babywise and that helped me with my feeding schedule. Actually, having them in the NICU helped form their eating schedule the most.

Re: How do you get your DC into a routine/schedule?

6 weeks is exactly when Yael set a routine for herself. It just kind of came naturally. She wakes up around the same time as Alex everyday so I put her in her bouncy seat while I get Alex ready for school, then I walk them both to Alex's school to drop her off. On the way home, she falls asleep for her morning nap. When she wakes, I feed her, play with her and then when she's sleepy I pack her up and go out and run some errands.

Then from 5pm-8pm she cluster feeds, so she cat naps and wakes up every 30 minutes to eat.

8pm is bedtime for both girls. For Yael, that's when I take her into her room, put on her sound machine, turn down the lights, dress her in her pj's, and then wrap her in the miracle blanket. I feed her one last time, burp her, rock her for 5 minutes and then I put her in her crib.

So, that's how I do it... and, well, I never let her nap for more than 3 hours during the day. I wake her up to feed her. If she wants to go back to sleep that's fine, but because she sleeps 10 hours a night, I make sure she's getting enough to eat during the day, to make sure she'll sleep that long stretch at night.

Re: How do you get your DC into a routine/schedule?

DD is 6.5 weeks and just this week I've attempted to start some sort of routine. Sometimes successfully, sometimes not so successfully. DD is formula fed and eats every 3-4 hours. Our routine is:
Eat
Play/awake time for 45 min to an hour and a half
Nap till next feeding

She usually wakes up on her own at about the 3.5 hour mark to eat again, but if she doesn't I wake her by 4 hours.

DD is a verrrry fussy/colicy baby so the routine really depends on if its a good or a bad day for her. But if I attempt to keep her up and play with her even for a little bit before she gets fussy again I find that she naps better and sleeps better at night. The routine we started with this week has really helped me keep my sanity, but I'm not fooling myself I know with a baby this young (esp a fussy baby) it could all turn around again next week!

Re: How do you get your DC into a routine/schedule?

I keep DS on a strict eating / waking routine during the day. He eats every 3-4 hrs and I don't let him nap too long. He's sort of on a schedule like this: eat at 9,12,3,6 or 7, 10 or 11, then goes to bed and (usually) sleeps until 4 or 5am. After he eats I try to keep him awake a while during the day but of course sometimes with a newborn it is hard. We do tummy time, look around, go in the swing etc. It takes a few days but it falls into place. Right now I do baths every other day in the morning bc I'm home but I am going to start doing it in the evening soon so its part of our routine when I go back to work.

Re: How do you get your DC into a routine/schedule?

good question. i think it's never too early to at least implement some sort of rhythm or routine to the day. so that things seems normal/expected when they finally set a solid routine later on.
my DS is 7 weeks is BF'd and eats every 3 hours. typically his day is now looking like this:
wakes 9-9:30am and eats
has some activity time then starts to get sleepy.
i put him in the crib for a nap around 10:30/45
sleeps til noon
wakes and eats-we run out and do errands or something fun with my 2yr old.
come home around 2pm he eats, nap around 3pm wakes at 5ish and eats
then he is kind of up from that time til 8 pm. we go to my moms, come home take a bath he gets a bottle and i usually have him in the crib by 8:30pm

sorry this is so long! it's not a routine really yet but like i said it's a rhythm to his day that i think will pan out into something later on!

Re: How do you get your DC into a routine/schedule?

DS kind of set his own schedule around 4 wks. we had 2 days of bad gas pains that threw us off, but now we're back.

He wakes up around 8:30-9am for the day, and then we change, feed, play, change, nap.

He'll eat again around 12-12:30, then the same play, then nap.

He's up again around 3-4, change, feed, then DH comes home from work around 4:30 and the 2 of them nap .

He eats again around 7-7:30, gets a bath every other day, then sleeps til about 12.

"dark" feeding at 12 - no lights on, soft music, sometimes the twilight turtle with the stars for some light. Quick diaper, then it's bed til about 5am.

5am feeding is also a dark feeding....right back to sleep. He wakes up for this feeding STARVINGGG - like he's never eaten before. The longest he's EVER gone without eating is about 5.5 hrs.

And then our day starts all over again!


eta: if i'm out running errands, he'll nap longer. the carseat is his sleeping pill. I get a lot done if i leave the house during the day - he sleeps more soundly in the car/stroller.

Message edited 9/12/2009 4:19:20 PM.