LO's and Schedules

mindingpandq

Gals,

Do any of you (or did any of you) just let LO decide how the day was going to go with regards to when feedings, sleeping, baths, etc would be? I see some people have nightime routines, for example, but we just kind of follow Layn'es lead and each day her needs/schedule changes. Is there a certain age where "schedules" really start to click into place?

pentagrl

We let TJ do everything on demand, eat sleep etc, and he's got his own schedule going on. I just go with it!

Crazycrustacean

I always have let M decide her daily schedule. When she was about 4 months old she started to develop a real pattern. It wasn't a set time, but a general amount of hours in between naps & feedings. 

We found that when we followed her lead, it led to much less frustration. We tried to set a night time routine when she was about 5-6 months old and it blew up in our faces. 

Now we have a pretty decent routine, but it's more of a phrase than a routine. We nurse, hang out for a little while then tell daddy night night & love you. But we still do it when she's showing signs of tiredness. Not before then or it blows up in my face & she has a meltdown. 

 

 

bluedahlia

Lordy, your LO is cute! Anyway, we have always let our LO lead the way on eating, napping, and sleeping. I read a lot of parents who say their babies just did things like clockwork naturally, but that is soo not my baby. Only now are we trying to influence things. For example, dinner from 6:30-7:30, bath time every night around 8ish, but bedtime is anywhere from 9-midnight. Only recently some patterns have emerged, but her schedule is nowhere near predictable enough, and my planning nature is suffering from so much variability.

jeffrae

We are totally on demand.  Then she started falling into her own schedule that compliments ours (sleeping 6 hour stretches starting around 11 to 1 and then waking early am).  A mom's group I am in mostly are sleep training.  That is not really our thing....I like the on demand. 

We will start a routine around 4 months, when we get closer to daycare time.

MelissaSue81

we are mostly on her schedule still. she does have a bed time now.. and i try to have a rough idea of when we do breakfast/lunch/dinner.. but she's pretty much developed her OWN schedule, you know?

Sueball1

I don't think we got on any sort of schedule until about 6 weeks in - then I read The Baby Whisperer and that was my bible for awhile...but it was just basically eat, activity, sleep, and repeat!

 My opinion is that you only need a schedule if you NEED a schedule, you know? I never was a schedule type, but my kiddo was a mess, and getting him on a schedule fixed that. So I had no choice. But its whatever works for you.

LawLove08

DS is on a schedule now, and has been on one (though it has changed over time) since he was around 3 months old. ?Your LO is still way too young for any type of schedule, so don't worry about it now. ?And to be honest, "schedule" is sort of an overstatement for most kids. ?They have patterns for most days, but even when they are older some days are just different. ?

If you're interested and/or want your LO on a schedule at some point, here's a rough outline of what we did:

When DS was around 6 weeks old, he started STTN (9pm to 7am). ?Obviously, we were super lucky with this - that's not normal for most babies. ?Once that became consistent, we gradually started moving his bedtime earlier, and eventually he had his last feeding at 7:30, and was usually asleep by 8 or 8:30. ?We've followed a pretty consistent nighttime routine since that point: bath (every other night), jammies, bottle, book, song, bed.

Once he had a regular bedtime, it was easier to follow a pattern for daytimes. ?For daytime/naps, I followed his sleep/hungry signals for a few days and wrote down times for everything. ? I could see a decent pattern, so I just started following that pattern every day. ?Like I said, most days he was happy with that schedule. ?Some days he wanted to eat more/less or sleep more/less and I just let him dictate on those days.

I change his "schedule" whenever it seems like I am leading things too much. ?For example, when I would consistently have to wake him from a nap for his next feeding, I figured he might be ready to cut back a feeding. ?So I would go back to following his cues for a few days, figure out the new pattern, and go from there. ?

Like I said, this has worked for us. ?I cannot in any way guarantee it will work for anyone else (or even for my next baby). ?DS is a pretty good sleeper, and he thrives on a schedule. ?It did make going back to work (when he was 20 wks old) a lot easier.?

mrsandrews07

I'm just dropping by to tell you how beautiful your precious daughter is!!!! Gorgeous!