How important is it to have a routine? Does it matter to the baby at all at this point? My boy is 5 a half weeks Is there a point where it does start to matter?
It seems like allot of people start doing a rough routine around this age. But as long as I'm on maternity leave 12 weeks, I don't really care too much to try to establish a routine. It seems somewhat futile for me/us more trouble than it's worth. So far everything is just on demand. I try to fit a few household things in where I can sometimes try to keep him wake a bit more in the evenings in hopes that he'll sleep a bit more overnight.
Of course if there are benefits to a routine for Baby that I don't know about, then maybe it would be worth the trouble.
It's not necessary, do what works for you and baby. I do a loose eat, play, sleep routine. This is because I don't want her associating breastfeeding with sleep time, and it also makes it easier for me to tell if she is tired or hungry by having a basic order to our day. Everyone has their own style and way of doing things. But routines now aren't worth stressing about, as babies change so much so fast each day at this age, no two days are the same or predictable regardless of routine.
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My kids have all fallen into a routine on their own. I do things like make sure the bedroom is dark at night to sort of signal nows the time to sleep and stay sleeping but I don't have a set bedtime or eating times for Maren. I feed her when she's hungry and let her sleep when she's tired.
Somewhere between maybe 6-12 weeks you'll notice patterns and then you can work around that or, if necessary, try to nudge things one way or the other. Like, Maren naturally falls asleep now around 9:00pm and sleeps her longer stretch after that. And then she naturally gets up around the same time I do at 6:00am.
FWIW, I've never had trying to keep them up at night work to help them sleep longer. Logically it seems to make sense that if you keep them up they will sleep longer but my experience has most often been the opposite and that they actually end up sleeping less well. But, maybe my kids are just weird.
Kelly, Mom to Christopher Shannon 9.27.06, Catherine Quinn 2.24.09, Trey Barton lost on 12.28.09, Therese Barton lost on 6.10.10, Joseph Sullivan 7.23.11, and our latest, Victoria Maren 11.15.12
Secondary infertility success with IVF, then two losses, one at 14 weeks and one at 10 weeks, then success with IUI and then just pure, crazy luck. Expecting our fifth in May as the result of a FET.
My LO is 8.5 weeks and seems to be falling into her own routine with very little help from me. She's about to start full time daycare, so I'm hoping that won't destroy it. I'd have to agree with PP about sleeping at night being WORSE when trying to keep her awake... sleep begets sleep!
Meh, as long as we are all happy at this point, I don't care. She sleeps until between 7am and 11am, depending on when she fell asleep for good the night before. She's up for an hour, maybe less then naps. Some times her first nap is 45 minutes, other times it's 4 hours. That is really the only predicable thing about her schedule.
I was starting to worry that I hadn't started a real routine/schedule yet, but then I realized I only have six more weeks home with my baby before life gets crazy with me going back to work. So, I just read her cues and go about our day. I try to encourage eat, awake, sleep but I am not always successful.
Just follow your gut mama. You'll never get this time back and if you both are happy and thriving, whatever you are doing is the perfect thing for your baby.
I started thinking about this too, I go back to work in March and with the schedule we're on right now there's no way I could actually go to work (we don't sleep at night... at all.) I'm hoping he finds a groove and starts sleeping longer at night at least.
My Blog: Sewing, crafting, motherhood, computers, and random musings... Sleep is for the weak
A routine can be helpful to all involved at any age, but not really a schedule. We do a basic routine of eat, play , sleep. Like PP said, it helps me to know if DD if fussing out of hunger or being tired. But she still feeds on demand. So sometimes our routine repeats in 2 hour cycles, sometimes it's 3 or 3.5 hour cycles, depending on when she wants to eat. This also helps me know when is a good time time to do tummy time and floor play and I know that she ate and played, so now she'll get ready to sleep and I can do chores, shower, etc.
Re: Routines
My kids have all fallen into a routine on their own. I do things like make sure the bedroom is dark at night to sort of signal nows the time to sleep and stay sleeping but I don't have a set bedtime or eating times for Maren. I feed her when she's hungry and let her sleep when she's tired.
Somewhere between maybe 6-12 weeks you'll notice patterns and then you can work around that or, if necessary, try to nudge things one way or the other. Like, Maren naturally falls asleep now around 9:00pm and sleeps her longer stretch after that. And then she naturally gets up around the same time I do at 6:00am.
FWIW, I've never had trying to keep them up at night work to help them sleep longer. Logically it seems to make sense that if you keep them up they will sleep longer but my experience has most often been the opposite and that they actually end up sleeping less well. But, maybe my kids are just weird.
Kelly, Mom to Christopher Shannon 9.27.06, Catherine Quinn 2.24.09, Trey Barton lost on 12.28.09, Therese Barton lost on 6.10.10, Joseph Sullivan 7.23.11, and our latest, Victoria Maren 11.15.12
Secondary infertility success with IVF, then two losses, one at 14 weeks and one at 10 weeks, then success with IUI and then just pure, crazy luck. Expecting our fifth in May as the result of a FET.
This Cluttered Life
BFP#1 on 02/14/09 BIRTH to Mason 6lb9oz on 10/12/09
BFP#2 on 5/28/11 EDD 2/1/12 Natural M/C on 6/13/11
BFP#3 on 1/20/12 EDD 9/30/12 Natural m/c on 1/27/12
BFP#4 on 4/23/12 BIRTH to Isabella 7lb1oz on 12/19/12
I was starting to worry that I hadn't started a real routine/schedule yet, but then I realized I only have six more weeks home with my baby before life gets crazy with me going back to work. So, I just read her cues and go about our day. I try to encourage eat, awake, sleep but I am not always successful.
Just follow your gut mama. You'll never get this time back and if you both are happy and thriving, whatever you are doing is the perfect thing for your baby.
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My Blog: Sewing, crafting, motherhood, computers, and random musings... Sleep is for the weak