After 3 months of trying to set my baby into a new born baby routine there’s one thing I discovered. Baby routines can be very unreliable!

Metaphorically speaking; like the local buses. You hope for them to be on schedule but deep down you’ve started chanting your prayers for them to be on time!

While it might seem like a wasted effort to a lot of moms out there, I stuck to it. You know why?

Because babies need predictability! 

I noticed my baby was happier, healthier and better rested when I followed her routine. Needless to say, I was a happy mom too.

The more predictable your baby’s day, with a steady rhythm of sleeping and eating in time, the better everyone sleeps at night.

Notice the pattern in the routine below and then use your baby’s cues to make a schedule.

This is what our day’s routine looked like from 3-6 months.

6.30 am
Change, feed and an extended morning nap.

8.00 am – 9.00 am
This continued to be our ‘cuddle time’ with dad. Just lie there tummy time and now, the baby gym for sure! When the weather permitted, we stepped out in the garden to soak in some sun.

9.00 am – 10.00 am
For us, this was our nursing time till 4 months, which then graduated to semi-solid foods. Feeding the baby solids usually took about an hour (gradually she ate faster. PHEW!)

10.00 am- 10.30 am
Now that she was older, bath times were more of sensory explorations. Toys, rattlers, gurgling and giggling! Then off for a post-breakfast nap!

12.30 pm – 1.30 pm
I was grateful at this point (when she started eating semi-solids) for having kept her centred around the family’s meal time. Not only could she eat on her booster chair with all of us, but I could also sit with her and eat!

2:30 pm – 4.30 pm
Time for a post lunch nap!

4.30 pm
Nurse her and then dress her up for the evening.

5.00 pm – 6.30 pm

Play with the kids. Take her out for a walk. This was usually play time with her brother and the family. Her older brother would sing to her or read aloud.

6.30 pm – 7.15 pm
This was dinner time. Once again, it coincided well with my older one’s schedule. It was a blessing because I could feed my younger one while encouraging my (then) 4 year old to self-feed (a habit he was gradually acquiring).

7.30 pm – 8.00pm

We now took to giving the baby a bath (after she started semi-solids) because dinner times were usually messy!

11.30 pm – Change feed and put her back to sleep.

 One thing I realized during the forming and following of this pattern was keeping my older one in check. Here are a few tips that I formulated to keep my older one from waking up the younger one.

TIPS ON MAINTAINING THOSE SLEEP PATTERNS WITH OLDER SIBLINGS IN THE HOUSE

Now that my baby had started responding, whenever my older one got back from school, he would barge into the baby’s room to cuddle with her and almost always wake her up! The aftermath of this was terrifying. My baby would be cranky because she hadn’t slept enough, my son would have had enough of her by then and he demanded my time next. Obviously, I would be miserable.

So it became imperative for me to ensure that my baby gets sound sleep and undisturbed! Here is how I did it…

• Explained the rules to my son.
  This took some time but eventually my son came around to keeping away from the baby’s room. This was a good lesson on patience and self-control for my son too. On days when he really wanted to see her, he and I would together tip-toe in the room he would gently peck her cheek.

• Find engagement for the older baby.
  Since my daughter’s nap time would coincide with the time when my son returned from school, we used this time to take a bath, talk or engage in some quiet play. Also there is always enough chalk and blackboard for my older one to keep busy! Gradually, he began to accept that this was his time to connect with me or finish academics.

• Get the baby to adjust.
  With my older one I did the mistake of shutting up everyone in the house when he slept. But I didn’t want to repeat hat with my daughter.

So I trained her to fall asleep even when the older one was playing around.

In spite of all this, keep yourself flexible!

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