Whats your 7 month routine...I have none!

[Lostinspace1]

Feeling bad about the lack of routine. I've just gone with the flow from the start but actually I'm the sort of person who likes a schedule, but not a strict one.

At the moment its very roughly:
8am wake BF
Nap 2 hours later
BF/Breakfast mid morning
Nap (maybe)
BF/Lunch
Nap (no longer than an hour)
5-6pm BF/Supper
10pm BF/Bedtime...........

I am trying to bring the bedtime forward but it's not working.

[puntasticusername]

That sounds fine, don't stress

If I were you I would be trying to firmly establish the second nap after lunch - it should (roughly) occur 2-3 hours after the end of the last nap.

At 9am of age, I would try and discourage the third nap - obviously every child is different and if they need a nap they they need a nap, but 10pm is a pretty late bedtime at that age so it might well be better to try and eliminate that third nap in favour of achieving a bedtime of 7-8pm.

[NormHonal]

FWIW I didn't get my sh*t together until around 9 months. We got through it.

I am a routine-lover, but my DD wasn't, and resisted it. 6 years down the line she is still as stubborn. but no lasting ill-effects. She adopted nursery/school routines in the end begrudgingly.

Just go with it.

[winkywinkola]

Well, I wouldn't worry. You sound happy and relaxed. Is your baby happy and relaxed too? If he/she is, then brilliant. You sound like you're doing an amazing job.

Do you need more of a routine for any particular reason?

If not, then I would just go with it.

If you really want an earlier bed time, then perhaps be really busy with your dc between 3-6pm (park, zoo, softplay), have supper, bath and then straight to bed.

But I have to say, it's lovely to read about someone who has just found their own way for now without stress.

[puntasticusername]

Gah, *7m of age, sorry, not sure where I got 9m from and then I couldn't even type it right...

[hollie84]

If you want to bring bedtime forward maybe drop a nap?
So for example
up at 8am
nap 10-11am
nap 2pm-4pm
bedtime 8pm

[Lostinspace1]

Wow, thanks for the responses. I guess I get freaked out now and again by people who say 'can't do x then as this is when 'saffron' has her boob time etc'.

Part of the desire for routine is because when out and about the weaning has been thrown out of the window and very occasionally my LO has had no meal time which makes me feel guilty. Finding it hard to fit it all into the day so think a structure routine might help.

[Sleepwhenidie]

Ah I wouldn't stress, solid food only really becomes important at around 12m, before that most babies are playing with the concept of real food and milk is still staple (they will let you know somehow if they are the exception to this ). If you and DC are happy and healthy then carry on going with the flow.

[NorahBone]

At 9m I've just moved the bedtime from 10pm (with me) to 9pm. Only my baby seems to need less sleep than me and will happily get up after 8 hours having woken up several times at night.
Personally I feel that too rigid a routine would just make me stressed because any changes would make me feel like that day had gone wrong some how.

[hollie84]

I wouldn't worry two much about missing a meal time at this stage, NHS advice is to work up to 3 meals a day by 8-9 months. Disagree that solids only really become important at 12 months - they should make up 50% of the baby's intake by 12 months and that doesn't happen overnight.

[scarletoconnor]

Sounds fine to me the only 1 tiny thing is if you can bring the bedtime forward even by an hour for your own sanity
When they fall asleep so late you just end up getting in bed and going to sleep yourself with no wind down time. well I do anyway

My dc1 had a similar bedtime and now he is 2 and he's still awake until 10pm most nights. Dc2 has always gone to bed 7.30-8pm and so far (9months) has been ok with that.

But don't stress about the bedtime too much it could just be that my dc1 needs very little sleep and I'm talking utter rubbish to you .

As for routine I've never had a very strict one with mine we kind of go with the flow with regards to exact nap time / dinner time / bath tine, which has worked out ok for us as they're not so stuck in a rigid routine we have to plan everything around it.

I hear about some routines on here and people having to cancel lunches etc because they're not at the right time of day around babies naps and routines it sounds really strict to me as I'm just not like that but everyone is different.

What you already do sounds great I wouldn't think there would be more to add.

[TobyLerone]

We have a loose routine something like this:

7am get up, nappy change, take DH to the station. I don't BF her then because she still feeds all bloody night a fair bit at night, with a feed usually around 5/6am.

8am breakfast -- usually toast or porridge and some fruit.

9am(ish) BF and nap. This is the only reliable nap of the day. She always takes it, and it can last anything from 15 minutes to 1.5 hours.

midday(ish) lunch.

2pm(ish) BF and nap.

5pm BF.

6pm quick nap in the car while we fetch DH.

6.30pm dinner.

7pm bath, story, BF, bed.

She's usually down and asleep by 8pm and then back up again at 12, 2am, 3am, 4am, 6am and 7am.

[TobyLerone]

I should add that I'm not strict about this and we occasionally skip a lunch or something, but I do try to ensure she has her 1st nap at least. She's usually so tired from being up all night that she desperately needs it.

[scarletoconnor]

Also as for the food my dd is 9months and most days its a battle to get 3 meals down plus milk so missing the odd meal isn't too bad. When you first start weaning you do feel like your stuck to the house trying to fit it all in. I know its not popular on here but until your dc is properly establishing eating it won't do them any harm to eat baby food from a jar so you can get out of the house.

I got so stressed about home cooked foods with dc1 we never left the house because I was trying to fit in milk/meals.
In the end I bought so jars and just took a jar / spoon out with me wherever I went. He still got a nice breakfast / dinner and he preferred the jars to my cooking anyway

[TobyLerone]

We're BLW so we're never stuck in because she just has whatever I'm having. Wagamama's tonight!

[DirtyDancing]

I could have written your post! Tried and failed countless time to put DS in a routine. Just started since he was 7 months.

5/6am DS wakes, BF
8am breakie
9am nap (anything from 45mins - 1.5 hours)
10.30 bottle
12.00 lunch
12.45 nap (as above, varies)
3pm bottle
4pm nap (sometimes, he did 2 hours at 12.45 today so didn't nap at 4)
5pm dinner
6.30 bath, bottle, bed

I love it now, finally know what I am doing!

[NickyEds]

My DS (8 months)has an almost identical routine to DirtyDancing except he now has a snack instead of a bottle at 3pm most days and bedtime's nearer 7. I was never bothered about a routine, DS isn't going to nursery so there's no need for one really but this is sort of how he's worked it out. He gets very grumpy hysterical if he doesn't more or less follow it. I can't imagine how hard it must be to implement a routine on a little baby that doesn't want it and probably not worth the bother if you're happy as you are.

Routines are a mixed bag (like soooo many other things!!), on the plus side OH and I get to eat a meal in peace and have a wind down in the evening but on the other hand OH gets home at 6.20 so only sees DS for 45 minutes-an hour at night and we can't really arrange family dinners etc that go on past 7pm. My baby just needs one (despite me not being bothered) which does give me some security(??) as to how the day will go but when your baby's in a routine you're in it too!!