Setting a routine

Routine has different connotations to different people. Use this advice as you see fit.

Some books do require you to have a rigid routine from the word go, often suggesting you may miss a window and it's all down hill from now!

Luckily enough our babies - firstly haven't read 'the books', secondly are all different. It is however true that if at least at bedtime you do not get some structure in place in the early months that it then can become a lot harder when teething and everything else brings nightime challenges up a notch!

Whilst in the hospital we were asked to log all 'activities' and when we got home (due to slow weight gain) we continued to do this for a while. With a baby sometimes getting through three diapers in 15 minutes, writing each change down at the time seemed ridiculous. However one day a few weeks in I studied the general pattern of our boy's day and then tried to set a schedule based on that. We tweaked it as per his needs and it was ever evolving and he developed and thankfully got better at feeding!

Having watched my son and followed his activities so closely - I had a good idea before he needed something, what that would be. These skills my husband and I honed over time and were very quickly rewarded with a content little boy who had to cry a whole lot less to be understood.

We were a lot more confident at reading his cues and recognising individual sounds or patterns which reduced the anxiety level in the house immeasurably. To this day he is still 95% of the time a very content little boy - for which we feel very lucky and grateful, I would definitely put in those hard yards at the beginning, if I had to do it all over again!