top of page
3305-[Converted]1.jpg

Baby routines

Updated: Jan 8, 2024

It is beneficial and even recommended to start with baby routines in the very early days. Below I highlight some of the routines which I started from day one, but to be honest I only felt my days and routines were kicking in with my baby during the week 8. The reason being is at the beginning everything is new and you are learning how to be a mom so it was very difficult to create routines but then once you start to feel what works well for your baby, you will then start to incorporate some daily routines. Of course you cannot avoid crying but you can minimise it by implementing some routines and trying to understand your baby, by structuring their feeds, naps, cuddles and play times.


Most important for me, was and still is the feeding routine just because it is so important that your baby is healthy and gaining weight from day one. Once you leave the hospital, the staff will tell you that your baby might loose few grams at the beginning (which is very normal) so you want to make sure that you feed your baby often. In addition, it is important to keep your baby on the breast very often so it can stimulate more milk for you as a mother. The more your baby latches, the more milk you will produce and much faster.


1.Feeding routines:

As soon as you leave hospital you can already start with feeding routines by feeding your baby every 2 hours. Of course every baby is different but I have started with a routine of feeding my baby every 2 hours during the day and night.

As your baby grows and develops more these feeding routines will slowly shift to 3-4 hours (important part is that your baby is gaining weight regularly). The feeding time that my baby spent on the breast was also anywhere between 20-30 minutes, so one feeding session would last me for about an hour. The way to think about this feeding cycle is: your baby would spend 1 hour one your breast, followed by 2 hour break, and then I would repeat the cycle again. I was also waking my baby up to feed so my little one received enough daily food intake from my milk.


2. Sleeping routines:

In addition to feeding routines there are also day and night sleeping routines as your baby does not know difference between day and night time.

Depending on the age of your baby but I started with daily sleeping routines when my baby was about 8 weeks old.

We started with the following nap time routines:

Nap 1: 9-10 am (for about 45-60min, depending on the age of your baby)

Nap 2: 12-2:30 pm (for 2 to 2.5hours)

Nap 3: 4.30-5.30 (for about 15-45 min, depending on the age of your baby)


Every baby is different but starting with 8 weeks the daily recommended total sleep time is approximately 15 hours.

As your baby grows the day time sleep changes and it reduces but the night time sleep still stays 10 plus hours. Once your baby is 8 weeks old and has been gaining weight steadily he or she will be able to sleep longer stretches at night too.


3. Bathing routines:

In addition to feeding and sleeping routines I have also added bathing routines.

We bath our little one always at the same time (5pm) for about 20min followed by massage time so our baby knows it's getting ready for bed time too. You can find more details about how to massage your baby below in the attachment.

Usually the bath plus baby massage is from 5.00 -5.30 followed by final breastfeeding session before settling for bed time at 7 pm. We kept our days from 7 pm -7 am meaning that we would aim to settle our baby by 7pm and awake by 7 am. Of course not every day is perfect and there are a lot of hiccups along the way but this was our routine which we tried to incorporate in our little baby lives.


4. Play time:

It is important to schedule a play time with your baby between every feed and sleep time. In general I would incorporate play time between my feeds, just so my little one is growing and is a happy and content baby. To give you an example this is how I would typically schedule my day to fit in play time and nap time during the day:

Feed one, play time and then nap one

Play time, feed two, nap two

Feed tree, play time, nap tree


To summarise the day by hours, this is how the schedule would look like:


7am feeding 1

7.30am play time 1

9am nap 1

10am play time 2

10.45am feeding 2

12noon nap 2

2.45pm feeding time 3

3.15pm play time 3

4.30 nap 3

5pm bath time

5.45 feeding time 4

645/7.00 pm sleep time


I hope you find these routines helpful. Any questions please do reach out.






44 views0 comments

Comments

Rated 0 out of 5 stars.
No ratings yet

Add a rating

ST BABY BLOG

About Us

I originally started ST baby blog as a way to document the many precious moments of childhood. I simply didn’t want to miss a beat in my kids' lives and in my parenting journey, especially since they grow up so quickly!

Quick Links

Topics

Pregnancy
Breastfeeding
Baby Sleep
Baby Lifestyle
Baby Exercise
Baby Routines

Copyright © 2024 SS Baby Blog. All Rights Reserved | Designed by Cyberx Digital

bottom of page