Hi Shelly
I have used a routine as much as possible with my 6 month old, but I'm not so strict that its inflexible. For example, from about 2 weeks of age, after Olivia would wake up in the morning and have her breastfeed, we would go for a pram ride up to my favourite cafe (25minute walk) have a capuccino then head home. That was my exercise and sanity check for the day. I would then follow the feed, play , sleep routine for 3 more rounds until it was about 5.15pm when we would go downstairs and ALWAYS have bath, pyjamas, breastfeed, sleep at 6ish.
It was good that Olivia knew what was going on and what to expect (particularly at the end of the day) but it was also good for me to know how to organise my time and when to make appointments etc. Olivia would call the shots in terms of when she would wake up (sometimes 6 am,sometimes 6,30...) but i would then work around that.
hope this is helpful
susan
Susan, Sydney, 12/4/05 baby