Routine!!!! whats that?!?!

Hi mums,
Im starting to get in need of some kind of routine.
Jetts nearly 5months old and everyday is different. Jett will go to bed on some days around 6:00pm that is if he's had his huge 10 mins cat naps during the day. If he doesnt sleep through the day, he'll be in bed by around 4:00. By that time he's totaly grumpy, his beautiful eyes go from being beautiful to looking like he's been attacked by a zombie and he's way over tired.
When he was 3-4months old, we kinda had a routine down. He'd wake round 5:30am, eat, go back to sleep for about an hour, stay awake nearly all day and then be back asleep at 3:30 till about 9:00. What happened, i dont know.
Basically, im just going by what he wants to do and when he wants it. It would be ok for me if i never wanted to leave the house or ever get things done around here.ie: washing, cleaning etc.
Does anyone have any suggestions or know of any great books I can get, on how to get my boy into a routine?
He's also wakeing in the middle of the night nearly as much as he was when he was a new born. Im usually up at about 3:00am, then again at 6. He wont take a dummy....never did. so im finding it impossible to try and drop the 3:00 feed.
Please, any suggestion is a good suggestion.
Thanks mums.

Hi Beth,

I'm in the same boat atm, DD is 6.5 months and doesn't know (or doesn't want to know) the meaning of the word routine. Teeth are a real routine killer at this age as well!!

We are pretty flexible during the day but have a strict dinner, bath, bed routine in the evening. She still wake at 1:30 and 5:30 to feed but my MCHN told me that this is perfectly normal and can last up until 9 months, eeek!

I mainly wanted to let you know that DD is a recovering daytime "catnapper". What I did was whenever she woke up after 10 mins or so I would try to resettle her and eventually the naps started to stretch out to 40 mins then 1 hour.

I found that when she has a few longer sleeps during the day, everything else seems to flow better and she also sleeps better at night.

You might have already tried doing this I just thought I would suggest something that worked for us.

Good luck with getting your bub into a routine and thanks a bundle for starting this thread I would love to see if any other mums have read some good books on the subject smile

Rachel.

I don't know the answer, but it is hard!

I feel like once you get them into some sort of routine, there sleeping or feeding requirements change as they get older and then you need to change their routine again!

I am trying hard for my baby to give up a late after noon nap around 5pm. He is 5 months and having three naps a day. 9am, 12pm and 3pm or some variation. I try to keep his bed time at 7pm, but struggling to keep him to that time. He ends up having a nap around 5 and I have to wake him up so he can have some play time before 7pm.

I have some routines at this website..... which have helped me a little. (they are free)

http://www.babybliss.com.au/Services/purchase.htm

i remeber Lillie at that age
i still dont know how i survived!!!!
one day i'd had enough of carrying her round to get her to sleep
i popped her to bed and told hubby not to touch,and hey presto she fell asleep
i had a book by "Gina Ford",i think its simalar ti tizzies book
Basically even if Lillie is asleeP AT 7AM i wake her
she satys awake till 9am then i pop her doen till 10 and wake her
i let her sleep fpr 4 hours per day(any longer and she wakes at night)then by 6.30 she;s out for the nite

Hi Beth

when my sonp was born (now 4yo) I purchased a book by Gina Ford - The New Contented Little Baby. This book was my bible, it went through the ages and routines at the different ages and foods. I now have a 6 month old and am still using this routine and is working. The only problem I had was that she was waking at 4.30am and not settling but that has now worked itself out. I recently purchased this book for a second time for my cousin who has just had her first child.

Hope this helps

Hi ladies,

If you're looking for routine ideas, why don't you head to the 'your baby's sleep' section of the huggies site? It has loads of tips about feed play sleep and tells you how much sleep is required at different ages. That routine worked beautifully for my ds now 3 and is coming along nicely for my 5mo dd.

Hope this helps...