Routine - What Every Baby Should Have

I don't think I'll be up late tonight posting cos tomorrow is a Friday and I'm pretty tied down on Fridays so I'd like to have a goodnight's rest.

Just yesterday my cousin, who is preparing for the birth of her second child end of this year, told me that her elder daughter just wouldn't sleep early at night and she will get up at least once in the wee hours of the morning. Not that she needs a feed or to the loo, she just gets up and stay awake for a while before falling asleep again.

Frankly, I've never experienced that with Ashley. The only time Ashley was awake all night was when she was colickly and even then, it lasted only till she was 2 1/2 months. She asked how I did it for Ashley and I told her "lei pou jong (you're on your own mate)"..hahha...no I didn't DO THAT.

I told her that she needs to establish a routine for her child. A little late no doubt (her eldest is already 2) but there's no harm in trying. Anyway, this is what I told her.

Ashley wakes up at 7 am and I will give her her first feed. We would play around or she would sit quietly with her toys while I go have some breakfast and do some house chores. I would then give her a bath around 9.00 am and after that she would have her nap for 2 hours from 9.30am. If she oversleeps, I will wake her up for her feed and then she will stay awake till around 1.30pm. She has her 2nd nap then and wakes up give or take 3 or 3.30pm for her feed. Sometimes she'll get tired and nap again at 4 or 4.30 (3rd nap) but if she does, I'll make sure she gets up by 6 pm. She'll have a sponge bath and her feed all done by 7 or 7.30pm. Sometimes if the hubs is home early, he'll give her the bath and feed. We will get her to bed by 8 and will usually be yawning by then. She sleeps through and I will wake her for her last feed at 11.30 or 12 but she will go right back to bed after that till the next morning.

You will notice that Ashley takes 2 to 3 short naps during the day which is actually enough. A 3 to 6 month old needs an average of 15 hours of sleep so try to break her sleeping pattern to 5 hours (give or take) during the day and the rest, at night. The trick here is to establish this routine consistently and not to over-tire your baby because contrary to us adults, when we are tired, we fall asleep easily. But not kids, babies especially. If Ashley is too tired, its difficult getting her to sleep.

Sounds like what most mothering parenting books will tell you right? Well, how do you even get started with a newborn? What we did was as soon as Ashley was 2 weeks old, we tried to keep her awake for most parts of the day, letting her sleep less and getting her to feed more frequent. Though she did continue to wake up during the night for her feeds but she would fall right back to sleep after.

It worked for Ashley and I hope that my cousin would find it useful. Though I did tell her that every baby is different and its only a guide so her routine should be modified according to what she feels suits her and her baby.