Well, first of all I must say that routines aren’t for everyone. It is easy for us to stick to a routine because we came out of hospital with one already set up (three hourly feeds). A lot of people choose to feed on demand and to identify the baby’s clues for when they need something, and not bother with routines. Because of the added difficulty of having to cope with two babies instead of one, we decided it would be better for us to have a routine, and it worked for us.
However, in the last few weeks we have started modifying that original routine set up back on day one, and adapt it to the different needs of almost three month old babies. We are not following any particular routines, I haven’t read any books about it… We’re just using our common sense, a bit of general friendly advice and what seems to work for us.
At the moment we are doing the bath, bottle, bed routine.
During the day, Pixie and Dixie are still feeding every three hours (sometimes 4, depending on whether they’ve been out and about and have fallen asleep in the car and are very settled), but they are demanding the feeds – somehow it kind of is feeding on demand. We never let the feeds be more than 4 hours apart during the day.
Then, in the evening, roughly around the same time every day (7pm) we start the bath, bottle, bed routine. We give them both a warm bath (which they enjoy for a little bit and then they’ve had enough), followed by a oil/lotion massage. We put them on sleepsuits and we feed them their bottle in a very dim room. We make sure that the room is quiet and we keep our voices down as well. By the time they finish their bottle, they’re normally very tired and half sleep, so we put them on the sleeping bags (1 tog at the moment) and off to the cot.
They are normally asleep by 8:30 – 9:00 pm (sometimes earlier – yesterday it was 8pm) and then Jon and I can enjoy the rest of the evening child free. This routine will keep them asleep until about 3 or 4 am (or 5 if we’re extremely lucky)
As you can see, they sleep through for a good 6 or 7 hour period, which is a great start. For us it’s fantastic to catch some zzz with just one feed during the night (it used to be three!). Last night for the first time we tried giving them “hungrier babies” formula, which should help with keeping them asleep for longer, but it didn’t quite work. They were up at 3:30 wanting more food (and they fed very well too!). But we can only persevere and keep trying. You don’t know if it will work until you’ve tried for a decent amount of time!
I think it also helps the fact that they are now having less naps during the day. Until only two or three weeks ago, they used to nap after every single feed. Now they spend more time awake and playing with their toys, so by the time the evening comes they get to bed easier.
I am not keeping a routine during the day, though. I let them nap as they like, however we try to get them not to sleep from 4-5pm, so bed time will be easier.
Obviously, it is still early days and sometimes it is difficult keeping to the routine. We are flexible and don’t let this rule our lives either. But we know that the sooner that we instil these habits on them, the easier it’ll be in the future for all of us.
