routines

When Jake was born, we did things on demand - feeding, playing, sleeping etc. Somehow we got a routine, but it was more by chance than anything, and we didn't really have a solid routine til Jake was six months (coincidentally when Jake slept through the night...maybe not a coincidence??) anyway, now we have two, and I'm studying and want a bit of a rest at some points, but have NO IDEA about how to start a routine.
Taine is two weeks old. Is this two young to start feeding on a schedule rather than every hour or so?
And how do i start it????
Would ask Plunket but my nurse is anti-routine and more about "going with the flow", which is great in theory, but Jake has done so well with having a routine, i really think for us it is great! HELP!

With Arna I went with the flow - Good to the point that if you are out you don't have to rush to feed her etc - but then bad if at home and NEEDING a sleep and can't until she wants to go to sleep. Now she is in more or less of a routine - morning sleep at 10:15 - 10:30am and up at 12 and another sleep from 2pm - 5pm (she sleeps LOTS!)
So sorry I don't have any routine advice - have you tried the Plunket Rooms when your plunket nurse isn't there?

Good Luck!

Maya still had two naps a day till about 16 mths, then we managed to drag it out till about 12pm and got her on to one midday sleep.

As for routines - PLunket Family Centre told me to start feeding Maya 3 hourly from 2 weeks (which is how old she was when I went there). They also taught the up, feed, change, play,sleep thing that Becca mentioned. The 3 hours was from start of feed to start of feed (ie. first feed at 7am, then 10am etc.) and they said she should be awake for no more than an hour at a time otherwise they get overtired.

So for the first few months I fed at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and a "Dream feed" (LOL Janine!) before I went to bed around 10ish. If she woke during the night I would just feed her at whatever time it was. But the 3-hourly daytime feeds got her sleeping thru the night every night by 7 weeks. Also meant I could plan appointments, study etc. around her sleeps and feeds.

I kept that up till she started on solids, and then gradually spaced the feeds out more, then started dropping them one at a time till by about 9 mths she was only having 4 milk feeds a day - at wake up, before her 2 daytime sleeps, and then before bed.

I had a whole blurb to give you, but didn't realise I had been logged out when I posted it, so lost it all.  There's a trick for young players

Anyway, same with me - ditto what Emma said.  Those times really worked for us.  The only difference with me was I would wake Gabrielle initially at 11pm and feeding her then and that would take her through to 7am.  We did that for a month or so, then we gradually bought it back 10 minutes each week until she was feeding at 10pm and she would go through until 7am.  Then when she started solids, we stopped waking her and she went from 7pm to 7am the first night!

I didn't start until Gabrielle was about 8 weeks old, but that was because I could not work out a routine that worked.  I tried right from when she was 3 or 4 weeks old, but Gabrielle wouldn't have a bar of it, but when I did the times that Emma listed, she slotted straight in. How I started the routine was on the first day, I woke her at 7am and fed her then - even if she had only fed at 4am.  Then 3 hourly after that through the day.  If she wasn't awake at a feed time, I would wake her up.  If she woke up earlier than her feed, we would have a bit of playtime and still feed her at the allotted time.  Some days were a bit skewif, but 99% of the time were good.

I needed a good routine because I was coming back to work when Gabrielle was 6 months old, so didn't need to be getting up in the night as well.  Good luck though, different things work for different people and I found this really worked for me.  It may not happen the first day, but at least will give you something to work towards.  Hopefully some of my incessant babble will help you

hey yeah - who's your plunket nurse? Is it Liz?

is that liz jesup?? u talking bout? i have her too.