Any good ideas to start a routine with a 4 week old baby?

Answer 1

Don't know! I never had a routine with my son who is now 20 months and it didn't seem to do him any harm! Don't really have one for my 13 week old daughter and we are managing fine!
Routines just seemed to cause problems for all my friends who had them, they would hardly go out anywhere in case it upset the routine and the babies ended up controlling their lives instead of the other way round!
What ever you do, DO NOT follow the advice of any of those stupid books e.g. Gina Fords, The Contented Little Baby. They are the biggest load of shite ever written.
Remember, all babies are different!!

Answer 2

Babies love routine. It comforts them because they know what to expect next. If you can establish a routine you will find your baby very content and happy.

Your baby's routine should look like this - eat, play, sleep.

Start by making sure baby gets a full tummy at mealtime. This means you have to work to keep baby awake during a feeding. Play time should come next and may only last 30 minutes. When baby starts getting fussy, it is nap time. Shoot for a 2 1/2 - 3 hour schedule. Then you start it all over again. You will also find that baby will be getting enough food on this predictable routine during the day that he/she will begin to sleep longer at night until baby is sleeping through the night allowing mama and baby to get some much needed rest.

Answer 3

Try and keep a diary for a few days just to see what they do - you might find they already have a routine! I found that if you get up at the same time every day, and try and feed first at about the same time, that a routine will develop. After all it's usually change, feed, burp, sleep at this age! I don't have a problem with waking them up if they've had a good sleep - usually they have long sleeps morning and afternoon but it's good to take them out or amuse them to make them a little more tired at bedtime, plus note when they feed especially first, last and nighttime.

Answer 4

You can most definitely have your baby on a routine by now. You need to get the book Babywise. It is a wonderful resource. I have used this for both of my children and they were both "routined" very early and very content babies (I am pretty sure because of this). My second is only 7 weeks and has been on a good routine for at least 4 or 5 weeks. the children are so much more content because they are routined. When they learn their schedule they are so much happier because they know what to expect. A good routine also helps with good eat/play/sleep patterns,which leads to a good nighttime sleeper. Seriously get the book!!!

Answer 5

with a four week old baby, the baby should still be making the routine. I would suggest not forcing a routine on a baby that young yet. Wait until the baby is more like 16 weeks. But even then, the baby is the boss. When a baby is hungary, feed it, when a baby is tired, let it sleep. They only do what they need to. not something to frusterate you. They don't understand that yet. good luck

Answer 6

My son is 13 weeks old now, I have never tried to get him into a feeding routine yet so he feeds as and when he is hungry, but from a few weeks old, we got him into the routine of having a bath, then a feed and then going to bed at night. We did this every night and he soon got to know the difference between night and day and sleeps much longer at night!

Answer 7

This is a tough one and will depend on what kind of baby you have. i.e contented or a screamer! I'm a great believer in routine but mainly at bed time, crack that and your onto a winner as my one year old will tell you, she's bathed and in bed by 8pm every night and has been since she was born, obviously you have to make allowances if the baby is poorly etc, then it all goes out the window!

My daughter was a screamer as a baby but I was determined to at least try and set some sort of routine, which paid off!

This is my advice, sorry if it's long winded!

Choose a time that you feel is suitable for you to put the baby down and stick to it every night, you must be consistant!.

For example: If your baby has his teatime feed at say 5pm, have some play time afterwards for about an hour (pulling faces, making silly noises, that sort of thing!), then at about 7pm take him/her for a bath. Take it slowly and let him/her enjoy it. When you've got the baby out of the bath, wrap him/her in a soft warm towel and let him/her relax, dont rush to get him/her into there sleep suit! Let him/her lay for a while as nature intended, all babies love that! Make sure the room is warm and the lighting is low i.e. bedside lamp only. If your up for it, use some baby lotion and massage your baby very gently, talk to him/her (about anything he wont mind!) in a soft voice. When your ready, get him/her into a nice warm sleep suit and give them a feed (if usually go longer between feeds I would still give it because they will usually take some, even if only 1oz.
Finally, put your baby down (should be about 8pm ish now), turn out the lamp and leave the room. If he/she doesn't settle right away, don't panic just keep popping back in to re-assure if necessary, even if you need to pick him/her up for a min and then put them back down again. I would then suggest that before you go to bed at say 11oclock, give him/her a dream feed to carry them through the night longer(yes it does work, I'm not being pretentious! Not sure what a dream feed is? Whilst your baby is asleep, pick him/her up and tease his/her lips with bottle/breast, this will stimulate them to dream of a feed and will take it, you can wind as normal, then put the baby back down, still alseep, he/she will go longer through the night! Trust me, I did this and it worked!!!)

Like I said, you have to be consistant and do exactly the same thing every night. Don't panic or give up if it doesn't work straight away, just stick with it, it will pay off in the end.

Answer 8

sometime routine has to break due to colic or illness so its really up to u and ur baby, a routine isnt as important at an early age but later on getting them into a good sleeping in their own bed would be an advantage for u to give u some time out.

Answer 9

i dont think that u can put a baby in a routine at such a young age and right now ur probably feeding on demand. but if what u really want is a good night sleep then an hour before ur bedtime give your baby a bath so hopefully he/she will sleep for longer than usual. hope this helps

Answer 10

doubt if baby can walk yet so a dance routine is out of question as for singing you will have to Wait till baby can talk first / best advice is wait till baby is proficient in walking and talking before attempting routine with them