4 month old routine?

Question

My 4 month baby still have not settled into a routine with her sleeping and feeding. Is this normal or should I be doing more to encourage her more? Can anyone suggest a good routine for me to try to set and follow?

Answer 1

As soon as you get a routine,she is sure to change it on you LOL,but you will find that if you write it down for a few days you will see that she does similar things at the same time each day, it gets messed up the first time you do something different,like shopping ,vistors etc, but if you do write it down you can get a feel for the naps and general times she feds and bathes etc, and you can work around it and juggle a little with her to get it where you want it,sort of...............

Answer 2

I have tried everything to get my almost 1 year old into a routine ever since he was 3 months old and nothing works, he can settle but get disrupted by illness or teething, you have to be very consistent, but then again no 2 babies are the same, some very good advice would be if you look on the baby whisperer web site, just yahoo it and take a look, but again these only worked on my liitle un for a short while, then teething interrupted and now again he is allover the place. Good luck to you I know how difficult it is when they won't settle, be strong ..

Answer 3

just be consistent with everything that you do. Make sure that you are putting the baby to sleep at the same time everynight and feeding him/her at the same times daily. The baby will fall into the routine much faster and it will get easier. Find things that will soothe the baby for bedtime like singing, music, crib toys or stuffed animals. 8pm is usually a good time to set to bed but it also depends on your schedule as far as getting up... maybe an hour later if your lucky so you can have some extra time before you have to wake up. feeding should be a few hours apart....maybe breakfast 8 or 9, lunch 12 or 1 and dinner at 4 or 5. Juice and wafers will be good for the baby in the near future but just be consistant and the baby will get more used to it- therefor it will be easier on both of you...good luck and congradulations

Answer 4

I allowed my son to determine his own schedule initially. He would nurse on demand and would generally take his naps at the same time every day. I got accustomed to his routine and worked around that. When he was a bit older (around 8 months) I worked to incorporate more routine into our daily activities but it's still pretty much set by his nap schedule. My son isn't hungry or interested in food right after waking... it takes him a good 30 minutes or so before he's receptive to that... so I just watch his cues and go with the flow.

Answer 5

I have a 4 month old as well. We do not have a schedule either but this is to be expected at this age. She sleeps when she is tired and eats when she is hungry. At around 6 months is when you could try to get a better schedule. They are so young that they really do not understand. The one thing you could be is consistant with what you expect. A dark quiet room at night means time to go to sleep.

Answer 6

A flexible routine will help establish good eating and sleeping habits for your baby. In a nut shell, this is the routine:

Eat, Activity, Sleep, time for Yourself.

Upon waking she will need to eat. For her awake/active time, she will then be more alert because she is well rested and full.
When she starts to become tired, put her in her crib and allow her to fall asleep there rather than rocking or nursing her to sleep. Babies naturally soothe themselves to sleep by suckling or fussing. If you introduce a 'prop' (such as nursing/rocking), then she will become dependent on that prop to get to sleep.

If you encourage full feeds, not snacking, she will not need to eat as often. She should be able to go 2 1/2 to 3 hours between feedings. However if she is crying from hunger she needs to eat not be forced to wait - hence a flexible schedule.

I hope that helps. For more detail, check out 'Secrets of the Baby Whisperer' from the library.

Answer 7

At this early stage she really is the leader!
I would suggest following her lead throughout the day, but as the evening draws in, begin to calm things down a bit, give her a long warm bubbly bath, milk and bed, this small routine in itself forms some structure and she will follow accordingly.
Each baby is different and trying to force her into a routine that works for one person might not be the best thing. You will notice yourself when she gets sleepy/hungry and as time goes by and you introduce solid foods the whole routine kind of appears by itself.

Answer 8

I admire people who can get their children at an early age into a routine but i have failed with both of mine and my 5 month old will not wait for food, when she wants it I get about 2 minutes to get it to her. I think it best she tells me when she's hungry as sometimes she will only wait for about 2 hours and then will want another bottle. Bit of a pain but they soon settle down so dont push the issue as not all babies are the same.

Answer 9

my daughter is six months, she basically gets up and has breakfast bottle at 8, she will go down for a nap around 9:30-10:00 for about 2 hours. Bottle at 12:00 nap at 2:00 for about 1 hour. Bottle at 4:00, Bottle at 8:00 and in bed by 9:00. At 4 months she may nap longer than 1 hour in the afternoon and you should be adding some cereal to 1 of her meals. Just one or two spoon fulls. The most important thing is play with her between naps so she is tired for the naps and tired at bed time. The feedings need to be at exactly the same times and the same amounts every day.

Answer 10

When my baby was that age I found it really useful to write down how the day went. It felt like there was no routine, but when I wrote down when she fed and slept and when I changed her nappy, it didn't take long to work out that she had her own routine and I was then able to start working around that.