Go with the Flow vs Routine Mama

Hi mamas, 

I have a 10 month old baby girl and my personality is pretty laid back. With my baby girl I have always had a very relaxed routine since she was born, with breastfeeding she was fed on demand so there was certainly no routine there either. The only thing I kept the same when she was a newborn was her bedtime in the evening, I would aim for about 8-9pm (not that bedtime made a difference as she would be up 2 hours later!) 

After around 5 and half months she began sleeping through the night with the odd waking at 3-4am for milk. I go off awake times for naps, so now she’s 10 months I will let her have 2 naps in the day after being awake 3-3.5 hours (whenever she gets cranky and starts rubbing her eyes, the sleepy cues!) 

Feeding, I give her x3 bottles with x3 meals, meals being about 2 hours after milk so she will want to eat (breakfast just an hour after milk). I also aim to give her milk before she sleeps so she’s nice and full and relaxed. The one thing I keep the same is her bedtime at night, she will go to bed between 7-7.30pm. 

I have a few friends who are total opposites to me and they will have set times for everything, set times for food, naps and bedtime. They often look at me like I’m not doing a good job with my daughter with comments such as, “she must be starving now” or “what time will she wake up from her nap then?” or “Oh i always fed my baby solids straight after their milk I wouldn’t wait”

I don’t like to wake her from a nap unless it’s getting close to her bedtime in the eveing, I just think if a baby is sleeping then they obviously must need it. 

I think having some sort of routine is good but not to the point where you have strict times for everything. I guess that works for some people but for me it stresses me out especially when it doesn’t go to plan so I let my baby lead the way.

Do you guys have a strict routine, a routine just for bed and approx nap and feed times, or no routine at all, everything on demand?

The post Go with the Flow vs Routine Mama appeared first on It's Handmade.

from It's Handmade https://www.itshandmade.co.uk/go-with-the-flow-vs-routine-mama