A routine that worked for you?

Yesterday's post about the really positive impact of some simple changes to our routine got me thinking about baby routines and what worked and what absolutely didn't work at all for us.

When I was pregnant I tried to find suggestions for a basic routine that would provide some simple structure to the day.  I did - and do - think babies are happier with a bit of routine but to be very honest I think I was also just plain terrified about not knowing "what to do" and was after a bit of a security blanket.

Unfortunately, the security blanket that I snatched at in the form of a very well known baby book was anything but comforting  ....  I tried very dutifully - in the absence of anything else - to follow the classic routine:

07.00 - Wake up
09.00 - Sleep for 30-45 minutes
12.00 - Sleep for 2 hours
16.00 - Sleep for 30-45 minutes
19.00 - Bed

As my c-sectioned-after-induction baby slept literally the whole time for the first few weeks we didn't get off to a great start.  But I tried and tried and, lord only knows why, I kept trying!

Once she'd finally taken to waking up, my baby was certainly not for going back to sleep at 9am.  She'd be quite happy to be put in her basket but would just gurgle to herself.  Needless to say there was then absolutely no chance of her lasting until 12.  The only way I could get the routine to even start to work was to march around the park for 45 minutes at 9 am in the morning looking and feeling like something from the waking dead!

And then there was that famous 2 hour lunch time sleep!  Er not!  45 minutes yes but 2 hours not a chance.  There were two other mummies in my NCT group trying so, so hard to follow the blinking book and basically one of the babies wouldn't sleep at all, one only slept in her carrier and one, mine, only really slept when "required" if walked around the park in the buggy.  There was another baby in our group who did slip perfectly into the "classic" routine but she actually fell into it without her mummy actually ever having read the book.

At this point you really will be questioning my sanity because I kept it up for almost 6 months.  6 months of walking around the park - in all weathers - for 2 soddin' hours everyday!  Finally, I think I must have taken a knock to the head that brought me back to my senses and I recognised that littl'un was happiest going to sleep at 10 for 45 minutes and then again between 2 and 2.30 for another 45 minutes.  Joy of joys happy mummy and happy baby!

By the time she was one she had pushed back her morning nap to midday and then as if by magic with no help from mummy and absolutely noooo walking around the park she would sleep for more than 2 hours straight!

I know the "classic" routine does work well for some babies, but what makes me furious about certain baby experts is their insistence that it is a helpful routine for all babies.  In the end we found something that worked but would love to have known about a range of alternatives when we were starting out.

I would love to know about routines that other mums followed and how they discovered them - if you've blogged about it please do add yourself to the linky.