First starting EASY and have ??s

[mstormin]

This book has some really good ideas on how to get DS into a better routine. I have a few questions tho...

What about when you need to get out of the house, run errands, have people over, bring DS places? Do you count the time he sleeps in the car as nap time? Try to put him down when you get back?

Also, it seems like this would be hard to continue when you're at someone elses house and need to lay him down-- how do you handle it?

Thanks!
Mary

[Jadynsmom]

Hi Mary,

How old is your lo?  I'm ashamed to say I didn't go out very much the first 3mos. :oops: Once I got her routine down, I would take her out right after her feed.  So that she would have Activity time as my running around time.  She could only stay awake 55mins the first 2mos, I think, so I pretty much didn't get much done out of the house.

Once she was 4mos, I could visit friends and if she slept in the carseat, I would count it as nap.  When we got home, if she was extra tired I would put her down for her nap a little earlier and most of the time she slept longer to make up for the short nap.  She only slept in the carseat 30-40mins at most so she was tired by the next nap time.

When I was over at other people's house (which was not too often), I would ask for the darkest room & quietest and made sure I had her paci & lovey and did the routine exactly as I did at home.  It usually took about 10mins longer but she did go down for naps at other people's houses.  Although if she had a hard time going down, I have been known to rock her to sleep. :oops:

Hope that helps.

Kathy

[alligirl]

When my kids were little tiny babies, I would leave right after their feed and try to get back in home for nap.  If I didn't make it, and they fell asleep, I would count that as nap and even after we got home and they were still asleep, I would leave them in the carrier until they woke and just take the routine from there.

When at someone else's house, I would do like Jadyn'smom and try to follow our routine as closely as possible.  Sometimes it worked and others it didn't.  If it didn't work, I would throw routine out the window and do what it took to keep a happy baby.  But my boys could adjust easily to the change and as soon as we got back home, they would fall right back in to their regular routines.  Depending on your baby's temparment, they may or may not adjust that easily.

Just keep in mind that you aren't going to have a perfect routine/schedule 100% of the time.  Sometimes you just have to go with the flow!