ok i have a few things I want to ask since I am a new mommy
first one is I know its important to have a daily routine but at what age should it be started? and how many of you follow one? and this one sounds crazy even to me but how do you keep up the routine everyday and still go to dr appointments and i love to be spontaiuos and just say hey lets go to the mall would that thow it all off? and those of you that do have one can you give me an example yours? Thanks :)

I try to keep a routine for Robby, it's easier! We try to wake him up at the same time, change his diaper, eat breakfast, play, have a snack or bottle, play, check diaper, eat lunch, take noon nap, change diaper when he has woke up from his nap, snack time again, playtime with big kids and Daddy, maybe go to the park, eat dinner, take a bath and put on jams, then another bottle snack and bedtime at about 8 or 9.

since trent is only 3 months old we on his schedule. which means he eats every 2-2 1/2 hours. between that time he either takes a 30 minute nap or plays the whole time. i try to plan everything i want to do the day before. i have not gotten the whole nursing in public yet so i try to leave right after he eats and be home for his next feeding.

i kinda followed a "schedule" based on zoe's needs and what i felt was best for her... though allowing for some variance when needed.

to this day, she's very easily adaptable :)

Getting them on some kind of schedule as early as possible is best. I have my kids on a schedule somewhat.. but we do screw with it on weekends or days my husband has off to go out and whatnot.. but they get right back on it when we are home.

The only schedule we have is at night and even that isn't 100% there all the time. Mara never had her days and nights mixed up so I have never really had a need for a schedule with her. When she was a baby we had more of a schedule with bottles and naps and everything, but now we're very spontaneous and do whatever we want, when we want.

Ethabn pretty much established his own schedule. I let him guide me and now its been great. We started young. Probably 4-5 months and I changed his schedule as he needed. like when he dropped naps etc. And we readjust as needed for appts, going out etc.

His schedule now is up aroynd 6ish
breakfast at 7:30
snack around 10:30
nap at 11:30ish or noon until 2 ish
lunch at 2:30
snack around 4ish
dinner at 6ish
bath at 7ish
bed at 8
(playtime, storytime etc inbetween those times)

His bedtime has been 8 since around 4 months. Now that he takes 1 nap a day I try to make sure I am home for it. So I schedule appointments around it. When he took 2 naps a day it was like at 10 and 2. I had read a book that babies shouldnt be up for more then 3 hours at a time and he held true to that for months. He dropped his 3rd nap early and his 2nd nap early. He has been on 1 nap a day since around 10 months. I am pretty much a schedule type person though and don;t like to go off of it too much. And his bedtime always remains between 7:30 and 8. Anything later and he seems to get over tired and doesn't sleep as well.

I think keeping them on a schedule is very important. When they are just tiny, it's hard, because they kind of make their own. But even when Taylor was tiny, I tried to keep some sort of orginization going.

Now she eats and sleeps around the same times everyday, and if I need to go somewhere during her nap times she just sleeps in the car or whatever. I swear that me keeping her on a schedule helped her sleeping through the night so early-3 months! Every night around the same time, I would give her a bath, read to her, rock her, and feed her before bed.

i let madison set her own schedule when she was a baby. as she got older i sort of made one for her but mostly i just try to keep meals, naps and bedtime the same. hayden is getting into a schedule and really he's just sort of adapting to what we already have set up.

We have had a schedule for as long as I can remember. The main things are what time the kids get up, eat, take baths, and go to bed. That still leaves plently of room throughout the day to do things lots of things but I make sure that for the most part the kids will still be on their schedule no matter what we choose to do.

In my opinion a routine doesnt necessarily mean taht she goes to bed at exactly the same time every day or anything it just means that she gets to feel secure that certain things will happen. She will get fed when she wakes up. She will have her diaper changed when she wakes up. She's only about 2 and half months old but we do have a loose routine. If your baby is tired he or she will sleep whether you have them in a stroller at the mall or their crib or swing at home. I dont know I'm just a first time mom but I dont feel like listening ot my baby cry for an hour because I force her to her crib to take a nap.

our schedule is waking up watching thomas the train eating breakfest taking a bath then after that is where i allow us to do something different as long as we either eat out or go home and eat and we have to be home by 1:30 for nap time. then they sleep and they have a snack and we sometimes go to the park outside depending on the weather then the kids play and watch thomas untill dinner then we eat and daddy plays w/ them and around 8 they go to sleep.that is usally our day. its wonderful having them on a schedule they are much happier this way. i have had them on a schedule since they were like 4 months old