Family: Finding a routine

 Milo and his Gruffalo backpack (bought via Zulily) on the way to nursery this morning

Having had a bit of a tough time in the last week due to postnatal hormonal changes and some external pressures, I decided to find some sort of routine for my little family and it has been helping. With Alfie being only 2 weeks old, this first routine is likely to be short-lived but it's a routine nonetheless and it's comforting to have it there.

I know routine isn't for everyone. Some parents fight against it and others, like me, grasp it with both hands and go with it. Despite this, it is funny to compare myself now, just two weeks after Alfie's birth to be thinking of routine. It took me months, many months to get to this point with Milo! The word 'routine' didn't even occur to me for a long time first time around. This relaxed routine seems to be working for us at the moment though.

Here is our rough week-day routine on the days I have Milo -

Alfie now generally wakes in the morning at a similar time to Milo just after 7am. Milo 'lets Alfie & mummy sleep-in' as he loves to tell me each morning and keeps himself entertained in his room until around 8. This gives me time to feed and change Alfie and then we go and join Milo in his room. Alfie gets his cuddles and strokes from his big bro and then Milo shows Alfie how he can dress himself. We then go have breakfast, Milo gets to watch 30 mins of TV. During this time I will put on the washing from yesterday's dirties if there is enough, pack my bag, get Milo's & Alfie's outdoor clothes on and we then head to nursery together.

 Alfie fast asleep as I get him ready for taking Milo to nursery

Alfie will fall asleep on the way to nursery and will stay asleep when we get back so I can then empty the washing machine, check my emails, do whatever it is I need or want to get done in the morning. The rest of the morning and early afternoon works around naps and feeds. Yesterday we went out for a Valentine's Day lunch with a bunch of lovely girlfriends, their bumps and babies so of course this went a little differently but generally at home it is either Alfie and I hanging out or I have friends coming to visit. In the afternoon we head out to pick big brother Milo up. Alfie will usually sleep whilst I carry him in the Ergo and the nursery pick up generally takes an hour door-to-door, despite Milo's nursery only being 10 minutes walk away, so I do my best to give Alfie a big feed before we leave.

After picking Milo up, we head home slowly and then we play, sometimes watch some TV and generally I try and give Milo some real 'mummy time'. Alfie often finds it harder to fall asleep at this point so can be a bit cranky but I have found that I can lay him in his bouncer with a sound machine playing 'stream' noises and that helps him nod off so that I can focus my attention on Milo for those few hours. Alfie is than peacefully sleeping in the living room whilst Milo and I play in his bedroom, eat dinner and then go through the bedtime routine.

Until the last two nights, Alfie would wake up about an hour after Milo had gone to bed (between 7.30 & 8pm) and be awake for two hours or so but it seems that he's now starting to sleep through until his first night-time feed. With this recent change, I need to make sure he's had a nappy change before I put him down so he's less likely to need a change during the night and then put him to bed. Alfie's being REALLY good to me at the moment and generally wakes just twice for a feed during the night. I know there are some big growth spurts coming so this is very unlikely to stay so easy. I am going to enjoy it whilst it's like this though!

So there it is, our weekday routine as it currently stands.

Do you like routine or do you find it too restricting? For those parents with two or more children, do you find it easier or harder to keep a routine?

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