Controversial opinion alert! 🚨 but if you are wanting to make a big improvement to your little one’s sleep then it’s likely you’ll need to make somechanges to your existing day-to-day life. At The Sleep Chief, a daytime routine with set timings is central to our method. It’s what we will talk you through step-by-step in our consultations and every sleep programme that we sell has a routine for your baby’s age group to follow. Routine is so important for babies sleep, and it’s about so much more than a bedtime routine!
A routine can:
🍼 Help you make sure your baby is feeding and eating well during the day
🌙 Get your baby's daytime sleep complimenting the night time sleep
🧸 Give you a happier, easier bedtime
🙈 Tell you when your baby is going to be getting tired and cranky each day (i.e. not the time to begin a swimming lesson!)
☕ Give YOU predictable breaks each day
📺 Give you your evenings back to Netflix and actually chill!
👼 Give you a happier, more content baby with less crying
When it comes to baby classes - don’t get me wrong - we are big fans! Babies really enjoy them, they are so good for meeting fellow parents and if it's one day of the week where a class is taking place when your baby would be due a nap then there's usually a way around it on that day.
But if you have classes and activities most days of the week that are at times when your baby could really benefit from having a nap, this is when we would recommend re-jigging things.
That could mean asking about an earlier/later class time, making sure that you have a feed or pouch with you at the class to ensure your baby eats well before falling asleep immediately afterwards (something that will enable your baby to nap for longer), or cancelling a class that just doesn’t work well timings-wise. After all, a class is not much fun if your baby is miserable or falling asleep for the entire thing and then not sleeping well that night either! 🥴
I think for some the word “routine” invokes a feeling of being restricted for some but for me, having a routine with Jago gave me so much freedom. I could make plans at specific times and know that I would be able to be there. I could know when I was going to get a break each day for a cup of tea and some time to relax. I could eat dinner with my husband whilst it was still hot! I could never understand it when friends with babies could never commit to a time to meet because they didn’t know what time their baby would be falling asleep or waking up.
A routine is the answer people!!!
Feeling ready to have some more structure to your days? All of our sleep programmes include a daytime routine starting from 4 weeks up to 4 years...