Since Little Bug’s birth, I’ve been striving to get her on a consistent eat/wake/sleep routine … The EASY Routine. It has definitely been a work in progress.

During the month of November, we’ve made wonderful progress! Little Bug now has a pretty consistent daily routine that makes for a happy baby and a happy Mommy:

7:30am wake up
9:30am nap
11am eat
1:30pm nap
3pm eat
5:30pm nap
6:15pm eat
7:45pm bath
8:15pm (tank up bottle before going to bed…usually only 2oz.)
8:30pm bedtime
11:30pm eat
4-6am (sometimes she will wake to eat during this time - if she does I give her 2oz. and she goes back to bed until 7:30am)

For several months now Little Bug has been doing the EASY Routine. However, the times were never consistent from one day to the next until I set a wake time. She had been waking anywhere from 7:30 - 8:30am. We were not able to have a consistent daily routine until I started waking her every morning at the same time (7:30am)! Now, I do not have to wake her. She wakes up on her own at 7:30am.

So, if you are doing the EASY Routine with your baby and are trying to get him/her on a consistent daily routine, the key is making sure your baby wakes at the same time every day!

When I read about baby waking at the same time every day, I also read that waking at the same time every morning also helps baby start sleeping through the night (if, of course, they are at the age where sleeping through the night is an achievable goal). Sure enough, the week I started waking Little Bug up at the same time every morning was the week she consistently started sleeping through the night (11:30pm - 7:30am)!

Little Bug eats and sleeps within 30 minutes of the times written above. For example, at her 11am feeding, Little Bug eats anywhere from 10:45am to 11:15am. For her afternoon nap Little Bug lays down anywhere from 1:15pm to 1:45pm. This is also key in getting baby on a consistent daily routine. I found that if Little Bug ate or slept outside that 30 minute window it messed up her eating and she wouldn’t get enough calories during the day and would wake more in the night for those missed calories. This 30 minute window also allows for some flexibility in baby’s routine so that you are not tied down to a schedule.

When you first establish set eating/sleeping times, you may have to wake baby or keep them awake longer before putting them down for a nap. That, however, doesn’t last long at all because sooner, rather than later, baby’s metabolism and body clock set itself. For example, Little Bug almost always wakes by 11:15am and 3:15pm from her naps to eat. I rarely wake her but when we were really trying to get into this routine, I would have to wake her sometimes. It really is cool how their little bodies regulate over time!

The above routine can now easily be tweaked when Little Bug’s eating and sleeping needs change over time. Eventually, she will drop that evening nap and I am thinking her other two nap times will be a little later than they are now. Only time will tell!

I know several of you that read my blog are doing the EASY Routine so I wanted to pass along these tid bits of information I’ve discovered by trial and error along the way!

Little Bug is (almost) 6 months old and we are just now getting into a consistent daily routine. I think, had I known these key components in getting baby on the EASY Routine, we could have gotten here sooner. But what can you say … Little Bug is my first (the guinea pig!) and I’ll remember what I learned with her for #2! (Which is another reason why I am writing it all down in my blog!) :)

I love the EASY Routine and so does Little Bug … it really does make for an easy day because both baby and mommy know what is expected when in the day!!

- Elaine