What is the ideal daily routine for a baby?

How do you feel about the term "agenda"? Are you attracted to the security of predictability, or do you like to live your everyday life in a relaxed way and feel like that's not working for you?

There are plenty of examples of both, as we are all different. Some people know well in advance when they will put the family to bed in the evening, and some people cannot imagine their lives without the usual free feeling of life. It is also natural when a mother feels that she wants to change the time spent at home with her child, because she would like to live these years in a more balanced way.

It's not easy to create a daily schedule today, because basically we, adults, have so many tasks that we can't make them predictable in advance. Every day is different, with different tasks. How could we incorporate it into a more organized lifestyle? We want to, because we know that this will give our child peace of mind and a sense of security .

And when the time comes, we often experience with joy that it is actually good for us in our given life situation, and that having a schedule has a positive impact on us and our family. Because in addition to the baby, we also become more balanced, we are better able to plan and implement.

Why is a schedule good for your baby?

The first thing we should definitely mention when listing the benefits of a baby's daily routine is a sense of security. The little one does not yet live his days by the clock, as we adults do. He works according to his own biorhythm , noting the events that happen one after another day after day. When parents consciously create this predictable routine for him, he becomes calmer and looks forward to feeding, bathing, and sleeping with a cheerful and accepting attitude.

It is a kind of balance for him when he is given the opportunity to tune in to the next program. It is important to keep in mind that these introductions should be patient enough and that the baby can recognize them well, so try to always behave in the same way.

In any case, we should also take into account his rhythm, because if we try to go against it, then the trust between us may be damaged. After all, the baby's primary need is to receive a response to his signals and requests at any time.

The daily schedule is also a great help for parents 

Baby care tasks define a mother's entire day. We instinctively know - or if not, we realize later - that everyday life will be easier and more livable for us if we systematize it and make it predictable.

Already during pregnancy, we have ideas about how we will organize things and what the main points of our agenda will be. We feel that the baby will need this, we usually plan for him, and then we realize that it actually serves our own interests. This is also something we have learned, because the fundamental importance of the agenda is passed down from generation to generation. Of course, our plans can be overridden by practice, because when the baby arrives, he will also express his own needs.

Should everything have its time?  

The basis of the daily routine is the child's sleeping and eating habits. Sticking to a bedtime routine is important because it will prevent slippages at bedtime, which would be tiring for the parents, and the baby will also wake up rested in the morning, probably at about the same time. This gives the stability of the days that can ensure the best rest for the family.

Meals and main meals can also be timed well for older children. When breastfeeding newborns and infants, we have now abandoned the method of feeding exactly every 3 hours, and breastfeeding on demand, adapted to the baby, has taken its place. While regularity gives the little one predictability in most things, breastfeeding on time can have the opposite effect. The baby feels safe when he does not have to wait for an uncertain time, his signal is answered, and his hunger is satisfied immediately.

Therefore, we must always strive to create the agenda in a reasonable manner , always emphasizing that the child's needs are the primary consideration.

Permanent locations help keep the schedule stable 

Familiar parts of the home are more important than we think. For example, because breastfeeding in familiar places can help your baby feel completely calm. If you breastfeed in a new place, it can feel strange, which can be disconcerting.

Not only the harmony of familiar feelings has a positive effect, but also the conscious use of locations . This means that certain places are used only for certain activities. For example, the crib should only be a place for the child to settle down and sleep, and the armchair should be used for breastfeeding. If we use a high chair, this should be where eating takes place, not playing. Similarly, self-forgetting and independent play starts immediately when the child is placed on the familiar baby mat in the play corner.

These locations, on the one hand, develop trust and a sense of security in the child, because he experiences and gets used to what happens in these places every time. On the other hand, they do not interfere with his activities. For example, he will not want to start playing with all his strength in the highchair instead of eating.

Make your daily routine a habit 

This is perhaps the point from which we deviate the easiest. It is not easy to implement home programs in the same way all the time, over time it becomes too familiar to us, and our souls will yearn for and strive for variety. We will not even notice if we deviate from certain points of the agenda.

Still, it would be extremely important to maintain some well-established routines, such as an evening bedtime routine. This is of great importance, as the gradual calming down can guide the baby from playing and spinning towards calmness and later sleep. Although we don't think about it, the gradual slowing down has a good effect on us too.

Source: Miniscope-Török Csenge

Let us create the agenda, but also take the baby's needs into account!  

 Every parent has a different vision of parenting and a different rhythm of life. If we know how to fulfill our parenting duties while also being able to relax, then we need to coordinate this with our baby's specific needs and rhythm. If we do it right, we will work together skillfully. 

A child's rhythm is almost constantly changing. Nighttime waking and feeding patterns change over time, as do daytime feedings, wakefulness, and sleep patterns. These are natural processes of development. We cannot influence them, and we should not force anything on a baby's natural rhythm that would disrupt it.

 Babies want to eat and sleep according to their own biological rhythms. This should always be the basis of considerations. A child's development goes through changes, which is completely natural, so apart from a few basic habits, our routines may also change accordingly from time to time.

 For example, if your child goes from two naps a day to one nap a day, your routine may change temporarily. These transitions always happen gradually, not overnight. At first, your baby will use them occasionally, and then, when they have reached a certain level of development, the habit becomes permanent.

Source: Maternity blog

Let's not be too obsessed with following the rules!   

 If we go overboard and try to adhere to every point too rigidly, we will cause frustration not only for our child, but perhaps for other family members as well. It is important to be flexible, as a baby is not always hungry in the same way, does not always eat the same amount, and indeed very often has developmental leaps when we feel as if everything is changing.

We need to move flexibly with these changes and make the most of the opportunities.