Sticking to a Schedule

This week is passing by in a swift. Today is Thursday already and by tomorrow, I'm ready to embrace the weekend again. One of the things I look forward to weekends is bonding time with the boys (besides being able to do so much chores and things for myself because Kali is around). I love waking up on Saturday mornings with the three of us tucked in the same bed. Yep. You read it right, three of us since Inno won't sleep in his crib by three in the morning. That's a consistent thing. He won't stop crying until we transfer him to the big bed. He also already developed a morning schedule and I'd like to stick with that. He'll wake up at around five to half past five and would start to play with his dad. He's the reason why Kali's been leaving the house quite late than he would back then, but still I appreciate his effort of spending time with Inno. After he leaves for work, I will then send the little boy to sleep so I could prepare his bath time essentials. If he doesn't want to sleep, his Tita Asa or Lola May would bring him downstairs first to give me time to eat and ready his things. Before, Ate Jem would be the one to carry and bring him downstairs, but since she's not around and Tita Carol don't come that early, it's a good thing that in-laws are there to lend a hand. By the time they leave for work, I'm all ready to do mommy duties.


You may ask how I was able to keep this routine. Well, it's all about consistency. A routine won't become a routine unless it is consistent. To give you an outline, let me share some points on how I make a schedule for Inno. 


1. Have a schedule in mind. It all starts with plotting a workable schedule based on your baby's time . Write it down or save it on your phone and practice it. If things don't workout as planned, don't be hard on yourself but rather keep on trying until you finally discover how your baby works out his time.


2. Do not do a routine that is based on your time frame. During Inno's first month, it was actually hard for me to wake up by the time he is up, what I do is I try to send him to sleep again so I'd have more time to slumber but things only turn wild. Inno will start to cry for attempting so hard to sleep again. I've learned from that and whenever he's up, I try to wake up and give him attention. The same with feeding, not all babies actually feed on exactly every two hours. If she begins to tell signs that she's hungry, don't delay feeding just because you think you have to wait for time to be precisely two hours. 


3. Take cues from her actions. Deciphering what your baby wants is quite frustrating especially if you are a new mom. But don't worry because as your baby grows, it will be easy to tell what she likes. When doing a schedule, take in consideration signs that tell if she's tired and wants to sleep like yawning and rubbing of eyes. Note or remember those cues and the time as well and observe if she does that the following day on the same time. 


4. Be consistent. Just like what I've said, routine won't become a routine unless it is done consistently. In order for your baby to understand time and recognize her schedule, you should atleast try to do it in a repetitive manner day by day. I was guilty of this back then. Before, I'd bathe Inno late in the morning and then early the following day. It was actually confusing for him since everything he's supposed to be doing like taking a nap after bath time is adjusted again and again. That experience made him fussy and that meant hours of non-stop unconsolable crying. With consistency also comes strictness but in a gentle way. I try to be strict with Inno (and his dad) when it comes to playtime at night. I always tell Kali to lessen playtime by night. 


5. Be open to changes. As your baby grows, expect that she'll have adjustments with her daily routine and be open with that. If you think that your baby has been skipping routines in a row, take note of that and try to adjust as well. My experience with Inno's sudden routine changes was every time he is on a growth spurt. Feeding becomes an hourly thing and he sleeps most of the time. What I did was I observed what time of the month he usually go under this spurt. By his second month, I was able to recognize it and adjusted with him.


6. Try to set a different environment for each routine. Offering different environments per routine is helpful. During the day, we let Inno sleep on the big bed to teach him that sleeping on the big bed is only during daytime. At night, we let him sleep on his crib, lessen bright lights and noise. We usually spend most of the time inside the bedroom. So for playtime, we put his toys in the big bed and remove them when it's time to nap. As with bathtime, we put his bathing essentials on the bed and remove other things like his toys.


There you go. I hope this would be of help to new and young moms like me. The key is experiment things for your baby. Ditch things that don't work out and try again. Don't be scared to learn. You are mom enough, you just have to believe and be good at it. :)