If you read my post about my parenting style, then you’ll know I’m not exactly a stickler for routine. That said, now we’ve reached the big 1 year, we’ve fallen into a fairly consistent routine. Who knows how long it’ll last but it’s lasted long enough for me to think about writing a blog post so I’m rolling with it.
7:30am – wake up
Sebastian doesn’t usually wake up at the crack of dawn, which is ace. We might have to get that a little bit earlier for when I’m back at work and he’s at nursery (sob) but at the moment I’m enjoying not being up with the lark.
We do a nappy change then have a nice schnuggle in our bed while I give him a bottle of cows milk.
8:30am – breakfast
Breakfase tends to be porridge or Weetabix made with any leftovers from his bottle. If he’s still hungry, it’s toast and fruit. Sometimes I do omelette or banana pancakes, if I can find the energy.
10:30am – nap time
Currently, Sebastian’s morning nap is the longest. He gets tired about three hours after he woke up, so the timing is flexible depending on when he woke up. I’m pretty naughty with this nap and put him to sleep on our bed – I know that he should be in his cot but when I put him in his cot he only sleeps for about 30 minutes. On our bed he can sleep for up to two hours.
12:00pm – lunch
Lunch is the biggest meal of the day usually so I do finger foods, a bowl of hot food and pudding. My go-tos are spaghetti bolognese, fish pie, curry, mac and cheese and lentil veggie bake but I am trying to be a bit more adventurous! Any finger food tips also welcome, I think I’m a bit too nervous with them.
1:00 – 3:00pm – play time
This is the best time to get out and about and do something so we often go to the park, do a class, play at home, practice standing, go swimming etc etc.
3:00pm – afternoon snack / milk
We’ve been advised by our paediatrician to try and cut down on milk consumption, but if Sebastian hasn’t drink much water with breakfast / lunch then I offer a smaller bottle of cows milk in the afternoon. He also has a snack – fruit, biscuit, muffin, pinwheel, that kind of thing.
3:30pm – nap time (I hope!)
This is the time I’d love Sebastian to have his afternoon nap but it often doesn’t happen until later, especially if we’re out and there’s something interesting going on. He’ll only have a short nap, so it could be somewhere between 30 mins – an hour.
5:00pm – dinner
It would be lovely to eat dinner together but there isn’t a cat’s chance in hell of the husbear getting home from work and me having dinner for three of us on the table by 5pm. It’s a pipe dream. So for now I feed Seb and we have dinner later on. I hope it won’t always be like that though!
Dinner is usually a hot meal and pudding but a bit lighter than lunch. And nothing too sugary to avoid a buzzing baby at bedtime.
7:00pm – bath and bed
We don’t bathe Sebastian every night, I don’t think there’s any need to while he’s not getting filthy running around. He gets his face and bum washed several times a day too. If it’s not a bath night, we might start bedtime a bit later, but I like the little man to be schnuggled up by 7:30pm. It’s a bottle, a story and a cuddle to sleep. And no I don’t think I’ve made a rod for my own back by cuddling him to sleep, he’s a baby and if he finds comfort in being held then that’s fine by me!
Nighttime
Overnight is very changeable depending on what’s going on. Currently we’re teething so we’ve had a few broken nights but a good night is one wake up around 4:00am. I boob him back to sleep and pop him back down and the whole wake up normally only lasts about 15 mins.
Of course that isn’t always the case – the other night he woke up at midnight, 3:00am and then stayed awake until 5:00am – sometimes he keeps us on our toes.
That’s the general rhythm of our days at the moment. Let’s see what the next few months bring. I’m totally jinxing myself by publishing this aren’t I?
JH