Baby Schedule vs Responding to Cues, which did you do with your child or prefer?

Question

In the process of deciding whether or not a ‘schedule’ will be better for our family vs responding to cues with regular routines.. what were your experiences??

Answer

Babies can’t be put on a schedule early, you need to watch their cues. My daughter got into her own schedule as she got older.

Answer

I have an 11 month old and have always fed on demand. For naps, I used wake windows recommended for the age. Since the nap lengths vary, trying to go by the clock wasn’t realistic. When he dropped to two naps I was able to go more by the clock but I still vary it by up to half an hour. This is what works for us. Every time I tried to go more by the clock I ended up feeling like I was failing and had a cranky baby.

Answer

I'm not a mom but I've been a nanny for a baby since she was 7 weeks (she's 9 months now). There was never a schedule given to me, but after spending a week or so with her and watching her cues (and watching them as they develop and change over time) I've learned her schedule and am even able to work it around taking her older sister to school in the middle of the day. Just follow the cues and your baby will create a schedule by itself!

Answer

You follow their cues for awhile newborn or not they need what they need. Putting baby on a schedule before 6 months might restrict growth.

Answer

Best thing to do is follow cues, then they usually get into a routine on there own.

Answer

Kind of both? My daughters internal clock is pretty predictable. We go with her wake windows, so it doesn’t really matter to me what time of the day anything happens. It’s usually like whenever she wakes up, her nap will start 3-3.5 hours later.

Answer

My boy is 10 months now and we just barely started a schedule. Tell they know the difference between a ton of stuff it’s not going to help, you can try to keep the flow of a schedule just to help keep you in a rhythm

Answer

After the newborn phase (when you really can’t force a schedule), I would say we had a happy medium. Bedtime was the only thing we were truly strict about. Everything else was based on baby’s cues, although we are getting close to having a regular nap schedule.

Answer

I can’t modify the post for whatever reason - but obviously after the newborn phase.

Baby Schedule vs Responding to Cues, which did you do with your child or prefer?

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