Routine!! A word that send new mums into a complete panic! It’s honestly one of the most anxiety-inducing subjects isn’t it?

We wonder if a certain woman who wrote a certain book with some very detailed routines is partly to blame for the frenzy that can derail so many new patents. Her book has been so popular that her routine has become the stuff of myths and legends!

To get your baby to sleep from 7pm- 7am is the goal that so many new parents seem to be aiming for even from day one!!! And it’s the pursuit of this goal that is causing so much stress. Your new baby has not read the manual and cannot simply be programmed in to sleep as and when you decide. And trying to withhold feeding on demand and getting your knickers in a twist when your baby only sleeps for 40 minutes instead of 2.5 hours (which then means the rest of the prescribed routine no longer makes any sense) is just an added stress that a new mum does not need.

Routines are amazing. Human beings need routines to function in society, to hold down jobs and socialise! We need routines for our children to help give them confidence. They need to know when their meals will be coming and when it is time to play or to go to school or bed. But trust us when we say that your baby WILL fall into a routine naturally. And not only that, the routine that they fall into will look remarkably like the one in the book!

So just don’t feel like you have to try and rush into it if it doesn’t feel right or good. Sure, plenty of babies and parents seem to be more inclined adapt more quickly to routines, and that’s awesome. And many parents for their own reasons, want or need a routine in place ASAP, and they can often make it work with some help and determination. But if you are one of the many who just feels hopeless and anxious that their baby is still waking all night and doesn’t do a long lunchtime nap, don’t worry. It will come. Please don’t let it be another thing to worry about. New mums have enough on their plate.

For lots more great tips to prepare you for parenthood you should check out our Online Antenatal Classes.