by Shibnah Agha

Created on: December 23, 2006   Last Updated: April 25, 2007

I have a 15 month old, and I started her daily routine when she was able to sleep through the night. Her nurses advised us well during her first year, and recommended having her wake up at a certain time, take her naps at a certain time, and eat at a certain time. Of course, when they are young, it is hard to go from one stage into another. But some good steps are:

1. Have your child wake up at a certain time. When I had my daughter on a sleep routine, I didn't bother putting her to bed at an early time first, because she would just scream and cry the whole time. A lot of people recommend just letting the kids cry themselves to sleep, but for a lot of moms, this doesn't work. So I started off letting her to go bed late, and just wake her up early. I started the day at 7:00 a.m., sharp! It may be tiring, but you eventually catch up on your sleep.
2. Have your child do the same thing every morning. I would wake up my daughter, wash her face (I would wet a baby wipe with warm water), and then brush her teeth. Then I would change her diaper and clothes, and give her a morning bottle. Then I would do my morning stuff, and then arrange her breakfast time and what we were going to do in the day.
3. Naps. This one is tricky because different children will vary their amount of naps during the day. Mine took from 3-4 naps and I cut it down to one now. But in the beginning I would let them sleep as much as they would want. However, because the child would have to wake up so early, they will be extremely tired come 8:00 p.m., and I would make sure that your child not have a nap after four or five.
4. This is where the nighttime routine kicks in. What helped me out a lot, is that at 7:00 or 7:30, I would prepare my daughters bath and make sure that she got a nice warm bath. Then I would lotion her up with all of the bedtime stuff, give her a light massage, and warm a nice warm bottle for her right before she goes to bed. By this time your child will be so relaxed and ready to hit the sack! And I'm sure that by that time you are ready to hit the sack as well.

You do, however, need to continue this for a while so that your child will know when to expect their everyday needs. By the time night rolls around, your child will know that once their parent runs their bath or when you do certain things, then the end of the day has come. Usually they catch on pretty quick, but some children take more time than others. But they all will eventually get it.

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