I thought I was going to be that super chill mom who brings her baby everywhere, just adding him into my life with no stress. Turns out, I am the exact opposite!

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Creating a routine for my son did not come quickly or easily to me. It happened somewhat naturally along the way, but not until he was about 8 months old. Before then, we paid attention to wake windows and hunger cues, but it was hard to predict times for pretty much anything. We knew how many naps a day he needed, when bedtime would roughly be, and tried to base our days off of this.

Now that Otto is just over 9 months, and he’s FINALLY dropped down from three to two naps a day, we have him more on a schedule these days than ever before. While it has been challenging trying to make plans and have somewhat of a normal life, I definitely notice that the schedule we have fallen into really works for Otto (which therefore works for us as a family)!

I’m going to break down our typical day. Keep in mind every day is a little bit different and of course things will come up that may interfere with the schedule. We do our best to work around Otto’s routine and put him first before anything. It’s a sacrifice, but I know this phase is temporary, and soon enough the baby days will be over. Also, I want to stress that this is what works for us as a family. This might look entirely different than what you are doing with your baby, and that’s okay! I am simply putting this out there for anyone who is interested 🙂

6:00am-7:15am Wake Up – Sometime between these hours, Otto gets up and is ready for the day to begin. It’s usually around 6:30am, and the days he sleeps past 7:00am we count ourselves lucky. I feed him in bed, and then he plays (either in his playpen or we go to his room), until breakfast.

8:30am Breakfast – We almost always do breakfast at exactly this time since Otto’s already been up for a while. Some of his favourite breakfasts are: oatmeal with peanut butter and fruit, pumpkin pancakes, toast with almond butter, scrambled eggs, French toast, avocado… it really depends on what we have in the fridge and what we have time to prepare that morning.

9:00am Get Ready – After breakfast, Otto gets cleaned up because his eating can get very messy. We are doing the Baby-Led Weaning approach which involves allowing him to be in control of his meals; food naturally ends up everywhere. Thank goodness we have Bailey to help with clean-up😅. After he’s washed, I get him dressed (which for some reason he hates). Seriously, anytime I try to put a shirt on him he freaks out. He is getting SO strong, and twists and turns so aggressively which can make such a simple task quite difficult! Once he is dressed, I’ll offer to breastfeed him. Sometimes he goes for it, sometimes not. I always try though because our next “event” is a long walk and the last thing I want is to cut it short.

9:30am-11:00am Morning Walk + Nap (2-in-1)! This is one of my favourite parts of our day. We’ve been doing this consistently for months now and we all love it. It’s so important to get outside, enjoy some fresh air, and get moving. Otto loves being in the stroller and I love getting my steps in. Having Bailey is also a huge reason we do this; we literally can’t say no to our walks! If I haven’t had my morning coffee yet I’ll stop by Starbucks and get something to go – yet another benefit of getting out! I don’t know when this started but for a long while now, Otto has been passing out on these morning walks somewhere around 9:45am-10:00am and sleeps anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour. I find it has become one less thing for me to worry about. Knowing I don’t have to battle him to get his nap in at home really takes some of the day’s stress off me. Nap time is definitely one of the things I have struggled with as a new mom, but that’s another blog post!

11:00am Snack – Once we’re back home, Otto gets a very small snack. We only started adding snacks in to our food routine pretty much right before he turned 9 months. I could tell he seemed to be getting hungrier before meals, so I decided to try offering something small at least an hour before his next meal so not to spoil his appetite. Some snacks he loves are: cucumber slices with hummus, Little Bellies puffs (#ad), a strawberry or piece of banana, a small piece of toast with butter. After his snack once again I will offer to nurse him.

11:15am-12:00pm Play – Playtime has become such an integral part of Otto’s day. He absolutely loves crawling around and exploring. He recently started pulling himself up to stand so he is having fun with this new skill as well. Sometimes I will sit with him while he independently plays and other times I will totally get right into it with him, depending on his mood.

12:00pm Lunch – Again, we do lunch at this exact time pretty much daily. Some of Otto’s favourite lunches are: cauliflower fritters, chicken-broccoli fingers, smoothie bowl with toppings, sautéed ground beef and smashed avocado, baked salmon… once again, depends on what we have prepped and available. I meal prep for Otto once every 2-3 weeks so that there are always a few options in the freezer. It makes life so much easier when you can just grab something and have it ready in 15 seconds.

12:30pm-2:00pm = Different Every Day! If we’re staying home, we will go back to playing. If we need to get groceries, now is our time to go. Sometimes we will have a visit from family or friends during this time.

2:00pm-3:00pm Nap 2 – This timing really does vary day-to-day. Otto will nap anywhere from 1:30pm-4:00pm for about an hour. I look out for his tiredness cues (getting grumpy, rubbing his eyes, not being interested in play). We do contact naps (see my blog post about baby sleep to find out how this came about), so I settle into the recliner with him and grab a book. I took up reading again ever since he started exclusively napping on me and it makes the hour pass by a lot faster than just scrolling on my phone. He also usually feeds on and off while he’s napping on me.

3:00pm Snack 2 – After he’s up he’s hungry (almost hangry). I pick something from our faves and make sure it’s different than what he had for his morning snack. Strawberries are a fave of his.

3:15pm-4:00pm Walk – We usually go on a second walk around this time as it’s good to get out of the house (especially if we haven’t since the morning). It’s not as long as the first one and I’ll take a different route to change up the scenery.

4:00pm-5:15pm Play – Yes, more play! I’m truly shocked by how much mental and physical energy babies have. They are constantly learning and taking in every little thing. I love watching Otto learn and get curious. I also love to get involved and use this time to goof around and attempt to make him laugh. If you haven’t heard your baby laugh yet, I promise when you do, it is the most magical thing in the world. Otto seems to already have such a sense of humour and laughs a lot throughout the day. At least someone thinks I’m funny😅.

5:15pm-6:00pm Dinner – We try whenever possible to have dinner as a family, but sometimes it ends up being Carlo or me sitting with Otto while he eats. If I haven’t had a moment to myself all day, I sometimes use this time to workout or go for a solo walk. Otherwise we enjoy sitting together and sharing a meal! What Otto eats for dinner varies so much. Our family meals are fairly simple and usually involve a protein, vegetable or potatoes/rice, and a salad.

6:00pm Bath – We’ve been doing bath time before bed since Otto was a newborn. We started when his umbilical cord fell off and we haven’t missed a day since! We don’t use soap every single day, but even just the warm water is so soothing for him. He LOVES the water and it really helps him to wind down and let him know the day is coming to an end. My absolute favourite bath product right now is babyganics Shampoo & Body Wash (#ad (Fragrance Free) – it’s so gentle and leaves his skin soo soft!

6:30pm Bedtime – After the bath we use a gentle lotion on him and then get him into his onesie and sleep sack (these are our fave) (#ad). I breastfeed him and he usually falls asleep within a few minutes if he’s really tired. Sometimes it takes up to half an hour to get him to sleep but it’s gotten easier recently. Once he’s out, I’ll put him in his crib in his room and make sure it’s nice and dark in there. We have our Hatch sound machine on a timer from 6:30pm-7:30am every day for some white noise in the background. Otto’s bed and bath routine is a non-negotiable at this point. It has taken Carlo and I a long time to establish this routine and it’s a relief knowing we can at least count on him getting to sleep at a set time. It does hinder us from doing much in the evenings but as I said earlier, it’s a temporary phase. Otto still doesn’t sleep right through the night (he’s up 1-3 times for a feed) so we don’t stay up too late but we do enjoy our evenings chilling out on the couch watching Netflix☺️.

And that’s our routine! It might seem pretty intense, but really the day kind of just flows naturally into this. Having a schedule helps me keep Otto on track to make sure he’s well fed, well rested, and content. I’m sure things will evolve as he gets older, as they have continuously changed since he’s been born, but for now we’re happy with what we’re doing!

Xx Maya

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