Suggestions on a structured daily routine for a 8 month old?

Question

I'm a stay at home mom with an adorable 8 month old son. I would greatly appreciate some ideas on a structured daily schedule/routine. I live far away from friends and family and was never really a kid person before I had my son ( liked kids-just not sure what to do with them).. I would really like for my son to grow up in the best environment possible (happy/safe/structured) but because of my lack of experience with children I always seem to feel like I'm not doing enough with him. If anyone knows of a good schedule that include specific times - wake up, play, eat, nap, sleep and possibly some stimulating activities I would be forever greatful!!!

Answer 1

We had a fairly structured routine for that age, especially for my second child. It was something like this:

Wake at 7:00, breastfeed, then breakfast with the family.

9:00 nap for about an hour

10-12 was either playing in the house or outside or time to run an errand or a playdate.

12 lunch time

12:30 nap time for 2 - 2-1/2 hours

2:30-4:30 would be similar to 10-12 (without errands - do those in the morning when they are usually happier!) Quite often we would go to the park in the afternoon.

4:30 I would start to make dinner and this is always the worst time of the day! Try sitting him in his highchair near where you are with some toys to amuse him.

5:00 dinner

6:15 start of bed time routine (bath, books)

7:00 sleep (hopefully until about 7:00 the following morning!)

Of course, this was not followed very strictly, but I found life much easier when we more or less stuck to it! I also can't remember at this age how much milk vs food they were getting so the meal times may not be acurate.

Try to find a playgroup or mother's group near you that you could get together with once a week. It really helps to have other Mom friends to get ideas from.

Our local library does an Infant story time once a week.

Going for walks is always a good thing to do. My children have always been happier outside and it gives you something to do! Talk to your son about what you see while you are walking.

I'm sure you are stimulating him plenty just by spending time with him.

Hope this helps a bit!

Answer 2

bed time 7 pm, wake up morning 7am, breakfast time 730 am, play time 9-12 pm, lunch time, nap time from 1230, 200 pm, play time, snack time at about 3 or whenever hungry, super/dinner at about 430, play time then mabie bath time at about 6 pm then quiet time then bed time....hope that would work for you if you kept a routine like that he will get used to it and it will be easier for you! hope i helped good luck!!:-)

Answer 3

Your story sounds JUST LIKE ME!!! :-)I also have an 8 month old son and I live 4 hours away from all of my family and friends. A few of my friends back home have kids and I always enjoyed feeding them, playing with them that sort of thing, but it when you have your own, IT IS VERY VERY DIFFERENT! I have always let Luke (my baby) kinda make his own schedule. I know everyone says that babies like structure and they need it, but he is the most content, happiest baby!! I get comments in stores all the time about how good he is, and he is such a "go with the flow" baby, because I have never enforced a certain time for everything. Because our families do live so far away, we do spend a lot of time on the road, so that means falling asleep at a time that he normally wouldnt at home, during that time he would be missing a meal that he normally wouldnt at home. I do feed him about every 3 hours, wake up time, nap time, and bedtime are generally all around the same time, but he is teething, which is meaning less sleep at night, and sleeping a little later in the morning. He lets me know when he is sleeping by rubbing his eyes. If I lay him down and he wakes right back up, I dont let him cry it out. I rock him, and hold him. Enjoy him while he is little. I really had no idea that he was going to grow up so fast, and I'm sure you know that it really feels just like yesterday that your little one was born! Baby's sleep schedule is more thank likely going to change every month or so, but all babies are different, I just let Luke tell me and he really is such a good care free and HAPPY HAPPY  baby. He doesnt whine, or fuss, and smiles and laughs ALL THE TIME!!! I hope this helps you out some. I do know what you are going through living away from family and being a stay at home mom to a baby. Its tough. As far as stimulating activities. I bought Luke some stackable rings, and a "Baby's First Set Of Block's" and me and him get down in the floor and clap the rings and blocks together, he is trying his best to crawl at the time so I get down and start crawling while singing "follow the leader, follow the leader" in a bunch of different tone voices. I know its corny but he gets a kick out of it, and he is watching what I'm doing and maybe that can help him know what to do, since we dont have other babies around here for him to play with! Good Luck to you, and Enjoy every min. you can! I Obviously, I dont know your religious beliefs, but a nurse at my gyno's office gave me some good advice when I was telling her how scared I was to be so far away from family with a new baby, and not know what in the world to do with him. She said "Honey, My Grandmother told this to me, and everytime I questioned myself as a mother, I reminded myself of this. "God gave you this baby, and He gave you the good sense to take care of it" That has helped me alot. You are his mother, and you know deep down what is best for him just follow your heart and trust your own judgement. Ok, Im really gonna stop now, haha, I just feel that I should help you as much as I can since your question sounded so much like me!! :-)

Answer 4

A schedule is good, but it has to be really flexible for such a young child.

Check out exercise DVDs for Mommy & Me from the library.  Check out baby einstein DVDs from the library, these are great.

8:30am - 11:00am I would suggest a waking routine that includes diaper changes, fresh clothing, bottle or breastfeeding, and Mama baby reading time with baby books with big bright pictures.

11:00am The child will also need some tummy time or crawling activities.  A bottle, burping, rocking and probably a nap.  

1:30PM Baby will probably wake up hungry and ready for a bottle and a feeding of baby cereal.

2:30-3:30 give baby some toys to play with on his/her own while you are close by reading.  They need to learn to entertain themselves & you need the rest time.

3:30pm-4:00pm bottle & baby food as Doc directs

4-5pm Do some baby safe exercises and age appropriate toy times together..

5-6 afternoon nap, supper for everyone else

6pm-8pm Bottle Time, wake time watch a Baby Einstein video together, play with rattles together, floor games together

8pm bath with lavender bath & lotion, last bottle for the night

8:30pm bed time routine, pajamas, soothing night time stories, Lulaby CDs, rocking time with Mom

Answer 5

You just have to start a routine with him. Wake him up a certain time in the morning,feed him at a certain time,let him nap for such and such time,so on and so far...and be repetitive with this.If you want the same schedule you will have to continue it daily.

But you also have to realize he is only 8 months old..a structured routine is going to be hard to accomplish.Not every child likes the idea of feeling like they are at boot camp all day long while they are at home. Just try to relax and enjoy time with your baby instead of worrying so much about a demanding schedule for him. I mean letting him wake up between 7-8 am and letting him eat breakfast anywhere between 8 and 10 and so on and so forth is not going to be that horrible trust me.Both my daughters are on schedules but there is no DEAD SET time for everything...sometimes they wake up at 6 sometimes they wake up at 7:30 and such and its not that bad.Also think of it this way too...he will eventually get a cold or he is going to cut teeth and these things will probably affect the deadset schedule time that you have for him and you seriously can not force a sick baby or teething baby to wake up at a certain time when they didn't even go to bed until 4 in the morning or if they aren't hungry until 2 instead of noon you can't make them eat,so your whole schedule for that time period will be thrown out of wack.

Sorry I wasn't tryin to be mean if I sounded that way...just tryin to say enjoy time with baby instead of making a schedule for it all =)

best of Luck