Of all the questions I get from parents, ‘how can I get a routine’ seem to be the most frequent.

I’m pleased to say that in over 19 years of working with littlies *I’ve never had a complaint that my routine didn’t work.

Many parents are afraid to start a routine, worried that their little one won’t adapt. They stick to their feeding and sleeping on demand and many find that they are still doing this until their children are almost 3 years old! That’s a lot of sleepless nights and exhausting days!

How soon can I start a routine?

I always advise to start a routine from birth. Many may disagree with this advice, but I’ve yet to find one baby who followed my routine from birth, that doesn’t eat and sleep well.

My own children were in a 4 hourly feed routine from birth. They were breast fed, and combination fed and were weaned at four months as they were very hungry babies. At 6 weeks old they slept through the night 6pm-6am with a dreamfeed at 10pm.

Until your baby is weaned, it’s important to let them sleep when they want to in the day. Don’t worry! It won’t affect their evening sleep if they are stimulated lots in their awake time. for ideas on awake time stimulation for small babies look here.

At 17 months and 5 months they sleep 6pm -8 am every night and never get out of their cots during the night. They sleep 2-3 hours every afternoon and my littlest has an hour in the morning.

Yes, we have teething nights or snuffly cold nights where sleep is disrupted, but all it takes is a simple reassuring visit and ‘shhh’ from mummy and they’re straight back to sleep.

What is the Four for happiness routine?

My ‘Four for happiness’ (©) routine works wonders from birth but can be started at any age with dedication! The oldest child who adapted to my routine was 2.5 years old and it took four days!

My ‘Four for happiness’ (©) is based on four hourly feeds from birth like this:

6 am -breast/bottle feed

10am – breast/bottle feed

2pm – breast/bottle feed

6pm -breast/bottle feed

10pm- breast/bottle feed

2am – breast/bottle feed

Cutting the 2am feed

At around 6 weeks old, when your baby dream feeds the 2am feed rather than wakes for it, you can drop it!  This is magical and results in a good nights sleep from when your baby is only **6 weeks old!

This routine can be followed until weaning begins, usually between 4-6 months depending on how hungry you find your baby to be.  when weaning is established, the times are changed to fit in with breakfast, lunch and dinner.  You can see a weaning routine here.

How do I stick to it when my baby is unsettled?

It’s important to stick to this routine as closely as possible or it won’t work.

However, if you find your baby is hungrier in between, you may need to increase the feed at one of the ‘Four for happiness’© time slots.

Don’t feed baby in-between the routine hours as this will cause confusion and encourage feeding on demand. You can try using a dummy to settle, as often babies don’t want the milk, just the comfort of sucking.

Remember this routine has been used by hundreds of parents but it’s not everyones cup of tea.

You don’t have to follow it, it’s not right or wrong, but it has worked for 19 years with success and has produced healthy, thriving children who eat and sleep well.

*When followed exactly.

** If there are no underlying problems such as reflux or other health problems

The ‘Four for happiness’ routine was developed by professional, qualified Nursery Nurse Fi Star-Stone, and has been used by parents across the world for over 19 years.