Sticking to routine and the benefits for the baby
Our baby is 9 months old now. I work regular weeks, work 5 days, look after the baby on saturdays. My gf works tuesday, thursday, friday and saturdays. Sundays we're at home together
Naturally the baby acts different with each parent, but on saturdays when my gf is out working, I seem to rarely have any issues. Baby naps well, during which I do housework, she eats well, we take a bath, I trim her nails, all without a whole lot of issues. Not gonna say it's never took me 30 minutes to put her to bed, but generally she falls asleep easily, eats well, etc etc. When my gf comes home she's like : "how did you manage to do all that?!"
GF is home on mondays and wednesdays. Saturday I manage to clean the house and do the dishes. Sunday both of us are home, so generally the kitchen is quite clean. Monday night I get back from work and the house is a mess. Baby was difficult. She tried to cook, but things burned as baby asked attention. She didn't nap in the morning or she didn't nap in the afternoon. She didn't eat well, ...
I feel so defeated.
GF works less to spend more time with our baby and while she is amazing at giving her love and affection, I feel like a good routine and a steady house(hold?) is an equally amazing thing to give your child.
We're both rather chaotic people and I really do my best to overcome this and give our kid a more stable life than I had growing up, but I feel like my partner isn't in on this with me. When we discuss this she feels insulted, as if I'm saying she's a bad mother, which I don't think even one bit.
When we pick up our daughter from daycare they tell us the time she ate, slept, how much, how long. When I pick her up, I think it's amazing info. I know exactly in her routine where she's at. She wont need food for an hour, she napped late, so I guess she'll go to bed a bit later. My GF thinks this is unnecessary and would prefer if they talked about how she evolved, how she plays, etc etc. (I do think they actually have a legal obligation to give us the first info and they don't always have time for the second part.) I'd love to hear more of the second part, even if it's just once a week or something, but the first part is such useful information?
I guess there's no right or wrong here, but I feel like the one works so well (in general), and brings predictable results in terms of what's going to happen. The other is more organic, but demands a lot of us. Any.. advice?
Anecdotal, but when the baby was born and my aunt came to visit she said that those parenting styles changed between my cousins. The oldest she did feed and sleep on demand, which seemed to work perfectly and the second she kept to a schedule, which also worked amazingly. She remembers feeling like hitting the jackpot with the way the advice came out and changed because she felt like it was the right style for each baby.
Now I feel like our baby is inbetween. One parent being more "strict" and the other more "loving"? Is this gonna lead to issues down the line?
Posted May 13, 2026, 6:36 PM UTC