Dr. Komarovsky on the daily routine of a child

A child’s daily routine plays a vital role in their overall health as it influences both their physical and emotional growth. How to strike the correct balance between eating, sleeping, playing, and learning is a question that many parents have.

Renowned pediatrician Dr. Komarovsky provides helpful guidance on how to establish a routine that works for the family and the child. His advice is based on years of experience and is intended to encourage the development of healthy habits at a young age.

This post will discuss Dr. Komarovsky’s ideas for planning a child’s day and offer advice on how to be flexible while still making sure your child’s needs are addressed.

Features

What kids actually need is food, sleep, water, and a feeling of security. According to Evgeny Komarovsky, no child in the world has a physiological or psychological need for a routine.

According to this perspective, routine is more important for the parents than it is for the infant in order for them to continue being competent adults who can raise a child.

When a child eats and sleeps whenever he pleases, including in the middle of the night, parents will clearly not get enough sleep and will soon become lethargic, incapable individuals exhibiting signs of nervous exhaustion. Establishing a daily routine as early as possible is advisable, since the child still desperately needs healthy, functioning parents. Ideally, as soon as the maternity hospital is closed.

Establishing a routine helps families better organize their lives as their child grows, and it also gets them ready for future trips to kindergarten and school since everything follows the schedule. However, because different ages require different approaches to organizing the regime, parents will need to modify the daily schedule multiple times during the first few years of their child’s life.

Daily routine by month

Early on in life, a child’s routine should be designed with consideration for the age-specific differences in sleep norms. A newborn, for instance, requires at least eighteen hours of sleep every day; a child six months old requires fourteen and a child one year old, thirteen and a half hours. But a lot also relies on the child’s temperament. After two years old, some kids still refuse to sleep during the day but happily accept the 12–13 hours of sleep they are legally entitled to at night.

When parents try to force their baby to sleep during the day, it usually ends in complete failure because even if the child does fall asleep during the day, the amount and quality of sleep at night drastically declines. As a result, creating a regime will call for parents to be adaptable and to have a thorough awareness of their unique child’s traits.

Parents can find the diet convenient, but there are disadvantages as well, according to Evgeny Komarovsky. A child’s gastric juice starts to flow precisely when lunch or dinnertime arrives, based on his routine. But as you get older, things can change. For example, in kindergarten, the schedule will change, and lunch will be an hour later. At school, there will be a new schedule, to which the child will need to get used to. The body does not benefit from the production of gastric juice when there is no food present.

The meal times ought to coincide as closely as feasible with the kindergarten program the child will be attending or the academic calendar.

This will lessen the chance of getting stomach ulcers, gastritis, and other uncomfortable conditions.

A walking schedule is crucial for both older schoolchildren and babies. Even when sick, especially if it’s a respiratory ailment, you just cannot resist taking walks in the fresh air. The high temperature is the only deterrent to going outside. You must go outside as soon as the fever goes down, even with a runny nose and cough.

It’s normal for a child’s routine to be disturbed when ill, according to Evgeny Komarovsky. After healing, the child will rapidly go back into the familiar "rut" with a routine that is well-organized.

The following is an approximation of the regime.

1-2 months

Depending on the baby’s temperament, 18 to 20 hours of sleep are required at this age. The 12 hours of sleep at night can be broken up for one or two feedings at the same time. The infant naps four to five times a day for two to three hours at a time.

There are typically 6-7 feedings per day, with a 2.5–3.5 hour gap between meals. Any mother can "adjust" this rough schedule to suit her family’s daily schedule by setting aside particular hours and minutes. When family members go to bed early, between 9 and 10 p.m., water procedures and the final feeding should take place at 8:30 p.m. This is presuming that the family rises at five o’clock.

The last evening feeding should be moved to 22.30 if the parents and other kids in the family go to bed late (at 23:00), with the baby waking up at 7.00.

3-4 months

Due to their longer waking periods between sleep episodes, children at this age will require parental adjustments to the regimen. With the possibility that the infant won’t sleep for 1.5–2 hours, there are only 3–4 sleep episodes, each lasting 1.5–2 hours.

The infant should sleep for about eleven hours at night and wake up for food. At this age, children eat every 3.5–4 hours, five times a day. It is crucial to maintain consistency in the evening routines by not rearranging the bathing, massaging, and final feeding times.

5-6 months

During this time, the recommended amount of sleep at night stays at 11 hours. The day lasts for 1.5 to 2 hours. But there’s a way to cut the number of these daytime hours down to just three. The child spends two to three hours awake.

He may stop eating at night by the time he is six months old, but even then, there is no biological reason for night feeding. As a result, meals are now only eaten five times a day. The baby can already tolerate four-hour stretches between meals. About fifteen hours of sleep per day are required in total.

7-8-9 months

This baby is already quite alert and curious, and he or she stays awake for extended periods of time. There are four to five meals a day. Night feeding ought to be completely discontinued. The infant sleeps for roughly ten hours every night.

He should go to bed three times a day during the day, but occasionally (closer to nine months), this number is lowered to two. In between episodes of daytime sleep, the baby can spend up to three hours playing games and exploring the world; the important thing is to avoid letting them become overtired and go longer without sleep.

10-11 months – 1 year

A baby of this kind can already eat four times a day, separated by four hours. There are now only two daytime sleeps per day, but the intervals between them are longer—up to 2.5 hours.

Ten hours of sleep each night are required. It’s crucial to incorporate longer walks and developmental activities into the regimen at this age.

1.5 years – 2 years

At this age, it’s critical to modify the schedule to align with the schedule of the preschool the parents have selected for their child. In order to accomplish this, the mother must go to the kindergarten, speak with the teachers, and record the times of breakfast, lunch, the afternoon snack, classes, and walks.

This age group eats four times a day on average (not counting dinner, which is not included in the kindergarten curriculum). The infant should sleep twice a day, gradually cutting down to just one sleep by the time they are two to three years old. Every "quiet hour" lasts between one and two hours. Requires ten to eleven hours of sleep per night.

The baby’s sleep schedule may vary from those suggested, as each child is unique. However, it is crucial that the infant gets between 12.5 and 13 hours of sleep every day, as this is his biological norm.

The insights provided by Dr. Komarovsky regarding a child’s daily routine underscore the significance of structure and consistency in a child’s upbringing. Parents can foster the development of healthy habits and a sense of security in their children by adhering to a meticulously planned schedule.

Establishing a schedule that strikes a balance between learning, play, and relaxation can improve behavior and emotional stability. A consistent daily routine aids in a child’s development and aids in managing expectations, according to Dr. Komarovsky.

These routines don’t have to be rigidly incorporated into everyday living. Since every child is different, flexibility is essential. In the end, Dr. Komarovsky’s method advises parents to modify schedules to meet the particular needs of their child while preserving a feeling of regularity and order.

A regular daily schedule, according to Dr. Komarovsky, is crucial for a child’s healthy development because it gives them structure, aids in behavior management, and enhances their quality of sleep and general wellbeing. He advises establishing a schedule that is both flexible enough to accommodate the child’s specific needs and incorporates regular mealtimes, active play, and rest times. Striking a balance between giving their kids enough time for learning and leisure should be the goal of parents.

Video on the topic

How many times a day should you feed a child? – Doctor Komarovsky

What time to put a child to bed? – Following publications… on Instagram – Doctor Komarovsky

Child and routine – Doctor Komarovsky"s School