Stick to the Schedule or Else?

I feel like I have been “sticking to a schedule” ever since our son was born. We had a baby nurse help us out for the first week (an unbelievable gift from our family) who immediately put our baby on a feeding schedule of every four hours at 2pm, 6pm, 10pm, 2am, 6am, & 10am. Our baby nurse also got us into a bath & bedtime routine. Then, when our son turned four months old, I have fallen into the strict schedule of napping.

Recently, I took a much needed break (a mini stay-cation) from being a stay at home dad, and allowed my very eager mother to have our son for two nights. She asked me to jot down a brief schedule on a post-it note of feeding, nap, and bed times. My post-it note of brief instructions morphed into a two page novel with explicit and detailed instructions on when and how to nap our son, when & what to feed him, bed time routine notes, and other IMPORTANT random notes. My mother laughed at my detailed novel of instructions, and explained she will be doing it her way once I leave anyway, so I should not have wasted my time. Kind of comical!

As I reflect, I am not sure when I became so caught up in “sticking to the schedule”, but I am definitely serious about it. I know nothing would happen to our son if we veer off schedule (which certainly happens), but things are so much more smooth when you have a happy, well rested, and well fed baby. Maybe I just like a little predictability in this whole ‘new world’ of unpredictability – Parenting!

Please share your thoughts- do you stick to a regimented schedule like me?