Anyone else have an unpredictable feeder?

SeaSoul

I'm always hearing/reading about how a baby X months old eats every X number of hours and maybe that's just average but I also hear moms saying the same.  For example I was asking my SIL how often she pumps for her 6-month-old while she's at work and she said she pumps 3x - once for each feeding her daughter would normally have during that timeframe.

Well, my 3.5-month-old is just not predictable like that, and never has been!  Maybe it's because I feed on demand and I don't pay a lot of attention to the timing - but then again, everyone I know feeds on demand too.  He is a frequent eater and if I really think about it I guess I'd say he eats every hour.  But I don't really know for sure - I just feed him whenever he wants it and that's that.  But it's certainly not every 3 hours (except maybe during the night) - no way!  Not even every 2!

Is this unusual?  Does your LO eat at regular intervals?

kittylove

DS kinda eats at regular intervels but to see the pattern I had to write down all our feedings for a few days. There is a pattern but it isn't anythink like every 3 hours. It is more like wake up, cluster feed, then every 2 hours then a 3 hour stretch IF he takes a good nap then every 2 hours again then clusterfeeding before bed. Not sure if that helped at all. I would highly suggest writing down the time every time you feed him and seeing if you can find a pattern.

Crazycrustacean

DD doesn't have a real schedule. She nurses when she wants to. Sometimes longer than others. The only thing that's a constant is that at 6:30pm she gets a solid meal & 7:30-8pm is her bedtime.?

MrsAmers

At 3 1/2 months it was still unpredictable.  For a week or two before I went back to work I wrote down when she ate.  She was eating at different times each day, but I found that she was generally eating 3-4 times in the period that I would be at work and that the times she ate were roughly related to when she woke up from napping.  So I used that as my guide for pumping and sending bottles to daycare.

But if I hadn't had done that, I would have sworn that her eating habits were totally random.  :-)

makclair

Ds eats every 3 hours at daycare (3 bottles) but on demand at home.