When to stop feeding on demand?

GreenieTA11

Just curious ... when is it recommended to start feeding on a schedule instead of on demand?  DD is currently on demand and I imagine we'll continue for quite some time ....

Thanks!

sandy02

I'll always feed on demand

NicoleR524

I will always feed on demand as well.  I couldn't imagine leaving DS crying because it's not 1pm or it hasn't been 3 hours.  I do believe that naturally we will get on more of a schedule but it will not be strict as long as I am EBF.  Maybe once solids are introduced I will do cereal every morning at 9 or something like that bit we are not there yet...

kaylakaylakayla

sandy02:

I'll always feed on demand

This.
I don't think it's 'recommended' by everyone at any certain time. Maybe it depends on what kind of method you decide to go with.

I go with following my motherly instincts. Which includes feeding Liam anytime he shows signs of wanting to eat/snack/comfort suck etc.

 

crashski13

We feed on demand and will continue to, however LO has put himself on somewhat of a schedule.  he wakes every 3-4 hours to eat.

driveshorses

sandy02:

I'll always feed on demand

This.

mrs.kapow

Flame away, but DD is on somewhat of a schedule. She eats about every 4 hrs. I will not leave her crying because we haven't hit X time and growth spurts and sickness throw it out the window, but it makes life much easier for me to be able to accomplish things.

Echowysp

mrs.kapow:

Flame away, but DD is on somewhat of a schedule. She eats about every 4 hrs. I will not leave her crying because we haven't hit X time and growth spurts and sickness throw it out the window, but it makes life much easier for me to be able to accomplish things.

Not flaming, but bfing your child, which I assume takes only a few minutes, doesn't let you accomplish things?

mrs.kapow

Echowysp:

mrs.kapow:

Flame away, but DD is on somewhat of a schedule. She eats about every 4 hrs. I will not leave her crying because we haven't hit X time and growth spurts and sickness throw it out the window, but it makes life much easier for me to be able to accomplish things.

Not flaming, but bfing your child, which I assume takes only a few minutes, doesn't let you accomplish things?

Due to oversupply, I have to feed her on a recline so I can't NIP. I bring a bottle when need be, but it allows me to know I have around 4 hours to leave the house before she needs to be fed again.

And it takes 20 min to feed her since she gets more at each feeding. 

hollywoodgirl311

I think there is a difference between scheduling the exact times to eat and let a baby cry until meal times versus trying to schedule out meals with timing.

If your baby consistently goes 4 hours between feedings then there is nothing wrong with starting each day with a feeding at a certain time.  If LO sleeps through the night and you feed at 7am each morning then you pretty much have started to grounds for a schedule since they will eat around 11am, 3pm, 7pm ect...  When going back to work I always feed at the same time each morning to keep things consistent, even if LO woke up a couple hours earlier during the night I will still offer food at that set time for "breakfast" to keep it as normal as possible.  We do the same thing in the evenings before bed, we go to bed at 10pm and that's when I will feed Caelyn regardless of how recently she ate.  She always falls right asleep after that feeding and we are down for the night Well until our 3am feeding :P

kdello

No matter what time it is, if she's hungry, I feed her.

That said, she's sort of put herself on a schedule once we started doing a modified EASY method (from the baby whisperer book), where she eats primarily when she wakes up. This really helped us be able to decipher her cries, instead of me feeding her every time she was fussy because I was incorrectly thinking she was hungry all the time. She usually eats every 2-3 hours in the day.