When Did Your LO Move to a 4 Hour Schedule?

s00z · October 2011

The Baby Whisperer says babies should move to a 4 hour schedule at 4 months, but I am wondering how accurate that really is. Right now my LO (3.5 months) is on a pretty consistent 3 hour schedule (which I am fine with), and doesn't show any signs of stretching it out.

When did your LO move to a 4 hour feeding schedule? How did you know they were ready?

beckynick04 · October 2011

DD is almost 6 months and is still eating every 2.5 - 3 hours. I've always just followed her cues - if she's hungry, I feed her.

ksulli · October 2011

DD will be 4m next Friday and is usually on a 3hr schedule with one 4hr stretch in the day time, a 2nd gap right before bed, and a 7 to 8 hr night stretch. But, yesterday was all 2.5hrs. I'm in the 'feed her when she's hungry' camp and plan to stay there rather than encourage the 4hr schedule. Her weight is behind her height on the percentiles by about 25points, so I want to feed her as often as she wants.

seattlestef · October 2011

My BF baby is still on a 2 hour schedule, but also wanted to add that my twins were supplemented with high calorie formula and never moved to a 4 hour schedule. They ate every 3 hours except at night until they were a year old.

DaisyJanie · October 2011

My LO just moved to a 3-hour schedule, a couple weeks ago. Before that it was rare that he went longer than 2.5 hrs during the day. So I don't see him moving to 4 hours anytime soon.

I read the Baby Whisperer a lot during the first couple months, but something about her tone of voice started to annoy me after awhile. So I gave up on reading her.

s00z · October 2011

Thanks for the replies! I didn't think it sounded right that she would move to a 4 hour feeding routine so early....she is barely awake for 1 hour and a half before needing another nap. And, feeding every 3 hours like clockwork. Just wanted to confirm, I guess.

The only thing I have tried to do from the Baby Whisperer is to loosely follow an E-A-S-Y routine while feeding on demand.

tosababy · October 2011

It just depends on your baby.

My son ate pretty frequently and got up at least once during the night to eat until he was almost one.

My daughter is now 12 weeks and around 2 months decided to only eat 4, maybe 5, times every 24 hour period. She has gained weight nicely and eats at least 6 oz at each of those feedings so I'm not concerned. We feed her when she's hungry. According to kellymom.com, all breastfed babies between 1 and 6 mos eat about 25 oz a day so it just depends on the baby how many times they're going to have to eat to get those 6 oz.

Qmommy · October 2011

Never. My DD is 16 months old and still eats every 2-3 hours (during the day). Of course it's mainly solids at this point but still... 4 hours is a long time to expect from a baby.

mfc2b4 · October 2011

I nursed my son until 15 mo, and he never went 4 hrs until I was weaning him. I am pretty sure they are talking about formula fed babies, although my friend's ff 5 month old eats every 3-3.5 hrs. My daughter ( 3 mo old) eats every 2.5 hrs during the day except for her one long nap, she may go 3-3.5 hrs. and she gets 1-2 longer stretches during the night.

tarahnpaul · October 2011

DD eats at least every 2-3 hours, except at night, she will do a 6-7 hr stretch. I just feed her when she's hungry. If anything I want her to eat MORE frequently during the day so she doesn't need to eat as much during the night. No way could she be awake for that long of a stretch w/o getting overly tired.

ChattyCathy81 · October 2011

My LO still nurses every 2 hours during the day... But she sleeps 11+ hours at night without waking, so I think this is why we are still BFing so frequently.