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Breastfeeding
DD february 2010 | DS october 2011
*please excuse my typos, bumping from my iphone*
Can you put a BF baby on a schedule??
I've been BF DS for two months now completely on demand. (He does get one bottle overnight if that matters.) The problem is that he's still all over the place in terms of when he eats during the day. Sometimes it's 3 hours, sometimes only one. I've just been going with it but I'd really like to establish a bit more consistency.
First, it would be really nice to have some clue when he might eat again. Instead of a total crapshoot all day. But second, (and most importantly) I'm really starting to feel like he's only able to settle with me when he's nursing. DH and my mom can settle him easily but if he's the least bit fussy and I hold him he just wants to eat. I think this is leading to a lot of random snacking. I want to be able to comfort DS without always feeding but I certainly don't want to withhold food if he's actually hungry.
Soo. What do I do. Can I try to start establishing a bit of a schedule? How?
DD february 2010 | DS october 2011
*please excuse my typos, bumping from my iphone*
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Can you put a BF baby on a schedule??
I agree. I don't think it's best for babies to be forced onto schedules at a young age, and it can shorten the length of breastfeeding to start restricting it this soon. Yes, your baby might expect to be comforted by the boob if it's mom holding him. That's okay! It's a special bond between the two of you, not just a way to feed a baby. Things will get more predictable if you just don't do anything at all - it takes time, but we all get there.
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DD february 2010 | DS october 2011
*please excuse my typos, bumping from my iphone*
Ditto everyone else. But I'll add that at your LO's age they're starting to really notice things now. So, just because he's fussing or crying doesn't necessarily mean he's hungry. Try doing something else stimulating if it's only been an hour. At this age they start to require more than just being fed, changed and burped. And it's ok for someone else to respond to LO and assess what he needs. I'm not sure if you're a SAHM or not but if someone else is home with you and LO then try letting them get LO and they can always bring LO to you if a feeding is needed. I understand that after 3 months of bfing in demand and being on call 24/7 it can start to wear on you.
Also, this is advice for probably much later (like my DS's age which is 13 months) but I've been working on doing other things to re-establish our connection instead of just nursing. I started working part time in August and now even if I've only been gone for 1 hour to run errands he thinks he needs to nurse. So lately I've just taken that time to read him a book or play a game with him one on one. I had to do this because he started reverting in his amount of time between feedings and also it would throw off everything else with his meals, naps etc. But again, that's after he's on a "schedule" (which I just follow his cues still but he has developed into a routine).
My LO put himself on what I call a "routine" rather than a schedule because I try to be really flexible. He has sometimes needed an extra feeding/bottle and of course we do it when he is hungry and he has on 2 occasions slept till 6am, but for the most part he does best when we stick to the typical day. He eats basically every 3 hours and once overnight. By keeping bedtime consistent, I think it made the days pretty consistent too, by default. He's been doing this since around 8 weeks.
Feed ~7:45/8am (before I leave for work; on a handful of occasions, I've had to wake him for this), bottle ~11am, bottle ~2pm, feed ~5:15 (when I get home), feed ~7:30 (bedtime), feed one time overnight (anywhere from 1:30AM to 4). These times are very approximate but during the day we try to stay within 30 min in either direction.
If he needs an extra feed, it usually happens on day when he got the 11AM bottle a little early bc he was hungry, then got the 2pm at about 1:30, then eats another around 3:30.
There are lots of pluses and minuses to having a routine of sorts. I work and I do better with routine, so it works for me. It seems to be better for him, too, when we can stick with it. Of course, if he wakes up early hungry it throws all of us off and we have to make a new plan to get him to bed at a reasonable hour.