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Schedule and EBF

NikkdamNikkdam member
in Breastfeeding
Anyone successfully on a schedule with ebf and does it help. I am getting no sleep and everyone is telling me to either put then on a schedule or pump and feed to make sure they r getting enough. I know they r getting enough cuz they r growing well and I have loads of milk. They are 7.5 weeks. Help! This mama needs sleep!!
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Re: Schedule and EBF

  • RagsdaleARagsdaleA member
    Yes. I'm using the Moms on Call schedule and I love it. You can purchase the e-book (quick read) and app.
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  • YellowLily2013YellowLily2013 member
    We feed on demand and couldn't imagine it any other way. What's so hard about feeding a baby when he's hungry?

    If he's ate recently we make sure something else isn't a matter: wet diaper/tired. At 3.5 months I'm just starting to figure out when he's overtired versus hungry. So I work to get him to nap. But sometimes he wants to nurse a little before the nap - and that's okay too!
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  • NikkdamNikkdam member
    YellowLily2013 said:

    We feed on demand and couldn't imagine it any other way. What's so hard about feeding a baby when he's hungry?

    If he's ate recently we make sure something else isn't a matter: wet diaper/tired. At 3.5 months I'm just starting to figure out when he's overtired versus hungry. So I work to get him to nap. But sometimes he wants to nurse a little before the nap - and that's okay too!

    I don't mind feeding on demand in fact I prefer it but I am getting no sleep at all with two babies so just want advice of others. Hopefully in the next month we'll work out their cry cues. And they will fall into their own schedule
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  • kjsmith9kjsmith9 member
    edited October 2013
    Even with one baby, I wasn't getting too much sleep at 7.5 weeks.  Awesome job to you for EBF until now!!  I don't think pumping would make it much easier - even if you did that, I'd assume there would still be diaper changes to do, crying, bottles that need to be fed... You still wouldn't be getting much sleep!  Feeding on a "schedule" so young is generally frowned upon, but if they are on totally opposite schedules, I can imagine your pain.  Is that the issue?
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  • Curls218Curls218 member
    If you're pumping you still need to get up and feed but also pump. So you'd probably get even less sleep!
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  • PumpkinMommaaaPumpkinMommaaa member
    Curls218 said:

    If you're pumping you still need to get up and feed but also pump. So you'd probably get even less sleep!

    This! Pumping takes so much more time. Me and my little one had thrush and nursing was too painful so I was pumping as well as bottle feeding every few hours and I almost couldn't take it. I cried because I slept so little. (Plus one side of the pump quit working so I had to alternate). But now that I'm nursing again I'm getting waaay more sleep. Good luck though! They keep telling me it gets better so I'm site there's a light at the end of the tunnel

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  • YellowLily2013YellowLily2013 member
    Do you have a SO that could help out? One way to get sleep is pump the last feedings bottle early, you go to bed early and let SO give that bottle at the next feeding.

    Possible schedule:
    7:00 bf
    7:45 pump
    8:00 mom goes to bed
    10:00 SO bottle feeds / mom stays asleep
    1:00am mom bf

    This is just an approximate schedule, but you could get 6 hours of sleep!

    This works best in the evening because your milk supply is lowest, if the baby wakes after midnight you need to get up and nurse since your milk supply is the highest in the early morning. My LC told me to think of midnight as an imaginary line.

    Also nursing takes a lot out of you physically and mentally. So I had my DH bottle feed all night one time and I just got up to pump. It saved my sanity and by morning I was ready to nurse again. I wouldn't recommend exclusively pumping because it's tons more work, but for a day or two it's fine.

    Sorry if I was snarky in my first post. Schedules are not really recommended for infants. But there are other ways to combat your sleep deprivation. Good luck mama!!
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  • NikkdamNikkdam member
    Thanks all. Sounds like it gets better and we just need to keep doing what we r. I will get my hubby and mil to do an evening bottle on the weekend as they go to bed just as early as me at 8pm although the girls aren't settling until 10/11 pm.
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  • B&K706B&K706 member
    My twins are now 5 months old, but I can tell you at that age we weren't getting any sleep either. We were having to supplement (and still do) and having to pump and feed didn't save any time at all. I would also caution you that it could be detrimental to your supply (at least with twins) to be feeding on a set schedule. It was only after we got away from the NICU schedule and started feeding on demand that I saw my supply change for the better. Either way, good luck. I think it was around 3 months before I started getting more than 3 combined hours of sleep a night. You can do this and it will get better.
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