Feeding routines

[Nicky_Jones]

I have been trying to establish a feeding routine of every 3 hrs during the day starting at 7:30, and then from 7:30 at night every 4 hrs. I always have to wake Elena for her 11:30 feed (I am sometimes late as I occasionally oversleep) but it has never been later than midnight. I always let her wake me for the next feed which used to be about 4hrs later, and I nearly always wake her for the 7:30 feed (unless the 3:30am ish feed has been early, like this morning she demanded her feed at 2:50 so she demand her breakfast at 7:15). I have read that you should be able to gradually extend the 3:30am feed until you can drop it altogether. However she seems to want this feed earlier and earlier. I am getting tempted to try and let her wake me for the 11:30pm feed rather than waking her. What are other peoples experience and opinions on this. During the day we don't always go 3 hrs between feeds. She almost always wants and extra feed between 4:30 and 7:30. Today she demanded a feed at 12:30 only 2 hrs after her previous feed. I am breast feeding exclusively and she is gaining weight nicely. They weighed her this morning and she is now 10lb 6oz - that is an 8oz increase in a week.

 

[Dee1985]

because she is so young ild just feed her on dmeand if shes asleep then leave her ild try it for a few days see how it goes??

i always used to wake Harley for his 11pm feed one night i fell asleep and forgot to. i was so shocked when i woke at 7am

 

[Keely]

I would not wake them at night either... most night I give ellis his last feed at 10.30 (if i can be bothered to stay up) when he is still asleep and then his will go to 4am but if i just go to bed i wait for him to wake me, normal 2am.

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[Rosieroo]

I tried to implement a routine with Ella's breastfeeding and lasted all of 2 days (also a 3 hourly routine).

The best way is to follow your babies lead to when they want feeding. It could be that she wants the milk because she's going through a growth spurt and is feeding more to increase your supply.

I wouldn't wake her for the 11.30 feed, why don't you see when she naturally wakes up?

 

[Em78]

hi hun -

sounds like you've been doing great with the routine - it takes a while to perfect to you and your baby and i know it doesnt work for everyone but we found routine was best for us.
i had alex in a routine very similar at elena's age (love the name by the way really beautiful!) and found that is if i let him go longer at night if he didnt wake then he started going longer between feeds at night. i think we were more like 3½ - 4 hours at that age (bearing in mind we started a 3 - 3½hr routine from about 4 days old) and it was probably another couple of weeks before he was sleeping 6/8 hours at night with last feed about 10/11.

we ended up doing four hourly at 2 6 10 and found that worked great. i alwasy tried to hold off giving a feed too early and would give a little cooled (but still a little warm) boiled water in between which would settle him until closer to feed times. there are times when you just have to give in though!

make changes as and when you think you need to and see what works. goodluck hun and feel free to pm me if i can help at all! sorry i am a routine freak and very passionate about it so sorry if i have gone on a bit!

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