Feeding Schedule - Lynchburg,VA

I have never put either of my breastfed babies on a schedule. I am a big believer in feeding kids (esp. babies) when they are hungry. However, around 8-12 weeks they fall into a pattern that is much easier to predict. Good luck!

My two had solid schedules right off the bat. The first 3 weeks I fed then on demand and just wrote down when they latched on and how long they were on before they "popped off". Then I looked over the times and saw they had a pattern all their own. My daughter was every 2hs, like clock work, my son is every 3hs. I do push two of the feedings an hour early so I can get my daughter to and from school on time. He's over 4 months old now.

Too young. I was never able to get mine on any kind of schedule until they started on solids at about 6 months. Even now at 13 months, my ds still gets tired and or hungry and wants to nurse or sleep when its not really time to do it. How long you will be gone, leave about 1oz of milk for each hour you will be gone and then 1-2 oz more just in case. Always good to have some formula there just in case. Hope that helps.

Breastfeeding is always on demand... that what I was told and practiced.
Once you start solids you can have "mealtimes" for solids - but breastmilk is always on demand.
It's really important to understand that this is very different to formula... with formula you can overfeed, so if you feed to frequently or too much or both, it's actually bad for baby... I think that is where all the "good advice" is coming from.
But with breastmilk... whenever, where-ever - however much they drink!

I think he's still too young. The trouble is that his tummy is so small, and when he goes through a a growth spurt, he'll suddenly need to eat all the time because he can't get enough in that little tummy to last long.

I think my kids started developing a schedule of their own around 8 week or so. I know that by 12 weeks, when I went back to work, I had a pretty good idea of what they would need. They were on a pretty reliable 3 oz every 3 hours at that point. So sometime between the 8 and 12 week mark they settled in the schedule.

If you need to leave him with a sitter before you get a regular schedule down, my advice is to pump and freeze milk in 2 oz bags. Then you can leave the sitter with a bunch of them, and she can thaw as she need them.

I never did a "schedule" for breastfeeding. It could change weekly with a young baby when they needed to eat. I fed when the baby was hungry. He should eat when he's hungry. The one thing that babies know and don't need us to figure out for them is when they are hungry and when they've had enough to eat. I'd suggest pumping after feeds, taking advantage of the letdown you've aleady had, and building a freezer stash. If you are going back to work and using a sitter daily, leave plenty of milk and let her know how much baby is eating. Once he's with the sitter and she lets you know how much breastmillk the baby goes through in a day, you'll know what to provide. I always made sure my daycare provider had a few extra bags of breastmilk in the freezer in case the baby had an extra hungry day.

A baby is not an alarm clock that you can set then expect it to go off at a certain time. Baby's are people who have growth spurts and lulls in their eating. So even if you try to get one going then you're going to find them not hungry when you want to feed them and screaming and crying from starvation when they're hungry no matter if it's an hour to eat or not.

I think that little ones need to get fed when they let you know they're hungry.

I'm similar to Dana T on this situation. My older son BF every 2 hours like clockwork until he was bout 3 months old then he was every 3. My younger one was more sporadic, about every 2-4 hours, depending on the time of day. He usually ate more in the afternoon into evening than he did in the morning and at night. I actually realized that about 6 months, he wasn't so much wanting to eat at night, he was using me as a pacifier so we found a lovey for him to replace me with in middle of the night so I could finally get some sleep. Doing this changed his schedule to about every 3 -4 hours during the day. I think it really depends on your child and keeping track like Dana did will make you see what kind of schedule LO has all on his own. I'm not saying that you MUST feed your child every 3 hours not before or after, but I also (for myself) needed a schedule so I could live my life and run errands without worrying about where or how I was going to feed the baby.

My youngest was formula fed, and I never had a feeding schedule. All babies do better when they feed on demand. It teaches them to listen to their bodies and eat when they are hungry and not eat when they are not hungry. Putting them on a feeding schedule at too young an age hinders this understanding.

When our boys were toddlers they would usually sit at the table with us during meals, but we were very relaxed and if they wanted to get down and play we let them. It was probably when they started preschool that we scheduled things more. Partly out of necessity and partly because they were ready to be told that they would be eating in an hour and could wait.

The weekends in our house are still very lax. We usually have cereal for breakfast, but occasionally we make a big breakfast. Lunch happens when one of us gets hungry and starts asking if anyone else is hungry, too. Dinner is usually more organized.

I wouldn't plan on a feeding schedule at all. Pump as much milk as you can, and always have formula around, just in case. Let him take the lead for now. I think you'll find that it won't be long before he naturally falls into a routine. Chances are it will be fairly predictable, and you'll have a pretty good idea of how much breast milk to have available for him.

The first 6 weeks and even the first 3 months are the most unpredictable ones for feeding. Give him time. I will get easier!