Demand feed or what??to establish routine

[My*2*Boys]

Just after some advice my son is 3 weeks old and at the moment i am demend feeding,day and night.Curious if this what everyone does and does bubs gradually get into a routine or do you wake them up every couple of hours eg 3-4?? he is good through the day and most of the night but always at one stage wakes for 2 hours at night and feeds this whole time,sometimes does doze so i put him down but wakes so goes on the boob again,oh yeah he is breast fed.

Any advice apreciated x

[C_hippie_kiwi]

DS2 was demand fed from birth until he self weaned at 18.5 months BUT he was roughly a 3 hourly feeder the whole time except during growth spurts when he might be feeding every hour or so, sometimes round the clock. We found that he did the same things at roughly the same times every day so I suppose you can say he set his own 'routine' though I didn't spend heaps of time clock watching; fed him when he indicated hunger, gave him the opportunity to sleep when he appeared tired etc.

The Kellymom link that M2J gave you has alot of informative stuff on it. I found it when DS1 prematurely weaned from bf at 9 months and it was my bible with DS2. It kept me 'grounded' about the realities of bf, especially when I was getting heaps of contradictory advice from almost everyone. LOL

Hang in there, the first 6-8 weeks of establishing milk supply are usually the hardest, but then things tend to get 'easier' and slightly more predicatble.

[McMum]

Im a little different to the PP's.

I started trying to establish a routine from around 3 weeks. My main goal was to set a routine for night time. This was mainly to fit in with my 2 year old and I also appreciate having the time with DH and myself after the boys go to bed at 7pm LOL! In saying that, I do not hold out on his feeds. I did and still do feed him when he's hungry.

My first step was to introduce the dreamfeed. It can be a slow process. I did this at around 10.30pm (still do) and then whenever Tate woke through the night he would of course be fed.

Tate now generally feeds every 4 hours, but some days obviously he feeds more than others.

The decision is yours, maybe you could try to introduce a routine and if it doesnt work you can easily drop it!

I personally love routine ... I feel more in control LOL!!

Good luck!

[ross_544]

I demand feed DS, at 3wks was feeding anywhere from 2-7 hourly, now feeds roughly every 3hrs, and started sleeping through the night at 4.5mths. I did try routine feeding, but he wouldnt feed properly if i fed him when i wanted, then he would want more an hour later which i found difficult. sometimes, during a growth spurt, he will feed then want more an hour later, but atleast he has fed properly both times

[JZ44AA]

hi their,

i demand feed my first to children and by number 3 i was recommened a really good book called baby wise, which establishes bit more of a routine and i found 4 me it worked excellent, i was sceptical as my other 2 werre demand feed which worked great but after a while when they were abit older i sometimes found i was always offering boob and most the time they didnt want it so got alittle cofusing at times.

so if interested take a look can get at most librarys or of ebay and at end of day u may not follow to a t but a good guild.But alawys follow ya gut a mum knows best.

[Mummy22Boyz]

Hey there,

I was a little less wiser than I am now when DS was that age. I was told to get him into a routine & because I didn't know any better I tried desperately hard to do so. Now that I know what I know now, I wish I had just demand fed him. Trying to put him in a routine was completely detrimental to our BF experience.

The other PP are right - I found that if I tried to feed him when he didn't really need it, he wouldn't feed well & when he did want it, I didn't have enough for him. Let bubby guide you, go slow & enjoy the experience. DS is 19months now & is well & truly in a routine, so it doesn't last forever. Don't put the pressure on yourself Good luck

[snow~white]

At 3 weeks old it can be quite normal for your bub to want to feed quite normal. my DS was feeding every 2 hours for a long time and is now 10 weeks old and still feeds 2 hourly during the day on some days. As he gets older and you milk supply gets established properly you'll probably find that he will start going a little longer. DS has just started going a bit longer at night which is a relief.

[Rumina]

Breastfeeding works on demand. If you don't breastfeed when your baby is showing signs of hunger then you will not produce enough milk to sustain him/her. That is how breastfeeding works!
Your baby will naturally set their own routine and eventually you will fall into a rythmn.
Hope it all goes well.

[manda.lynn]

HI My son is almost 3 monthes old and i demand breastfeed.When my son was 3 weeks old he would sleep beteen 3 and 4 hours. Good luck

[Viv2512]

I demand fed my son and although in the beginning there wasnt too much routine regarding when he fed as the months went by he determined his own routine. I breastfed him until 13 months and we bothed loved it - he is a thriving, healthy strong boy and I loved the bonding breastfeeding gives. The routine will come, just give it time - these babies are very clever!!

[BY539B]

Yip I fully demand fed both my babies. Which could be anywhere from 1.5 to fours hours. You find that they put them into a routine within a couple of weeks. I'm not a big fan of forcing a routine on them when they are so little and who really wants to wake a sleeping baby lol!

[Elizajohnstone6]

Hi , I have a four month old and he started sleeping through at 7 weeks (7pm til 6am) and I believe it was because I did the E.A.S.Y routine. E=eat A= activity and S= sleep leaving Y= you time. I did this all throughout the day in that exact order so my baby knew that when he woke up he was going to get fed. I did not care if it was only 2 hours between feeds. Its a routine. I feel that if you get so bogged down with time schedules, you become more stressed. He is still doing this routine and is thriving. Midwives would say feed every 4 hours. I know how I get if I dont eat for 4 hours. Cranky, irritable, dehydrated just to name a few things. Babies feel the same. Feed when the want it.

[MrsBishi]

I demand fed until I put my DS on a bottle, and by then he had put himself on a fairly steady routine. The only actual change I made was when I cut out the dream feed.

I think as long as YOU are happy with what you are doing your baby will be. Don't listen to anyone that tells you that you're doing it wrong. I demand fed, while my sister (her DS is 4 weeks older than mine) didn't and yet my son now sleeps through the night uninterrupted unless he is sick yet she has loads of issues. Yet someone else's family it would be the reverse. WHATEVER makes you and your family happy is the thing that works.

Once my DS hit 6 mths I put him on a formal routine using a book and it only took 2 nights to change any bad habits that we had.

[mrsbullfrog]

Hi demand feed my 8month old daughter and its good. Some days she wants to eat all the time other days she is quite happy to play and then when she remembers wants milk. I sort of think that if they aren't hungry, why force them? I know that I don't want to eat unless I'm hungry. She has started bitting me now that she is teething so I'm thinking of changing to a bottle. I found when she was little she would feed every 3 hours without me needing to wake her and tehn at night would sleep for 6 hours then wake for a feed. She generally fed for about and hour to 1.5hrs. I found it a good time to relax and read a book or have my breakfast or lunch. You will find that around about 6 weeks I think your bub will prob go through a growth spurt and want to feed all the time. Just remember this is only a short term thing and even though you might feel like a milk machine it only last 1 - 2 weeks. Hope this has helped and good luck!!

[bonachella]

i demand feed with my little girl (shes 11 months) if she crys or tells me what she needs (we do baby sign language) e.g a drink or something to eat i get it for her, im not going to let her go hungry. but with her bottles and breast feeding i demand fed up until around 6-7 months (when she went on solids) because i had her bottles fit in with her routine, just before her naps and bed time, i know people are advised not to feed before sleep but it works well for me.