spinoff: feeding on demand

emma is 3 weeks old tomorrow. she lost a little weight when we came home from the hospital so the doctor told me to feed her 3oz. every 3 hours. her last bottle is usually 11:30 before we put her down. last night she was sound asleep in her swing. i woke her for her bottle but she didnt fall asleep until 1. then she woke up at 2:30 for her bottle and was awake until 4 then never really got into a deep sleep again.

how many of you feed on demand and how many of you are on a schedule, if so what is your schedule like?

Re: spinoff: feeding on demand

I fed on demand and it worked out great for us.

Re: spinoff: feeding on demand

DD (who is also an Emma) eats mostly every 3 hours, sometimes it's 4 and sometimes it's 2.5. If she's hungry, she's hungry. A 3 week old shouldn't be on a schedule. You need to feed her when she is hungry.

Re: spinoff: feeding on demand

Both of my kids were fed on demand as infants and eventually worked themselves into a schedule.

Re: spinoff: feeding on demand

I used to feed on demand at night and feed her every 2.5-3hrs during the day. By 7-8wks she was sleeping 6-7hr stretches at night.

Re: spinoff: feeding on demand

Re: spinoff: feeding on demand

I'm in the same position as you, at first DD lost so much weight, so we were waking her to feed her... now that she's put on a bunch of weight, we are now feeding on demand...

Re: spinoff: feeding on demand

Always fed on demand and if she was still hungry I increased her oz's. It turned out that she was hungry every 3 hours on the nose. She's like a clock!!!!


ETA: she would go longer at night starting at about 5 weeks old.

Message edited 5/16/2007 10:16:19 AM.

Re: spinoff: feeding on demand

DD was fed on a schedule but I modified it if she seemed hungrier. When I first came home she was fed every 3-4 hours. That worked for a few weeks - although sometimes in the middle of the night if she was hungry I would feed her more. Once she hit about 5 weeks she was fed every 3 hours - and that lasted till about 9-10 weeks. Then it went back to every 4 hours.

Re: spinoff: feeding on demand

I fed on demand. I never once woke DS when he was sleeping.

Re: spinoff: feeding on demand

We Breast Feed on demand and never had to wake her...

Re: spinoff: feeding on demand

My Emma (is this #3? ) is fed on demand too. She is 9 weeks. I initially woke her every 2-3 hours for the first few weeks because she was not waking to eat and she was not gaining weight. Once she hit 9 lbs (about 3 weeks old) I began letting her sleep, and she'd go 5-6 hours.

Now, I just write down when I feed her and how much- so I am slowly working towards a routine that she sets- I've noticed some patterns in how much she eats and when.

Re: spinoff: feeding on demand

I fed Noah on demand, personally, I think all babies under 1 should be fed on demand.