from feeding on demand to setting a schedule?

any tips for how to do this? i am going back to work in 6 weeks and am not sure how to do this so that other people (mil) can feed him when i m not around. i m working on giving him bottles and he does take them (so far only from me, he refuses them from dh) but i know his hunger cues and i m worried that when hes with someone else they wont and he'll get too worked up to take the bottle so that maybe if hes more on a schedule it will be easier for everyone. does this make sense? is it possible?

thanks

Re: from feeding on demand to setting a schedule?

We never put DS on a schedule. Always just followed his cues. As he got older, he put himself on a schedule.

I don't know how old your baby is, but when they are newborns, they grow so quickly so need a lot to eat, but have little tummies so it's better just to feed when they are hungry. As for missing the cues, just tell your MIL what to watch for. It's usually pretty obvious when a baby is hungry. Don't worry, it'll work out, and good luck going back to work!

from feeding on demand to setting a schedule?

How old is your lo? Is his current on demand routine very random or is it close to say every 3 hours for example? If it's random try putting him off a little each day until you get him into a routine. For example, at our 8 week appt the ped suggested pushing Ds to a 4 hour schedule (he was going every 3 hours or so). So if it was the 3 hour mark and he fussed to eat I would hold him, offer him a pacifier etc for 10-15 mins then fed him. In my peds words - crying for 15 mins won't hurt him. This worked and within a few days he went to every 4 hours...although we learned he needs to eat every 3 hours 45 mins so we don't push him the extra 15 mins anymore.
But everyone has different opinions on schedules. With dd (my first) I would feed on demand and when I brought her to daycare they knew to feed her anywhere from 2.5-3.5 hours after her last feeding and they just looked for her cues. This time around I needed more routine as I'm dealing with entertaining dd while trying to nurse Ds so we put him on a "schedule"

Eta - when he starts taking a bottle during the day it may help with making a schedule. He may want to eat after 1.5 hours but only take 2 ounces....whereas when he goes 3 hours he may take 4 ounces. So when you push him for longer stretches and give him more to eat he may automatically adjust

Message edited 8/11/2014 12:03:11 PM.

Re: from feeding on demand to setting a schedule?

I started by documenting the times I fed DD. I noticed after only a few days they were relatively around the same time each day. Within 15-30 minutes. From that making a schedule was easy.

from feeding on demand to setting a schedule?

I think our DC are similar in age (15 weeks). I am glad you posted this. My DS eating is literally ALL over the place in terms of eating. Sometimes he will go 3+ hours, other times he can barely make it 1.5 hours.

Re: from feeding on demand to setting a schedule?

from feeding on demand to setting a schedule?

We had it somewhat easy - DS was in NICU for a week, so he had to have a schedule no matter what - really not fed on demand. They feed every 3 hours in NICU, so we started at that and then slowly pushed him to every 4 hours -ish. We wrote everything down so we could see what times he was eating and established his pattern from there to see when to eat & sleep.

Re: from feeding on demand to setting a schedule?

Re: from feeding on demand to setting a schedule?

What I did is to tell my MIL her feeding cues (she had obvious ones) and have her write down when she took a bottle. We shot for every 2.5 hours, since at the time she was nursing basically all the time. She wrote down the first day, and tried to duplicate that the following day. I still feed on demand when I am home.

She eats differently when she is with other people. When she is with me, she wants to nurse every time she sees, feels or smells the boob, so without me there, she actually spaces feeding better.

Re: from feeding on demand to setting a schedule?

Re: from feeding on demand to setting a schedule?

BF babies should always be fed on demand. Baby will fall into his own routine during the day. The most important part is to educate whoever will be giving bottles on how to paced feed.

from feeding on demand to setting a schedule?

My son is 5 months and eats every 3 hrs and he sleeps through the night.