bottle fed routine

[angelopal]

At what age did you start getting into a routine for giving bottles and what times do you give them?

Currently bottle feeding on demand and varies between 2 and 4 hours for feeds. Just wondered when to try and get more of a regular routine.

[jammiecat]

We have 2 week old twins and have a daytime routine of when they wake (usually about 7-8), 11.30, 3, 7, 11 and then when they wake in the night (usually 3-4am). It's early for a routine but essential for my sanity with twins and a 3 year old! With DS the routine evolved but was later, probably about 6-8 weeks if I remember correctly. Prior to that it was more on demand.

[Wheresmysocks]

I ff 3 dc.

I only demand fed for a couple of weeks. 3 hourly feeds from 7 am. Every day. All of them were sleeping from 12-6 by 6 weeks.

[Mummyanbump]

Ya I also with both of mine which one is only 7 weeks now .fed on demand for the first say 3 weeks after that I got into a routine of 8 ,12 ,4 am all for a good routine from early on.

[neversleepagain]

From the day they were born. I fed my twins every three hours without fail until they were weaned.

[WhatsTheWordHummingbird]

I did three hourly from day five (havi g tried and failed bfing up til then). Id do three hourly daytime starting at 7am, down after the 7pm feed. Id wake dd if she hadnt woke me by 10.30pm, do bum change and bottle then for the first few weeks set alarm for three am and fed her. After eight weeks she dropped the 3am feed and we continued the dream feed til about four months. Once she hit about 14 months she started waking again at nught but after introducing porridge at bedtime she went back to sleeping through

Hope the next one takes to a routine like dd did!

[mythistorymatters]

Angelopal I have similar issues. My lo is 12 weeks now and still not into a predictable bottle feeding routine. I was all for starting a routine from the early stages but allowed myself to be talked out of it by relatives etc. I had a really sore back after a failed induction and unplanned c-section and basically had to hand the feeding over to others as I couldn't hold him. I'm annoyed with myself now for not insisting after a couple of weeks that he needed more structure.

Now I want to try again because we're going on holiday with the extended family in a couple of weeks and it'll be hell if there isn't some predictability in lo's day. His breaks between feeds vary from 2.5 to 5.5 hours (5.5 only ever happens at night). Sometimes he'll do 5.5. hours two nights in a row and then he's back to 3 hour gaps the night after.

Anyway - I'd like to ask those who've managed to crack the routine whether the 3 hour gap between feeds you're talking about means 3 hours from the time each feed ends or did you offer a bottle at 7am, another at 10am, another at 1 pm, etc., regardless of when each feed finished?

I'm grateful for all and any advice.

Good luck establishing your routine Angelopal and well done to everyone else who's succeeded already!

[ilovepowerhoop]

3 hours is counted from the start of the feed

[mythistorymatters]

Thank you!

[Thurlow]

Every 3 hours from day 1, but that is how they feed the babies in SCBU so after a horrendous few days at home where we attempted to feed on demand, we went back to a 3 hour routine and it worked really well.

3 hours from the start of the feed so I remember 8am, 11am, 2pm etc, with them a bit more regularly in the evening for a bit of cluster feeding.

[yellowsnownoteatwillyou]

I mix fed till 6 weeks, and ds seemed to go 4 hrs between feeds till 4 weeks then changed to 3 hrs, I weaned him at 6 months, he then dropped one bottle to 5, 6 ounce bottles a day at 7 months and at 8 months he has 4 bottles a day 7, 11, 3, 7ish. If he very occasionally wakes up at 3am and has a bottle, he doesn't have one at 7 just has breakfast then one at 11.
That's not my choice,that's just the way he works.

[mythistorymatters]

It's really helpful to hear what other people have done, thank you. I'm giving it a go starting the day after tomorrow - my mother's minding him tomorrow for a few hours and I don't think it's fair to inflict him on her if he's unsettled by it on the first day! Here's hoping he settles into it fairly quickly. Thanks again!

[WhatsTheWordHummingbird]

I found the use of a routine very helpful and dh did too. It meant if dd got grumpy at around eleven it wasnt food related so reduced the amount of things he would check for. If it was nearer one, he knew "ahh...dinnertime".

If we had time away from DD it meant we could literally hand her over and walk away rather than "well she fed for X minutes at X time and hasnt napped yet" etc.

[PisforPeter]

I used the Baby Whisperer routine for my DD who was FF from birth. Wake up time: 5-7 (depending on how early they wake), 10-11 (depending how early first feed of the day is) 2ish, 6&8 (cluster feeds) & then a dream feed at midnight. She slept thru till 6am from about 3 weeks and has always been a good sleeper. Almost 2 now. I swear by this routine & will do exactly the same if we are blessed with another. Best of luck x

[laura2323]

I demand fed and when my dd was around 12 weeks-ish she got herself into a routine. 7oz bottles 4x a day. 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm and then 5oz between 2-4am. Since she's been diagnosed with cows milk allergy and has started weaning (now 23 weeks) she has started sleeping through the night and dropped her middle of the night feed.

[Rtfairy]

DD is 18 weeks and has 5 7oz bottles 4 hours apart from when she gets up (between 6 and 7). She generally sleeps from 8pm to 6am with dream feed 10pm/11pm.