breastfeeding on demand and routine

[greeneone12]

Sorry if I sound a bit silly but how do you have a routine with a demand fed baby? They dictate what happens so how do you implement a routine?

My little one is 2 months old and feel as if we should have some sort of routine by now in the evenings.

Thanks

[mousesma]

I don't think you can implement a routine as such when they are that small you need to let them find their own. However what you can do is keep a record of when they feed and sleep for a few days and see if there is a loose pattern that you can start to work with in order to plan naps and feeds etc.

I also agree with StrawberrySam that a simple evening routine might help. We did the same routine that she suggests but didn't start this until 14 weeks. One of the things that we found helpful was to do the last feed with the lights off so that she associates lights off with sleep time. Also once she is in her crib the lights don't go back on until it is time to get up, all feeds etc. are done in the dark. This way she knows that once she is in bed she will get food and comfort if she needs it but there will be no more fun interaction.

[LaTristesse]

My DS is nearly 10 mo, and has always been demand fed BF. He gradually got himself into a napping and sleeping routine over the months, but still just takes milk when he wants it. Once we introduced solids at 6 months the frequency obviously declined a bit, but we never really had a milk routine - just got the boob out whener he wanted it. It worked for us that way, and never hindered us doing anything or going anywhere - in fact I feel like it freed us up a bit as I never had to worry about whether we were going to be interrupted.
Just do what works for you I'd say - if you don't want one, don't have a feeding routine. It is important however to make sure they sleep regularly though!

[greeneone12]

She really fights sleep and only naps for about 6 hours in the daytime :(

[dottyhenson]

6 hours during the daytime sounds plenty to me, by 8 weeks all of mine where down to about 4 hrs and i thought that was great.

[mousesma]

I can count on the fingers of one hand the times my DD has slept for more than an hour in the day.

Usually she has two or three 30 min naps at best and often not even as much sleep as that. I wouldn't mind so much if she slept through at night but she can only manage 4-5 hours on a good night. Even at 6 months she fights sleep with all her might.

I think 6 hours in the day is bloody marvellous.

[beanlet]

Lord, I wish mine slept for 6 hours in the daytime. Max 1.5 hours in short bursts, which means it's very difficult to get anything done during the day. We're compensated for this though by the fact that he basically sleeps for 12 hours overnight, needing only to be fed twice effectively in his sleep.

My experience of being a demand feeder and a pretty non-routine type of person is that DS developed his own routine by about 3 months. I now know approximately when he'll need feeding and when he'll need a nap. You just need to observe your baby over a few days write down when he does what if you need to and you should see a pattern emerge.

[greeneone12]

I mean 6 hours in total not in one long stretch right?

[greeneone12]

Sorry just reread posts. I felt a bit alone but glad to know there are other sprightly ones out there! Thank you :)

[MoonUnitAlpha]

I started doing a simple bedtime routine about 8 weeks (as by that point ds was normally falling asleep for his longest stretch about 9pm) - just bath, feed in a darkened bedroom, bed. Bedtime gradually moved forward to 7pm. By 4 months he was quite predictable in the daytime too, the same number of feeds at the same time each day, one morning and one afternoon nap.

[NinkyNonker]

I too started an evening routine for DD at around 8 wks, but she kind of sleeps 'on demand' too during the day. The last few days she has only managed 3 30 min naps, which isn't unusual, and they've all had to be on me/DH.

[Cosmosis]

we started doing one when we noticed he was reliably sleeping for a long period from about 8ish downstairs. So then at about 7.30 we would go upstairs, get ready for bed etc, it's been brought forwards now so it starts at 7ish, just because that's when he's now getting tired. he's 17 weeks now and I think we started at about 9 or 10 weeks.

During the day he is now sleeping about every 2 - 2.5 hours after waking, or when he seems tired, naps last anywhere from 1/2 an hour to 2 hours. They are mostly on me, but he will be put down for some of them.