Baby - scheduled feeding

[voxnihili]

DD is 4 months old and formula fed. Initially she was fed on demand and fed up to 12 times a day, mostly in small feeds. She then started dropping feeds and taking a larger amount at each feed until she'd gone down to 4 or 5 feeds.

We got into a horrible cycle where she'd be up at 5 one day, then 6, then 7, then 8 and then back to 5. The variable feeding times made a bedtime routine and planning for days out really difficult. I decided just after she was 3 months old to feed her to a schedule and it has worked really well as she now has a set bedtime and I feel much more confident taking her out.

Occasionally though she'll get disturbed in the morning and wake early. As much as we have a schedule, I don't make her wait if she's obviously hungry. I just wondered what other people do to get back on track? If feed 1 is early, do you give a small feed midway between the earlier time and feed 2? I'm not keen to just adjust all times for the day as I know there will be a knock on effect at bedtime and then the next day.

All my friends are EBF on demand so no one else to ask. Thanks ..

I never did a schedule as baby changes so much as they grown. If the feed was before 6:30 I treated it like a night feed, calm/dark, quiet and put back to be. After that I knew roughly how long between feeds I’d get and plan my day accordingly. Ds generally slid into his own pattern.

Ds went into his own room at 7 months and by that time bedtime was 6:30-7ish with bath before. (It worked out better for us to push bedtime to 7:30-8) he was also having meals roughly at 8-9am 12-13pm and 4:30-5:30pm bottles became more routinely then but still with wriggle room. Sometimes he’d eat more or less depending when he’d last had milk or sometimes he’d have less milk because he’d ate more food.

So to be honest I’d try not to have a ridged routine as it’ll all change again when you start weaning. But depending on when your dd wakes for her first bottle you’ll know rough how long she’ll go until the next.

I gave a dummy and settled him back down until it was time for the first feed. If he was really hungry and wouldn't settle I gave him a couple of ounces and then put him back to bed and woke him up at the regular time and gave him his full feed.

If yours won't settle back down with just a few ounces I'd do a swap so you give the full feed when they're awake and then a couple of ounces at their normal time to keep them going until the next feed.

I know not everyone agrees with a schedule and I know it will change, and I'll deal with that when it happens. It's something that is really helpful to me though for a number of reasons. I lack confidence looking after DD but being able to plan means we get out of the house. DP also does shift work so can't having a schedule really helps with trying to juggle that.

Although we have a schedule it's not completely rigid and feeds tend to be half an hour either side of the time. The trouble with just treating the last feed of the day as a bedtime feed means bedtime is variable and I can't plan the next day until I know what time she is up. It's not really the point of the thread but I have borderline PND and anxiety which has massively improved since we've had a routine. I'm just curious how people get back on track when the schedule gets messed up for any reason.

At 4 months I was weaning him too so I started to give plain water if he woke earlier than his routine (which was maybe 2 times). It would fill him up just enough to settle back down and then I'd give him the regular rusk bottle and porridge.

Sounds more like the 4 month sleep regression than a feeding issue.

@UhYeahISureHopeItDoes - thanks that's a good suggestion. I hadn't thought of giving just a small feed when she wakes and then giving the normal feed at 'breakfast' time.

@Jackshouse - I don't think it's a regression. The horrible cycle she was on was at 2 months. At the moment she is sleeping between 10 and 12 hours uninterrupted (I'm fully expecting the 4 month regression to hit at any point). Occasionally she gets disturbed at 5 by DP's alarm if he's on a really early shift or by another noise outside. Because she's been asleep 10 hours she's full of beans and wants to get up.

I used to do exactly what UhYeah says. Try to resettle with dummy, if that didn't do it then a few ounces.

Both mine were on a loose schedule of 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm, 11pm, 3am. It sounds rigid but they took what they wanted and if they were hungry half hour earlier they got fed. They were very rarely hungry sooner than that.

Gradually the 3am feed lessened and stopped, then the 11pm dream feed was dropped (probably when they were eating meals but it was a few years ago).

With formula I found it made my life easier to know what should be happening and when! The DC settled into it fast and were content.

Op I was like you with my first too.
Knowing what to expect and when helped me get out of the house and meet other new mums for my own sanity. I was new to the area too so forced myself out and about really.

You might be lucky with the sleep regression, neither of mine went through it.

I'd give feed when woke up if wanted, treating it as a night feed if not woken at breakfast and then adjust the rest of the days feeds so the last feed is at bedtime. Maybe add an extra feed if woken very early.

Both DC have been on schedule by then with current DC a very predictable 4 bottles since 3 months when he dropped the during the night feed so 8, 12, 4 then 7pm and straight to bed (maybe 645 if getting tired).

I'd resettle with dummy first and if not enough just give a smaller bottle.