Feeding schedule for 8 week old... Realistic or stupid?

[emeraldgirl1]

Can I start by saying that we are not trying to do any kind of Gina style routine? That is not my kind of thing. Our intention is to be led by our baby and try to work with whatever patterns seem to emerge. At 8 wo a few patterns have begun to emerge but obviously nothing very concrete!,

DH got advice from a colleague (in fact several) who all told him that by this point (from six weeks) we should be trying to feed her to a schedule rather than on demand still. Some suggested every three hours, one person said every four.

We had some success doing this (3 hours at first then as she is eating more now we tried four) and it really seemed a reasonable success, seemed to be helping to set a bit more rhythm to her sleep which made her less overtired.

But in the last coupe of days it has been impossible to stick to,she is more hungry so we are back to feeding on demand which has caused chaos to any kind of sleeping pattern again.

I want to do what is best for her, I do NOT want to be creating artificial schedules or leaving her hungry while watching the clock.

It is possible that all DH's helpful colleagues are big Gina fans or similar... I just took the advice without really knowing the origin.

But what I am asking is: is it a reasonable idea to be moving away from totally on demand feeds at this stage! Or not at all?

She is formula fed btw.

Personally...don't bother.

My dd is ten weeks old now and sometimes she follows a vague pattern by herself, but then she will change it

Growth spurts etc. make feeding schedules imo useless. I know I certainly don't eat to one.

Just feed them when they are hungry and I don't think you can go wrong.

We just went with the schedule that DS roughly went with. Its pointless trying to do anything else at this stage really because as soon as you get them to one routine they change and it all goes out the window

We roughly stuck to 3 hourly though, but that was very much led by DS.

Have you increased the size of the feeds btw?

My DTs have a mega loose schedule. I normally feed them three times in the morning ( between 7.30 and 11.30) then they normally have a long nap at lunchtime so will go 3 hours then I feed them 3 times in the afternoon (between 1.30 and 5). I always feed them around 5 ish and then bath at 6 and last fed to sleep at 6.30-6.45. This works except when it doesn't!! They are feed when they wake over night - normally every 4 hours or so but sometimes longer and sometimes they are unsettled and feed everyone 2 hours

I'd rather feed them up during the day to encourage longer sleep at night.
Also how often do you go 4 hours without a drink? I always think why should babies be any different.

I just fed on demand. It seemed easier.

Thanks everyone!
Yep we have increased the size of feed... She sometimes takes less and sometimes more so we don't stress about that, she is gaining weight nicely.
I think DH got excited by the idea that we might be able to find more order in the chaos which is why he was asking for advice from colleagues. And tbf DD was doing well on a fairly loose but consistent schedule. Feeding the same amount each time and at regular intervals. But now she is haphazard again. Could it be a growth spurt? Someone told me 8w was time for a big growth spurt.
I don't mind the haphazard thing as long as a) she is happy and b) there will at some point be a bit less randomness!!!

Young babies ARE chaos :) just go with it, don't do a schedule you'll drive yourself mad.

My bf DS went through a stage where he had a rough routine from about 2 months to 4 months old - he went sleep, feed, awake in that order roughly every 2- 2.5 hours. I liked it, felt like there was a bit of order.

Then he sacked it off & there has been no order since! A lot of my friends & their babies follow feeding schedules of sorts but it just doesn't work for us.

Hi there, it might be a little bit early for a proper routine, my little girl started to get into a feeding routine at about 10 weeks, by 12 weeks she was feeding 3 hrly and sleeping through most nights. On the nights she did wake she'd go back off with her dummy. We've just had a few days of reduced feeding and having to feed at night (I think she was poorly) but she's been back to 3hrly and nearly up to her normal amount of ounces over the last few days (back to sleeping through). To stick to this I have to be strict and always get up at 8am, sometimes I have to wake her so we can stick to this routine. I do still feed on demand, sometimes it's 2.5hrs between feeds sometimes 3.5hrs. DD got into this routine herself I don't follow gina ford or anything like that.