Gina Ford Breastfeeding Routine - the first few days

[mrswaddle]

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone had followed the Gina Ford routine for breastfeeding in the early days.
She says to feed for a few minutes every 3 hours between 6am and midnight (increasing by a few minutes each day until the end of the week). My question is: What do you do during the night? - wait for the baby to wake and then feed or wake baby at around 2.30am as per the one week old routine.... it's not really clear to me what you should do at night during that first week when your milk is just coming in....

just feed when she wakes up for as long as she wants in the first few weeks. please don't stress about routines the beauty of bfings is you can just whip them out whenever neccessary. if baby is too sleepy and you are worried wake her gently by removing some clothes and feed.

The thing is I don't want to get into demand feeding. I want to start as I mean to go on with a routine (don't worry I'll be flexible - but I do want some structure). I was just wondering if anyone had followed the GF routine and whether it was a case of just see what happens in the night for the first week - then move onto the one week routine after that..

I followed GF but was told to feed every three hours anyway as DS was jaundice. Anyway..I fed from 6am to midnight and then fed him when he woke which was probably around 3am. I thought the rountines didn't start until baby is 2 weeks not 1 (can't remember).

All I would say in reflection is to start being more flexible to start off with as 6am to midnight is very tiring and I am sure I would have felt better if I hadn't stuck to this to the letter and allowed myself some more sleep!

Hi Mrs W. I would be very relaxed about the feeding routines for the first 2 weeks and then start using the week 1 rountine at about wk 3 - then follow the guidelines about when to adjust the timings. Use all the other principles (dark room etc) and the sleep times, but I would feed every 2/3 hours regardless of the routine. As for night times, then aim for a 7pm bedtime and the later wake up, but if it doesn't happen and your baby is awake again at 9pm , then panic not! Your baby will wake up at least 3 times in the night - maybe more and certainly not when you expect. As long as you reset and feed at 6am again, it will all slowly fall into place. But it's hard work and not easy at first.

Ds was a 98th centile huge b/f boy who slept 7pm-7am with a 11pm feed at 9 weeks, if that's any encouragement.

Hello mrs waddle.
You can do GF routines and bf very succesfully. I found the easiest thing for the first couple of weeks was to feed every 3 hours during the day, but to also offer a feed whenever the baby wants it. The crucial thing is to offer a feed at least every 3 hours during the day - this stimulates your supply, and IME helps to get your baby used to feeding suring the day rather than at night. Some babies can be very sleepy those first few days (my dd did a 7 hour stretch at 2 days when we just could not rouse her) and if you don't feed frequently you can have supply problems later on.
At night, just feed whenever the baby wakes. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but that is quite likely to be more than once every 3 hours .

if I remember correctly, I demand fed for the first week or so and then gradually got us both into the GF routine from about 2 weeks onwards and luckily for us, it seemed to fit DS's demands just right. I always woke him for a feed during the night, he never woke up earlier so not sure what i would have done if that was the case.

As far as I recall GF doesn't suggest a routine for feeding of any sort until 2 weeks anyway. Trying to ration feeds from day one sounds like a recipe for mutual misery, a hungry baby and failed breastfeeding to me. Also, what you think you will want to do when you are reading the book and what you want to do when the baby arrives can be very, very different. A real, fat, tiny, pink baby who wants a cuddle and some milk is totally different to a theoretical one, in black and white on a page.

aloha, according to my edition of GF, she does indeed have a routine for a baby of a week. This involves 7 scheduled and timed feeds, three scheduled and timed naps, plus three expressing sessions.

I won't comment on this.

I do agree with you about the difference between the real baby and the theoretical one

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I followed the routines for breastfeeding with my first ds very successfully. IN fact, I credit her with my success as she emphasises the importance of feeding AT LEAST every 3 hours in the early days even if that means waking your baby. Ds1 was very sleepy in the early days and if I had waited for him to demand a feed, my supply would have surely dwindled. In those days, her book did not have a 1 week routine so we just fed 3 hourly for the first 2 weeks and then went on to her routine. Ds1 was very happy with this and bf until he was 1 year old.

Ds2 (now 3 months old) is different. He was a less sleepy baby and wanted more feeds. This was fine. I kept the routines in the back of my mind and just fed when he needed. By about 8 weeks, he was feeding more like what the routines say.

In answer to your nightime question - never wake a sleeping baby! (unless of course there is a medical reason to do so like jaundice). AS to night wakings and her routines, be aware that by the time you get to the 3 month ones, she is assuming that you are at least mixed feeding. If not (and she does point this out in the book if you read it carefully), your baby will almost certainly still be waking in the night for a feed (as mine does) although the main routine for that age does not say this.

Good luck - you can bf successfully and still have a routine. Just be flexible.

I would put him to my breast one hour before going to sleep (11:00 ish) and let him wake me up for the early hours feeds.

Thanks for all the advice. It certainly sparks a few strong opinions as soon as you mention a routine doesn't it....

I'm the sort of person who likes to have a plan.. obviously I'll just see what happens when the baby comes and adapt as necessary to make sure we're both happy

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Hi Bloss,

Did you do all the expressing and everything she suggests as well as the feed & sleep times? I am intending to have my fella feed the baby at the 10 - 11pm feed (expressed milk)... if you did the same did you use the milk from the morning expression for this feed or a mixture of the day's expression depending how much baby wants or did you express from both breasts at 9pm for that feed?

Im also the type of person who needs a routine and to know what they do each day however, we could not do GF. I bought the book while pregnant and thought it sounded ideal. But DD had different ideas. Once you get on to the 2 week routine in some parts you feed baby after 4hrs not 3, this is all very well if d will wait 4hrs. The other thing I found was that my dd would not nap or for as long as the routine stated and wouldnt stay awake for such a long length of time. Also becdause you have to put baby to nap in a room I found it quite restricting and staying in at home very depressing. After 2 weeks I stopped trying to follow it. I got frustrated that it didnt work. She does have some good advice though ie the expressing to build up your supply etc.
Follow your instincts, all babies are different and dont read the same book as you. We now feed 3-4hourly during the day and whenever she wakes at night, we also have a much better time getting out and about.

mrswaddle, I got it wrong in my earlier message. I was talking to Dh about it last night and he reminded me that after the 10/10.30pm feed and putting Ds back in his cot we waited until he woke for the next feed. GF gives you her tips on how much to offer depending on what time it is so that your baby is hungry again at 7am so you can get back into the day's routine.

I'm pregnant with no 2 and you've got me thinking abut what I did before and whether I'll be able to do the same again as this time I obviously have to fit in around Ds's routine (he's now 3).