Any BFing mums started a 'routine' after 4 months? Did it work?

[Holymoly321]

DS2 is 4 months and exc bf. DS1 was bf until about 6 weeks then ff. we did the 'routine' (mentioning no names) with him and it worked well. However, now DS 1 is a toddler it's been pretty diff trying to get DS2 into the same routine because I have to take DS1 to nursery/ playgroups etc. Anyway, DS2 won't take a bottle and I'm feeding him every 2-3 hours day and night and getting sick of it. The time has come to get him onto a routine and I'm wondering if anyone has tried to get the lo into the 'routine' so late in the day - have I missed the boat at 4 months?

I honestly think that all babies are different. Some happily fit into a certain persons 'routine' - as that's what their natural routine would kind of be.

Other babies just need more food and seem unhappy when tried to get into a strict routine.

If you start a strict routine - you are going to have a few weeks of hard work trying to get him settled into it.

Or you can just go with the flow for a couple of weeks and he'll probably start to settle longer between his feeds anyway and naturally develop a little routine that would suit him and your lifestyle that encompasses DS1.

That's just my opinion tho....!

not to late at all

dd is juuust getting into a routine (mostly of her own devising) at 7m

pay attention to when he normally eats / sleeps etc for a week or two
once you know what he wants you can cunningly manipulate it to fit round school runs etc

eg if he is up at 6 and wants a nap by 9am, you could either keep him awake to do the school run and let him sleep once home, or put him down for a nap at 8.45 in the pram and push him to school asleep

My DD EBF didnt really get into a routine naturally until 7 months. If you want to continue BF IMO most babies will not do the 4 hour feeding that the FF led experts predict. Most women that do that and BF will do a FF top up to add the extra calories missed out by demand feeding before bedtime. IMO routine and BFing dont go together. Although there are some babies that do naturally get into routines and dont BF that often. My DD now nearly 17 months and still BF and doesnt feed just morning and night as stated by the "experts".

I was the same with my DD1 feeding every 2-3hrs day and night until I read 'the book' when she was 6mths and it opened my eyes! I know she's not popular with some folk, but it's worked for me and all my babies.

Anyway I can't remember what I did now, I think I picked the routine closest to what she was naturally doing, say the 4mth one, although she was 6mths and worked from there. For me everything very quickly fell in to place but as she was DD1 I didn't have to fit her round school runs etc. But as Mrs Badger says you can just make little adjustments here and there with there sleep times etc to make things fit, it gets easier as they get older too doesn't it! Although I have to say DD1's night feeding didn't just stop because the days were in a routine. By then it had become a habbit and comfort for her to wake and be fed back to sleep in the night. I had to cut night feeds down by a few mins every other night until she was having almost nothing and then just cut them out all together.

Interesting forkhandles... will have to look at the 4 mth routine. Will def try to limit the night feeds too. How long did it take you to cut them down then out?

it didn't take that long I think. I gradually cut down the time/size of the feeds first so that she was having so little I knew she wasn't waking from hunger and it was a habbit. Then when I did cut them out she did cry when she woke for a few nights (I think) but it was very bearable and didn't go on and on for hours otherwise I wouldn't have done it. Sorry I can't remember how long it took exactly DD1 is almost 5 now and I struggle to think back. I do remember though that it wasn't traumatic for DD she settled herself back to sleep with a little reasurance from me if needed quite quickly.

I would get the days sorted first and then tackle the nights perhaps. And I think in 'the book' there might be a section about introducing a routine a few months on. HTH