Does anyone bf to a schedule?

[Alishanty]

Was just wondering as I have a friend who says she has a rule that she doesn't feed her bf baby for 3 hrs (he is 3 mths) unless he 'really needs it' I gather this means screaming his head off. Not saying this is wrong but I am a bit confused as to why anyone would do this and what's to be gained from it. I have bf 2 dc's, currently feeding 4 mth old dd and I just feed on demand, don't take any notice of the clock, if she's the slightest bit hungry, I feed her. It could be twice in an hour or not for 2-3 hrs. She has also 'taught' him to suck his thumb. I did mention that if he has a growth spurt he may need to feed more often. I thought feeding by the clock went out years ago. Just a bit worried as I thought you had to feed on demand to maintain milk supply.

I fed on demand when they were tiny but then once things had settled down had a sort of schedule that I more or less stuck to. It wasn't rigid and didn't involve not feeding for a certain number of hours like your friend's but I don't remember deviating from it much either.
It would go 'first thing in the morning feed, before (my) breakfast feed, before going out feed, before (my) lunch feed etc etc... It kept morphing into a new scedule as the baby grew and needed more or less feeding.
Mine never 'demanded' to be fed as I was usually able to anticipate or tell when they needed feeding neither did they do that thing I would have found really irritating of lifting my top up every few minutes, sucking for a bit and then crawling or toddling off only to return and do it again!
I exBF both mine till 6 months and both continued BFing till about 18 mo.
DD1 taught herself to suck her finger, I failed to teach DD2 (bad sleeper) to do it tho!

Thanks Shitemum. I remember my ds settled in to his own sort of routine (I carried on feeding him until 12 mths), especially when he was on solids, he would have a bf before each nap but he did have a dummy for comfort. My dd has no dummy, sometimes does suck her thumb but I have never encouraged it, but she hardly ever just has a quick suck. I just thought 3 mths is a bit young for enforcing 3 hourly feeds.

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I suppose i feed to a schedule, but only because ds (15 weeks) lets me! if he wants extra, he gets it! however, he only ever wants to feed on waking from a nap, so he feeds 3-4 hourly.

I did demand feeding for first 4 weeks (while laughing hollowly at GF book in bookshelf), then suddenly found that DS fell into her routine really easily (feel free to flame!).
When he has a growth spurt i offer him a top up feed before naps, which he takes happily, although he rarely demands it (growth spurts identifiable by earlier wakings from all his sleeps rather than more feeds, iykwim).
I appreciate i must be blessed with a very robust supply and a baby with a big tummy for this to work for us, i know scheduled feeding is the beginning of the end for many women.

i breastfed to a schedule apart from the very early days...i know ti goes against everything that is recommneded but i did it and it worked for me with all four children including my twins

I breastfed more or less on demand for 4 months, but I found that gradually my boy did get into some sort of pattern: feeding on & off all night, & not bothering to feed much in the day! I started encouraging a better pattern (more feeding in the day / at more or less 3-hourly intervals) when he was 4 & a half months old. I do give extra breastfeeds (or EBM in bottles) as top-ups if he needs them, e.g. before naps, but yes, more or less I now breastfeed to a 3-hourly schedule & my DS seems much happier this way (plus, is sleeping better). I have my doubts, to be honest, about feeding on demand past the newborn stage. Having a routine does not mean it has to be a completely rigid one, but I feel that since my boy is now 5 months old, it's good for him to have a structure to his day (and good for me & DP too, actually, which is also important). Just to stress though, by now I can distinguish hunger cues quite easily, so I would never let DS go hungry just to follow my schedule. Which is why, as I said, I sometimes give him breastfeed or EBM top-ups before naps.

Yep, I had a 3 hr bf routine for my dd when she was 3 months old. I fed on demand from the start, but by 3 months I realised I was mistaking her tired cries for hunger, and we sorted out sleep and feeding routines by then and it had all settled down. I aimed to feed after every nap, rather than feed to sleep. She rarely wanted feeding outside of this, from what I remember. I also gave her a 'dream feed' (bottle) at midnight (or rather dp did) and another bf feed whenever she woke during the night. It worked well for us until 6 months. I never had supply issues or mastitis (did have sore boobs though, especially when the midnight bottle took over). I gave up because she kept biting me, and I started actually dreading each feed .

I bf to a schedule with last 3 babies on hv advice

first three i bf on demand and oddly much less successfully

Nope, no schedule, really. DS2 on solids now so how often he bfs depends on what else he has eaten. Some days he hardly seems to bf, other days, he's biting my nipple through my shirt to get to it.

Somehow, having a "routine" has become unimportant even though in the beginning, I stressed a bit about it. DS1 (aged 4) and I have a routine of sorts I suppose and DS2 just comes along with us. Luckily, bf means that I can very quickly feed him if he's hungry or thirsty without any fuss.

I have to say that I agree with Alishanty, that I dont see why anyone would impose a strict routine on such a young baby. Don't see the point and it's quite sad to think of a little baby being hungry or thirsty but not being allowed any milk because it's not the right time. I had a friend who imposed a 4 hourly bf schedule on her newborn and her baby failed to gain weight and looked very, very scrawny. She gave up bf at about 4 months on the advice of hcps. This was some years ago - if it happened now, I would of course have referred her to mn.

We don't have a schedule, but I'm trying to go an hour from the end of one feed to the start of the next as I've found 8 day old DS feeds far more effectively that way and it aids my sanity! No adverse impact on supply as far as I can tell.

With a routine I found with DD that you start with a basic idea based on how your child seems to want to do things and then tweak it bit by bit to what suits you both. I wish I could remember more of how we did things with DD (nearly 7) as she's turned out pretty well lol!

Just realised that sounds very selfish - if DS is obviously rooting before an hour then I will feed him! No interest in putting him through hell for the sake of the clock!

Bf on demand for first month or so then fell into a three hourly routine which was pretty much babyled -dd rarely cried for feeding so it was much easier to feed her regularly. No problems with supply either.

I pretty much feed my (12 week old) DS to a 3 hourly schedule. It works well for me, makes me able to plan my day and means that he has his last feed at pretty much the same time (9pm) every night, which then works well for his sleeping. If he was screaming hungry then I'd feed him anyway, but if he's just a bit grouchy and it's half an hour before his feed time I'd try and wait, otherwise it throws everything else off. He seems happy enough with it and I think the structure is good for everyone.

Exactly the same as missisboot - in fact if I had waited until my dd demanded food then she would have gone 5 hours with knock-on effects on my supply. Or she would have been feeding all night with knock-on effects on me...

I think tiktok has talked about a new understanding of 'cue led' feeding - as I understand it past the newborn stage it is neither feeding by the clock nor putting the baby to the breast whenever she cries but giving the baby what they need - it may be feeding but equally it may be sleep or entertaining.