demand feeding vs scheduled feeding

[hoochymama]

I am demand bf my 15 wk old dd, which means quite often, it's usually every 2 hrs during the day.

But people keep telling me that I should stretch it out to every 3 hrs and go on about hind milk etc.

That would involve a lot of crying and I'm not really up for it. Can anyone tell me about the benefits of stretching her out to every 3hrs? or should I just stay with demand feeding (her weight is ok and generally she's happy and well)
Thanks!

there is no benefit to making a hungry/thirsty baby wait an extra hour for their feed because a grown up thinks they 'ought' to

hind milk does not appear due to how long between feeds you leave it.

if your baby is happy and settled, weeing, pooing, gaining weight and you are happy, then don';t do it different,

i would find it hard to go three hours between drinks

demand feeding also ensures your supply and demand meet, and there will be frequent growth spurts whihc will mean more frequent feeding

she is 15 weeks old, still a new baby !! with a small tummy that needs filling frequently.

The whole hindmilk/foremilk thing is not worth worrying about. It's a technical point which AFAIK holds no real relevance when you're feeding a baby.

The benefits of stretching out the time between feeds? A hungry, grumpy baby, a compromised milk supply, possibly an extra wee while not feeding each day. My suggestion? Demand feed

hoochy - do what's right for you and follow your instinct which is for demand feeding. It worked for me and my dd gained weight perfectly. I think some of it has to do with the mother's character - I am quite a laid back person so structure in that way doesn't really appeal whereas I've watched friends follow schedules for feeding and sleeping for their very young babies. That would totally go against my instinct.

Congratulations - sounds like you have a lovely happy little girl! Agree completely with other posters - if your dd seems happy on a two hourly pattern go with it (as long as you're happy). Your instincts sound dead right to me...

My DS fed two hourly during the day til he was prob about 22 weeks. But the little angel then slept in decent chunks at night. And he has a reputation for being the happiest little chap out of all his pals (IMHO mostly cos the longest he's had to wait for a feed is however long it takes to hitch up a top and unclip a bra).

It sounds like you know the answer hoochymama. If you are happy, your baby is happy then everyone else should get their noses out.

I switched to ff when dd was about 6 weeks (reluctantly) and she was also fed on demand, pretty much every 2 hours until she was 17 or 18 weeks. I was also told to put her on a schedule but decided to ignore and I had a very happy baby. I have nothing against routines - another friend is bf her baby to a schedule and it works for them. I wouldn't dream of telling her she was wrong. I would carry on dong what you are doing

Lol, I'm going to be the first person here to say they used a schedule. I found that if I fed on demand he just fed more and more often, and took smaller and smaller feeds each time. By sticking to a three hour schedule he had bigger, better feeds, and though he had a grumpy weekend when we first got stricter, he then settled into it, was happier and slept much better!

But that's just what worked for me - I absolutely agree with other posters that you should do what works for you, and it sounds like you and your baby are happiest with demand feeds.

DS fed about 1.5 - 2 hourly until about a week or so ago, but with a decent sleep at night. He's suddenly starting going about 3hrs between feeds and it feels like not often enough to me! And to my boobs! He's 26 weeks today and fed on demand.
IMO I can't see any benefit in trying to stretch out the feeds, but I did notice he would happily go longer if he was distracted eg when we were out - I would try to feed him and he would turn away because he'd rather have a good nosey at what's going on