BF routine - help

[SpikeMomma]

Have a week old newborn (9.4lbs). So far breastfeeding gone well. Problem we're having is getting into a routine.

Tried 3 hourly feeds through day - which baby seemed happy with. Prob is night time.

Try put him down around 7-8pm, very unsettled and taking up to 3 hours to go to sleep, after eventually takes both breasts.

He then sleeps from 12pm-6pm - but such a battle to get him to sleep, we're not sure this is right for him as we think he's over tired. Currently he's only getting one main sleep in the afternoon for few hours. Which we think he needs more of in the morning.

Midwife did say we should wake him to feed him as he was going too long without a feed. When we do, he takes a good 50-60 mins on each breast - and then the late feed sleeping is a battle to settle him. So we're a bit stumped really.

Wake him to feed him, or leave him to sleep and demand feed...? If we could just sort out the 7-8pm slot we'd feel like we'd be getting a good 3 hourly cycle. I'm also worried leaving it 6 hours during the night might start to affect my supply.

Any advise from your experience?

I'm a lot more cooler about the whole thing now. Had varying advice from people which confused me and made me concerned i wasn't doing things right.

Now i'm just sticking to how my boy and i work naturally together. And much better. Just take each day as it comes. Did have post pregnancy anxiousness which made me less confident, but that's going now thank goodness.

Motherhood - it's a ride alright!

That's great! As tiktok says, you've spent 9months reading baby books and listening to 'advice' - he''s been snoozing whenever he feels like it! Most newborns don't do bedtimes.

Ack - conflicting advice and being made to feel you're not doing it right......the fate of new mothers

Glad you're feeling ok now, SM

Blimey. I have a five month old ds who is still exclusively breastfed and we still don't have a routine.

He used to feed every 3 hours when he was very young...but now it's every 2 or 1 and a half hours. He tends to have a 2 hour sleep during the day so he sometimes goes for 3-4 hours during the day. Night time he tends to go for anything between 4 to 8 hours.

Routine ? Pah !! Feed your baby when he/she wants it...that's what I say.

I remember the days and nights when DS (now 13 months and still happily breastfeeding) would be at my breast every hour ! The nights were difficult because just as I was about to fall asleep he would be up again and the only way I could get him to sleep again was by offering the breast - sometimes it would just be a a few suckles and he would fall asleep.

The most important thing I have learnt about BF is that babies "comfort" feed - i.e they don't just want the breast when they are hungry. Routines therefore DO NOT WORK.

I had zero support from my female GP who suggested I could "get away" with giving him a bottle at night when he was only a week old - advice I thoroughly rejected as I knew that not breastfeeding a newborn for longer than 6 hours at night could lead to very poor milk supply) in the early weeks.

My DS found his own 3 hourly routine by around 3 months old - without any help from Gina Ford, et al !

Be comforted by the fact that you are doing the best for your baby and your own health by feeding him on cue - keep reminding yourself and you will soon realise that routines are unnecessary.

Wow, what a great thread, with excellent advice from everyone!

My DS was BF every two hours day and night for the first 6 weeks! Just shows how different each one is. Not sure that we ever fed in a "routine".

SM you sound like you are enjoying your baby much more now. That's great.

i am curious about this subjct i breastfeed both children, ds is about to be weaned at nearly one and no formula intake.

both were in a routine by about 16 wks. maybe be a bit later for my 1st.
and it was very easy to adjust to the routine, they were content, feed and happy, gaining lots of weight, (9lb3 and 11lb2 birth weights) night feeds stopped at about 8mths, because i stopped them.

i had the demand feeding, the cluster feeding in the initial months but it all settled into a "routine", that allowed me leave them with dad or for us both to get out for a wee bit of respite. do not get me wrong i loved those feeding times just me and them at night all cosy.

imo its so not so bad to have a routine with a breast feed baby. my ds settled for bed at 7/8 every night. and i dont think that was luck or fluck, he did of course have nights wailing til 9/10 but it was a period and passed.

some mums dont mind feeding often even at 912/16mths, but for me i didnt want that but still wanted my babes to be breastfeed.

2nd time it was far easier to adjust to a routine, 1st time it is a daunting experience and conflicting advice dosent help, i was pretty much left to my own devices and mumsnet.