Did your ebf babies have a feeding routine?

[Lizbiz89]

I'm ebfing my 11 week old and I feel like we have absolutely no feeding routine still. Is this normal? With my first 2 babies I combined fed and ff so I felt like when I got to 3 months we were roughly keeping to a feeding schedule. I have no idea if this is normal for breastfed babies?

No I fed on demand. I think that’s the point with breastfeeding particularly when they’re still so young? I’m no expert though (just bf my two babies until just under a year each, roughly). Someone will come along soon with better advice for you I’m sure!

Breastfed my first for over two years - was very much on demand. Have a two month old and also on demand.

Its hard to tell how much milk they actually take in when breastfeeding, so you can’t really keep track, hence why you feed on demand than follow a schedule. Might be other reasons but that’s what I understand.

Very much on demand, no schedule here and baby is 10 months old! We feed when he wants to feed :) completely normal as far as I’ve been told

Schedule from about 9 or ten months but any younger than that on demand

Mine naturally got into a schedule after a few months, just like an ff baby would and we had 'normal' feeding times every day, it just developed..
I fed on demand but it was on schedule if that makes sense..

No routine for the first few months. Just boob out round the clock 😆

We did have one for ds but he took a long time to come up to birth weight, then due to tongue tie he had a big loss and dropped a few centiles around 3-4 months so I ended up feeding him every 30-60 mins during the day until we got it released.

If your baby is feeding and gaining well and is having plenty of wet and dirty nappies then I'd just follow their lead. Often they'll feed for comfort, to fend off a cold or to build supply ahead of a leap. So just trust your baby in that respect. I never got the swing of feeding in a wrap but I imagine it would have made things handier if you're feeling very tied to it! Ds is 13 months now and I just fed on demand until he started nursery at 11mths at which point we dropped to morning, after nursery and before bed.

I also don't understand how it doesn't naturally turn into a schedule.. Feeding every few hours like with formula, I must just do it different!

No schedule with BF. It's part of the joy of BF in my view- can BF when they are feeling tired, ill, etc as much as they desire!

I've EBF 3DC. I tried to keep DD1 on some kind of a schedule but it was hard and she was took forever to feed, it caused me more stress than feeding on demand would have. DD2 was a super efficient feeder and I was more relaxed about feeding her on demand but she naturally fell into her own routine. By DS with 2 older DC (one at school) I fed him as and when, so e.g. if we were going out I'd give him a quick feed 30 mins before so he was expected to fit round the other two.

EBF is such a useful parenting tool, it's like a baby reset button. During the day feed on demand, at night feed on demand but keep lights off, don't talk and work on feeding lying down, you'll probably end up doing a bit of cosleeping but it'll mean you sleep much better. It gets easier.

Thanks for the replies. Glad no routine is normal. I'm more than happy to follow his lead, I just wondered whether it was something he'd naturally fall into like my other two. I mean the only two consistencies of his feeds is his feed before we eat 🤣 and at 10pm when I feed him before sleep. Happy it's complete normal.

I breastfed two babies and had a very good schedule from quite early on. I took the view that you give a good deep feed on a regular basis - getting right to the hind milk and meet the 'demand' before it arises. None of this constantly on and off the breast. It was - gasp - essentially a version of Gina Ford and they were indeed mostly contented little babies who fed well and slept well and within a few weeks were only waking once between let's say 11 and 7 (and that might be as late as 5 a.m). Once they went on solids, even that wake up stopped. I have said it so many times on here, it really doesn't have to be this hell of having a baby constantly latched on to you, I would never have continued breastfeeding if it had been. There are exceptions, there always will be, but most babies can absolutely be guided gently into a kind of gentle routine, which will work out most of the time.

Yes but it was more a mutual thing - I encouraged but did not impose a routine. But it was feed first thing, and then at about three hourly intervals. Longer as they aged. At night it was at bedtime (7.30), just as I went to bed (11ish), then they'd wake up around 3, then around 7ish up for the day (my son rarely made it to 6am, he's 20 now and still up at 6)!
Caveat- my DD had reflux so first three months were tricky as BF seemed too soothe her but she often spat it up after. But at three month mark it settled down very quickly.

I fed on demand. Remember that if you are exclusively breast feeding, baby might be hungry, thirsty or wanting comfort.
The efficiency of feeding will vary and as baby grows they need to stimulate your supply.

Schedules are fine if you are bottle feeding and know how much milk has been taken.

Breast feeding is different, you have to let baby take the lead.

You really don't HAVE to let baby take the lead. Surely to be in a good routine where you make sure both breasts are being used and emptied, where you are getting to the hind milk etc. gives far more assurance that the baby is in fact not hungry or thirsty. They may want comfort or be ill but that's a different thing and sticking a breast in their mouth is not necessarily the right way to deal with that. I fed on a good routine and never had a problem with supply at any stage.

Just to be clear though, while I say no routine, we are definitely not constantly feeding now. For some months baby takes 5-6 minutes to feed at the most, unless it’s a feed into a nap which may be 10 minutes. When he’s done he’s done, I couldn’t get him to keep going, he has far too much fomo! There’s a loose routine in the sense that I feed him on waking and to sleep, but some days he’s more hungry than others and so may feed more regularly than others. Like other Pp's have said, it can be comfort, teething etc too

@Cdoc oh no my baby only feeds every 3 hours now but it's more the fact the time of day can vary and also night feeds can change often as well. Before Xmas he was waking for one feed between 11-7 and now he's waking every couple of hours at night. In the day however he rarely feeds before 3 hours each time.

I think that’s completely normal too @Lizbiz89 ! It sounds like you’re doing everything great :)
I find the night wakings very very unpredictable! Sometimes 2, sometimes 4. There are some great lactation consultants on Instagram that I’ve found it helpful to follow. It seems that sometimes babies can almost make up for fewer day feeds by drinking more at night (reverse cycling).
Lucy Webber is a great Instagram account to follow

Thanks @Cdoc I will definitely check those accounts out! Tbh I didn't think I'd get this far breastfeeding as I never did with my other dc. I'm definitely in uncharted waters now 🤣