Not sure where to ask about this awful terrible baby advice you have published?

[ridiculouspirate]

www.mumsnet.com/babies/features/developing-a-routine

What on earth?

Mumsnet advice pages used to be reasonably balanced and evidence based. Saw this shared on Facebook and wondered wtf someone was thinking?

Make it stop before someone tries this bollocks on their new baby!

They should have at least posted a companion alternative to the routine.

I know people for whom routines have worked great from dot. So it's not invalid advice but most parents find their feet and the routine develops over time.

That sort of article would have really stressed me out this time last year, as I did my very best attempt at winging it with a newborn.

(I think most of the app looks great, BTW, and I especially like the quick reference health guide and the baby monitor is a nice touch, but these articles I'm a bit sad/sceptical about.)

What an overreaction to some simple advice - if you don't like it, don't do it and try another way. Some people like a routine or have something to aim for. I have a three week old at the moment and our routine is pretty similar to this and it's more or less working. He's sleeping his long stretch at night and gaining weight as he should. Why is everyone so outraged just because someone gives some advice they don't agree with, it doesn't mean it's wrong.

Spacing out a bf newborns feeds 3-4 hours is such appalling advice. Most women would have no chance of successful ebf if they did this.

That article about her is shocking
"Women are carers, men are providers therefore mothers should not return to work" paraphrased, but that's the gist.
Stupid woman doesn't know shit.

I think #8 (about checking your baby isn't too hot or cold) the only one I read and thought 'yeah fair point'.

Fuck trying to enforce a teeny tiny newborn baby into a routine. My friends' two children were both born at 40+5. Her DS was 9.7lb and DD was 5.4lb at birth (not twins, few years between them). Almost half the weight. How does one routine fit babies who can vary so much? Every baby is different, just like every adult is different. Imagine if we all had set mealtimes.

How much has Rachel whatsherface paid you for this mn? Whatever happened to following your instincts? Utter shite.

I am staggered that these days anyone would tell a new mother to only feed her baby every three or four hours.
Of course for some babies this is fine- for others it really is not.
Where is the nuance in that article?

-waves at ridiculous and invites her to swap cutlasses-

MN Mutiny!

I used to pick mine up after three hours if they were still asleep between the hours of 7am and 10pm and shove a nipple in their mouth. I don't think they ever stayed asleep at that point. I do think that shoving as much food into them as humanly possible during daylight hours and dissuading them from sleeping for long periods in the day is simply the logical approach.

However, one child insisted on feeding every two hours during the daytime for months and there was no way I could manage to space it out. So I'd say that "don't go longer than 3 hours between feeds in daytime but bear in mind that you may need to feed more frequently" is a pretty good rule of thumb.

wow, l don't get the fury in relation to this......if you don't want a routine then don't attempt to follow it...if you disagree then ignore and do your own thing.

Some posters here have clearly found similar routines helpful.

After glancing at the first few posts l was expecting it said to leave newborns to scream all night alone or something! Rather than a few tips on routine...talk about overreaction.

Personally l have never met a new mum incapable of reading advice and making a sensible judgement in relation to her baby and that babies needs..

I dunno, my midwife told me to feed every 4 hours with ds and he slept really well, i used to set an alarm for every 4 hours I actually thought he would die if i didn't, or if i fed him more he'd explode or something, i knew nothing about babies, but it worked for me and ill probably do the same with the next one.

Although DS didn't give a shit about being passed around like a parcel, in his babyhood we lived at my mums with 6 other people, then my boyfriends mums, then temporary accommodation with loads of people wanting to hold him all the time, the only effect it seems to have had is that he will talk to absolutely anyone.

It's bad advice because it goes against current guidelines and it is far too prescriptive.

Reading that article into the independent that op linked to though...was that supposed to be promoting this woman's new book?? I can't imagine many mums would read that and think hmmm yes she seems like someone who's opinion I can trust. The bit about how women are the carers and men the providers, how women are natural homemakers! Ha!

Although i did bottle feed so could see how much he was having, if breastfeeding i think thats different because you have no way of knowing how much they've had

Newborns (including 3 week old's Busy77) are not supposed to sleep for long periods at night.

This explains normal sleep for babies and is well regarded academically: www.isisonline.org.uk/how_babies_sleep/normal_sleep_development/

People actually like poorly written, black and white advice to be promoted.

Who would have thought it?

It's the way it's presented as 'the only' way though.

The reason I ended up with a serious MN addiction sticking with MN over the books etc with my first was that you could get loads of different suggestions then work out yourself what might fit your family.

If I'd seen this early days I would have been terrified that I was doing everything wrong and my underweight EBF baby would have been admitted to hospital!!

The lack of balance is what gets my goat.

Tbh I did pretty much all of that with my DD, off the back of my mum's advice, and she was going 12am-8am from 4 weeks and 8pm-8am from 8 weeks. Obvs it depends on the baby, what works for some won't work for others. No harm in giving it a go, esp if you're bottle feeding as it's easier to judge how much they're getting etc.

...and the fact that much of it goes against current advice and what we know about normal behaviour.

What I mean by what we know is "academically researched and peer reviewed studies and examinations of the metadata" not the ramblings of some woman hawking her latest book or service.

Ummm.. I thought this was pretty decent advice and is close to the way I dealt with both mine as babies. It does say babies should be treated as individuals and therefore you adjust accordingly.

MN Mutiny!

Really?
Quite a few comments not supporting your hysteria OP

That was a pirate joke ffs!

Unfortunate web name I was of the understanding that weight plays a big part in this. If my child was Prem, feeding badly, having trouble sleeping or settling obviously I would modify what I was doing. As it is he's feeding like a 6-8 week old, gaining weight fast and settling well so I am very happy with it. Also there are a lot of on demand feeder fans on here who have said their babies sleep for 6 hours straight in the day and they let them so what's the difference??

Think the MN mutiny was in response to my pirate comment ithink.
*
Hoist the main sail and shiver me timbers!*

Saying you should try to make a newborn wait for feeds to make them sleep longer is different than letting them sleep when they're already asleep.