feeding schedule?

[Anonymous]

I am a very schedule oriented person, perhaps to my own detriment, but I can’t help my type A personality, and it has helped keep my son’s meds, feedings, naps, etc. all in order. Anyway, just a few weeks ago, he dropped his middle of the night feeding (hallelujah), but now he seems like he is ready to move from a roughly 3 hour schedule to a 4 hour one. This would mean he would only be eating 5 times a day. 4 during the regular day, and then I wake him up at around 10:30 or 11 to feed him again before we go to bed. This seems like it’s just not enough for him. But he seems fine.. nice and chubby. My daughter did this too at this age, and she got pretty skinny… we didn’t realize she had reflux though, so I think that was the problem, but I’m paranoid that Ben will start losing weight too. Any thoughts on number of feedings at this age???

[Anonymous]

I think my first two ate every three hours until they were on a good amount of solids… probably 6 or 7 months. Bryce is a different story. After this past year with Bryce, my memory of “average” baby things is a bit foggy though.
Bryce’sMom2006-11-29 11:23:52

[Anonymous]

I’m a type A, too and I obsessed over the very thing you are talking about. With my first I remember telling her doctor I was worried because she only wanted to eat every four hours and she was sleeping all night already (12 hours!). She was only 2 months old and I was sure she’d starve. My doctor told me to let her decide when she wanted to eat and that she’d likely start drinking more with each feeding if I stopped trying to get her to eat a certain number of feedings per day. I was skeptikal (and too neurotic to trust her or the baby) so I continued to try to get Liza to eat every three hours for a while longer Eventually I got tired of it and I decided it to let Liza be in charge of when she ate and how much and lo and behold the doc was right! She began eating less frequently but she actually increased her volume overall because she ate more at each feeding.

So, anyway…Liza was in bed for the night at 8pm at 2 months of age and she slept until 8am, and she still managed to get all the calories she needed during the day. My other two were not big eaters either and I was surprised by how few feedings they needed to grow and gain weight. They were serious refluxers and Myles puked constantly so it’s hard to compare them to my first, but they also did not eat every three hours except for maybe the first six weeks or so.

Try to let him tell you when he wants to eat and see if he eats as much in fewer feedings. You may be surprised and relieved!

[Anonymous]

Yes, I was going to mention that too – I always just let my babies take charge and let them eat when they were hungry for the amount of time they wanted. They both seemed like they needed to eat every 3 hours for quite awhile though. Different with different babies.

[Anonymous]

i agree with everything everyone has said. I wanted my daughter to be on a schedule so much that we would wake her up at night so that she could eat if it was time…now I wish I had never done that….when I started letting Brianna just go, she made her own schedule.

[Anonymous]

Thanks!!!! I do think he is ready to move from the 3 hours.. yesterday and today he did, and seemed totally satisfied (actually, he slept better during the day too!). I worry that he will get enough because he eats so quickly.. but he’s a pretty efficient nurser and my milk lets down pretty fast. He certainly will refuse the breast when he’s done.. I just worry that he will do that because of the reflux! It’s hard to tell how much he is getting because he won’t take a bottle, so I can’t really measure except for time nursing. Sometimes he will only do that for 5-7 minutes!! Ah well… it’s too bad they don’t come with an instruction booklet, right???

[Anonymous]

I would just make sure he is having plenty of wet diapers..and I wouldn’t worry about the time….my daughter nurses for less than 5 mins sometimes, and she is almost 21 lbs now! 🙂

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