demand feeding / v’s routine for NB
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Topic: demand feeding / v’s routine for NB
Posted By: tropics
Subject: demand feeding / v’s routine for NB
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 9:39am
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Hi ladies
I already asked this in the july bubs thread, I would be interested in hearing what others did with their nb did you follow a routine / advice out of a book with feeding and sleeping or did you demand feed? Jayden did start off on his own little 3-4 hourly routine now he seems to have his day / nights mixed up with sleeping and also his feeds some times he will have 50ml other times he will take over 100ml! so im thinking of trying to get some consistency going and developing some kind of routine also did you wake your bubs up to feed during the day or let bubs wake up to feed? when sleeping for long sleeps? good to hear other peoples experiences thanks ladies ------------- http://lilypie.com">    [/url]
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Replies:
Posted By: ElfsMum
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 9:44am
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I am only just getting E into a routine now.. it has worked for us though he still wakes at night for his dummy.. I never woke him up at all... ------------- Mum to two amazing boys! |
Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 9:48am
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I demand fed ... she put herself onto three hourly rotation. I never woke her (even though Plunket said too lol).
She used to cluster feed quite alot around 5pm when she was ickle (under three months) and I just used to feed her (she snacked - didnt feed as such). ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year  http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: jack_&_charli
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 9:53am
i demand feed both my kids and it worked well for us.....but i wouldn't let them go longer than 3hrs during the day without a feed. if they eat well during the day, they will be more satisfied and sleep more at night (of course, that's always good in theory! )
charli would always wake before that 3hrs was up anyway but i had to wake jack a few times because he was a really good sleeper
it seems to be fairly common for babies to get their days/nights mixed up....usually when you think you've just got it all sussed  just ride it out and he'll get it sorted ------------- http://www.alternatickers.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: ElfsMum
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 10:44am
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i have been waking E for a week now to try it and see if he would settle better and he's worse..lol.. lilfatty Plunket told me he was fine without waking...lol....they often seem to give conflicting advice depending on the nurse! when E was little he slept through the night much better..lol:) I think a lot depends on the baby as well.. ------------- Mum to two amazing boys! |
Posted By: EmDee
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 10:56am
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I demand fed both of them and they worked out their own routine (well Lily is still getting there). I never woke either of them because they both gained weight well and were sleeping through fairly early (Ollie was 8wks and Lily was 10 wks) so didn't feel the need to do it.
Yeah its funny how you get conflicting advice depending on the Plunket nurse eh? Have to admit though, I've had really good Plunket nurse's (other than the very first one, but I put that down to inexperience). ------------- DS 8 DD 6 DS 4 DD 2 |
Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 11:00am
| In the beginning I was forced to do a routine for day times. But after the first few weeks I let him just demand feed. |
Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 11:06am
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I woke mine 3-hourly during the day, gave them their last feed around 10pm and then let them sleep as long as they wanted to at night. They all seem to have had a period of cluster feeding in the evening, Maya and the gremlins was from 4pm-7pm, Chiara's seems to be 6pm till about 10pm. -------------  Maya Grace (28/02/03)
 (02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Posted By: lucky3rdtime
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 11:21am
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For the first 6 weeks I demand fed which gave me a chance to get to know how often Gabs would like to feed. From then on I routine fed her every four hours during the day and from 9weeks she has been sleeping through.
I will wake her to feed her if she is asleep, but often she will wake up about that time anyway. Alot depends on the baby too, Gabs has never feed less than 3 hourly and would often be 4-5 hours between feeds, so I tried to keep it to 4 hours so she would get enough to sleep through the night, but any closer together for her and she wouldn't drink very much. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: tishy
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 12:47pm
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Initially we did 3 hourly during the day, but would feed them after 2 if they were hungry.
Now I feed 4 hourly. They go to bed at 6:30/7 pm, get a bottle at 10pm. and sleep through to 6:30 / 7am With twins routine is essential for sanity, but it also allows me to organise my day/outings better too. ETA: I always woke the girls, wet cotton wool was common in the early days. It helped distinguish between day and night. |
Posted By: 2bmumof3
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 12:59pm
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I demand fed all my kids. It didn't go all that well with DS1 he took to going no longer than 1 1/2hrs in between and I simply couldn't strtetch them out. With DS2 it went fine but neither of my boys slept through till gone 2yo. DD is a different story, she is demand fed anywhere from 2-4hrly now but in the start if she wanted a fed after an hour to help settle her to sleep then I'd do that. DD cluster feds between 5-8.30pm although she's starting to drop that now, and she has been sleeping through the night more often than not since 9wks. Never woke any of my kids at night but they've all gained weight fine so no need to. ------------- Sara Corban (22/11/04) Connor (18/04/06) Chelsea (21/05/08) 
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Posted By: cuppatea
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 2:21pm
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Demand fed all the way, even now pretty much although is a bit more set as we have breakfast, lunch and dinner, but not necessarily at the same time each day. I found with mixing night and day the best thing to do was to make night different, so I would feed him in the quiet and the dark (well just enough light to see what I was doing), not much talking to him (but some I don't believe in ignoring them like some books say) and absolutely no playing.
He fed every 2 hours in the day so no need to wake him up but if he had gone over 3 hours I would of just to make sure he had enough food in the day to get through the night. ------------- 
 
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Posted By: FionaS
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 2:25pm
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I did a combo. I had heard a lot about making sure they don't feel too close together as they can tend to get a sore tum if they have lots of little feeds and no good sized ones. I tried to keep the feeds 2 hours apart (which was hard as Elle was a 10min napper...long story). We fed 2 to 2.5 hourly for the first 4 months or so and then it gradually extended out. She didn't move to 4 hourly until really late (can't remember when).
Before I had her I was planning to follow a babywise type routine. In my ignorance I thought it made sense and sounded easy. Some kids do thrive on those kinds of routines but mine wasn't one of them. You generally need them to do good long sleeps in between feeds in order to stretch the feeds out and that is where we can unstuck. I would say we used a routine, but it was flexi. ------------- Mummy to Gabrielle and Ashley |
Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 7:57pm
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I'm definitely a demand feeder, and work towards a routine by about 3mos or later, still flexible though for quite a while after that. ------------- |
Posted By: jaz
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 8:13pm
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Both mine had jaundice and were sleepy in the early days so I woke them every three hours for a feed and demand fed through the night. This seemed to put them into a routine of self-waking every three hours for a feed.
Caleb cluster fed from about 6pm and I woke him at 10pm for a dreamfeed. This lasted him until 4am then he was up at 7am. Brooke still woke every three hours through the night for feeds however. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: LittleBug
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 8:55pm
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In the very beginning I just demand fed. When she was doing a 5 hour stint between one set of feeds in a day, I tried to "train" her to feed during the day and do her big sleep at night, by waking her every 3 hours during the day for feeds and doing a night bath routine before bed. It seemed to work for us. She woke twice nightly for feeds for a while then once, then just wanted the dummy and now she sleeps through, unless she's sick.
ETA: Oh and at night feeds it was kept dim light and no talking, and straight back to bed. ------------- Chloe (4 years) and Oliver (3 years). |
Posted By: Candkids
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 9:37pm
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i demand fed both of mine until around 7-8mths and fortunatly they found their own routine which i then turned into their routine it works great ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  DD 10.5yrs DS 6yrs DS 11mths 5 little angles watching from above |
Posted By: arohanui
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 9:38pm
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Demand feeding but he kinda put himself in a routine. Not less than 2 hours between feeds (except in the beginning I just fed him heaps cos I was figuring it out). Bedtime was sometimes at different times, but always the same routine - shower/bath, massage, feed, tucked into bed, prayers, goodnight kisses. Oh and yeah he often cluster fed in evenings.
I found that when I woke the boy to feed him, he slept worse at night. So ended up just leaving him til he woke. I really played around and just figured out what worked for him. It still changes all the time! It's nice to kinda know what to expect, but it's only really in the last couple of months my boy has got into a true routine. ------------- Mama to DS1 (5 years), DS2 (3 years) and... http://alterna-tickers.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: MissAngel
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 10:37pm
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Thomas demand feeds. The only time I wake him up is late evening (11pm-12am) if he hasnt woken already after going down at 7pmish. Otherwise he wakes at 2am and stuff getting up then anymore. He'll go from said time above till 4am now. ------------- Alex, Thomas and Lily http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: emz
Date Posted: 05 August 2008 at 10:38pm
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We needed to put Jack into a routine from day 3 as he was jaundice and was sleeping too long (6 hours at a time, and never fed). He went into a 3-hourly routine and I've just kept it up (now 4-4 1/2 hours).
We did 3-hourly during the day and demand feeding at night as Jack had his day/night messed up. The only time it changed was during growth spurts or sickness. For me personally I find it easier as he's bottle fed so I know how many bottles etc I need to take out when we're going somewhere. |
Posted By: BuzzyBee
Date Posted: 06 August 2008 at 6:34am
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I let bub be the boss, I demand fed (sometimes still do and he's 17 months lol) we slipped into a 3 hourly routine quite fast after he managed to get the hang of b/feeding with the shields (latching problems for the first week or so). Then at about 4 weeks he started going 4 hourly (when I say 4 hourly I mean he'd sleep for about 3 hours, feed for about 30 mins and then play/lie on his play gym or bouncinette for about 15-30 mins before I put him back down to sleep). Or often he fell asleep on the breast. I never woke him up for a feed, however if I was concerned about him sleeping for longer than he should I probably would have woken him up.
I think when they're young feeding on demand is better than routine, they tend to slip into a routine of their own anyway. But then again it does come down to personal choice |
Posted By: Alianasmummy
Date Posted: 06 August 2008 at 8:13am
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I am demand feeding, but trying to get into routine at the same time by using delaying tactics.
She was sleeping through at 7 weeks so i thought it was a good time to put her in the baby hammock next to the bed (we were co-sleeping but i got too squished in the middle!) and now she wakes 3 hourly. I dont know whats better, her sleeping through and me uncomfortable or me comfy and her waking all night?? I usually give up around 3 or 4am and put her in bed anyway. 
I demand fed with the boy and he didnt sleep through till gone 15 months! ------------- http://lilypie.com">  tickers" /></a>
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