Feeding on demand & bedtime routine.

[Bunnychan]

How do they work together? LO is 14 weeks & I've followed her lead for feeding & napping. Her bedtime varies each day from 8-9.30. How do you establish a routine when you don't know when the feeds are going to be?

[JoinYourPlayfellows]

Isn't there any pattern to her feeds yet?

Not that there should be, necessarily, but there always was with mine by that time.

I have found a bath tends to make a baby tired and hungry, so would do bath, then feed to sleep in the evening.

[poppingin1]

My DD is 2 and still has no set feeding pattern.

You may have to take the lead if she has no set pattern herself but there is no need to be rigid and rush it, unless you have to get her into a routine for some reason.

I tried many times with my DD but it never really stuck so we take each day as it comes. Now she is starting nursery I think that will change though.

[gretagrape]

Mine was in a routine give or take an hour each way at around the 14 week mark. I didn't really 'impose' anything, just sort of 'nudged' things around so they eventually ended up roughly where I wanted them.

The most helpful thing I found was to break the habit of 'snacking' where I was constantly feeding him thinking he might be a bit peckish - actually he was happy to go for anything from 3 to 4 hours between feeds by around 10 weeks.

Once he was taking bigger feeds instead of snacks I was able to get into more of a routine because he'd be full for longer - it was never exact but it meant that whatever time he woke for his first feed, I'd be able to work out roughly when each feed might be during the day so I could plan my day a bit better (obviously it would go out the window if he puked up!). It also left decent time between feeds for napping (if he ever felt like it!).

By 14 weeks he was waking up at almost exactly the same time each morning so the routine became more reliable because his sleep pattern became more reliable.

[gretagrape]

Oh and I'd agree with a set routine as well - for us it was a bath then doing the bedtime feed in the darkened bedroom whereas all other feeds would be in other rooms/places in normal daylight.