Scheduling a Baby

When I started bringing in baby food, I would feed that at a normal time for say lunch or dinner and bottle feed around that, etc. I was only able to breast feed both of my kids for 3 months due to complications but it's still the same concept when you are trying to intruduce baby foods.

Good luck!
S.

I would advise against it. Demand feeding can be tough, but I believe that it really is the best thing for baby. He is much more in tune with his body's needs than we are. I know how you feel. My daughter ate every 2 hours, day AND night, until she was 12 months old! Even when she started solid food, it didn't let up. Still, either breastmilk or solid food every 2 hours. Part of it was that she would only eat just enough to not be hungry. There wasn't a single thing I could do to get her to eat more in one sitting. At the time it seemed like it would never end.... but it did. She is 3 & 1/2 now and talks to me and tells me exactly what she wants to eat and when! LOL! Chances are, your son will not be like my daughter though. He will get himself on a schedule pretty soon and will space out his feeding times. It will not last forever. :-) Anyway, just my opinion. Good luck!

I did a schedule from week one of my lo's life. I read the baby whisperer and really liked what she had to say. She suggests doing a cycle: eat, play, then sleep. You put the baby down for sleep when they are awake so they put themselves to sleep. My daughter has done very well with night time sleep. She was ebf until 12 months and sttn just fine without any solids until close to 12 months. I offered, she just didn't want any. He just needs to learn that he doesn't need the boob to fall asleep or get back to sleep. This might not be fun trying to teach him this. He is not gonna be happy. There is a book called "The No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley that addresses your issues without having to let him cry. Good luck ; )

Hi S.!

I certainly think that if you want to put your little guy on a schedule, he will be ready, but there's really no rush. I don't think the time that you start your routine really matters as much as making sure you keep the same routine so he'll know what to expect whether he wakes up at 7:00 a.m. or 10:00 a.m.

Unless putting him a routine is essential to you, I wouldn't worry about it. I didn't schedule my son's breastfeeding times, but I did try to coordinate his cereal and baby food times with when our family would eat meals and everything turned out well. Now I have a three month old who has the same routine (or lack thereof) as his brother and he is doing wonderful!

Breastfeeding or not, parents should work to get their baby on a schedule as soon as two weeks old. Have you read On Becoming Babywise? It's a wonderful start to getting and keeping a schedule. It may not be that he's hungry, but starting rice cereal at 4 months is recommended. But it may be that by not having YOUR body on a schedule, you may not be giving yourself enough time between feedings to replenish your breastmilk. So, a schedule may help extend and regulate the times between feedings and give him more of a meal when he does eat, so he does go back to sleeping through the night. Good luck.
M.

I just wanted to mention that he may be going through a growth spurt. I have 4 kids (all breastfed) and I noticed somewhere between 5-6 months they went through a huge growth spurt. They would wake up more throughout the evening and never seemed full for long. After a couple of weeks (time varied by child) they would go back to a normal feeding time. It wasn't my schedule but it was a schedule none the less lol. If I were you I would feed on demand until he gets through this possible growth spurt and then if you want a schedule you can but it's really not necessary. I waited until my kids were about 8 months old to start a stricter schedule. That way they were sleeping through the night (6-8 hours at a stretch).

HTH
Mesha

*I* don't sleep through the night, so I don't expect it of my babe. There's a major growth spurt that occurs around 6 months and he may be gearing up for that. You know how fast that first year flies, just hang with it and you all will be fine. And he'll be a healthier boy for it.

No Cry Sleep Solution may also be a good book to read. It gives a lot of information on the whole sleep process itself and was really helped me understand more of what my baby was going through.

I breastfed all 3 of my children and since I also stayed at home, I really did not schedule them until they were a little older. I breastfed on demand. All three were different as to when they started to sleep thru the night and that did not have anything to do with a schedule. I took notice at different times such as a growth spurt, teething, learning new skills, etc that they were a little off as far as nursing and sleeping. However, after they were thru that, they were fine and slept again. If a mother works FT outside the home, I can completely understand about a schedule so Mom can get enough sleep in order to work because she does not have the option to take a quick nap in the middle of the day. I started to schedule nap time, bedtime, and meals when they were a little older. What you do for your oldest might not work for your baby and vice versa. Anyway, enjoy motherhood. Blessings to you and your family!

The AAP says that infants should not get any solids for the first 6 months, and solid food doesn't really help them sleep more. If anything it can be disruptive because it's harder on their stomachs. This is a common age for him to stop sleeping through because he's really starting to discover the world around him, and he's also growing so much. Up until a year, babies still NEED to eat at night. A five-hour stretch is plenty at 5 months.

Strict scheduling is generally inadvisable for a breastfed baby, since they control how much they eat. Scheduling also doesn't respond to his hunger cues, so your supply can suffer. There's nothing wrong with routine, but scheduling isn't a good idea when you're talking about breastfeeding. Unlike with a bottle, he's able to control how much he wants, and a schedule doesn't account for things like a growth spurt, where he'll eat more.

Having him nap, go to bed, and wake up at a given time isn't a bad idea, but at this age a flexible schedule is important. If he's a little off going down for a nap or hungry earlier, you respond to that appropriately.

Check out kellymom.com for a lot of really good breastfeeding advice, too.

Babies do like to know what to expect and when. Routine is not usually enough. It has to be schedule. You can do this now. It will make him sleep. If you do the schedule thing first, the sleep part will come with almost not upset on his part in my experience (with the four that I have who are 13, 11, 7 and 2).

I let my 13 year old tell me when he was a baby too. Until I was being awoken every hour on the hour all night long so he could "nurse" himself to sleep. He did not need to nurse, just had to know I was there with a breast in his mouth so he could sleep. It was not good for me or him. A schedule helps a baby figure out his or her world. They like to know what to expect. When they know what happens next they are much happier and they SLEEP.
good luck, hope this helps, if you need more info. you feel free to email back :)
chris