4 hour schedules..again...

[Angelihelen]

Ah the joy of not much sleep....my beloved and I are 'discussing' schedules for our dd. She is not yet at her due date, was 15 weeks early , so would have been 38 weeks gestation now. She's home. He says we need to stick to her 4 hour routine the hosp got her into. I say we feed her when she's hungry because to all intents and purposes she is A NEWBORN AND WE NEED TO TREAT HER AS SUCH and there's no point getting into the structure of this 4 hour routine which she does n't want to follow (she wants feeding more than every 4 hours) yet.

The health visitor agrees with me. He has just flounced off saying well you do what you want then, but we're letting her get out of a good habit. I don't think she's IN a habit.

Marvellous, already at odds with husband and she's only been home a week...

Any advice?

 

[bob2331]

When Harry came home he was also on 4 hourly but we decided to put him to demard feeding and it worked so much better for him, he came home a week before his due date and he was 16weeks early , i would give it a go x

 

[AP]

I think it entirely depends on you hunny, and how you do things on a day to day basis!

Every new mum is different - we kept to our 3/4 hourly shedule and there wasnt any benefits to it apart from knowing when LO needed fed, and we found it easier to drop night feeds as she got bigger in weight.

If feeding on demand works for you - go for it, just keep a track on what your LO is taking and check her weight regularly.

 

[nineena]

Ella was on 3hrly feeds when she came home but we soone found it was hard more so through the night coz we were waking a tired baby so feeds soon dropped to 7 and now she normally has 6feeds a day and sleeps at least 8hrs at night. We're still on 3hrly feeds during the day but everyones much happier about it. At the end of the day u need to go with what fls right for u all, in my experience u cant keep a baby to a strict schedule, theyre intelligent and will tell u what and when they want. For example today Ellas on a little and often day, shes wanting feeds just over every 2hrs but has got v bad reflux today so its understandable she doesnt want the large volumes

 

[Marleysgirl]

The hospital discharged us on 4hrly feeds, but Andrew seemed to prefer every 3-and-a-half hours so we switched over to that. It saved both him & us from getting stressed.

 

[Mrs Doddy]

She has had all this tine to work out what she wants, if she a good weight then let her decide, if you don't you will make life harder for yourself xx

 

[Foogirl]

We pretty much kept Abby to her 3 hour schedule and she seemed happy with that, but I will say, before she was born I hadn't intended to demand feed anyway. It is so much a personal choice and I don't think there is a right or wrong answer.

I did like her being on more of a schedule as it was certainly easier to add some routine to our day and I never felt I was constantly feeding her, or never really wondered whether or not she was hungry. These are the issues I hear about demand feeding from other parents so I have no idea if they will be the same for you! But again, that is a very personal thing and you have to do what will work for you all.

How about offering a compromise? As Marley said, if you don't think 4 hours is enough how about switching to 3 hours. You might find that satisfies your LO and because she is used to a schedule she may well stay on it. If she had been in for longer they would have moved her to 3 hours and then to demand feeding.

Have you asked him why he is so keen to stick to it, what benefits he feels there are? As this is the first "disagreement" on how to care for your LO, I'd say it's a good idea to tackle it head on in a calm manner and show you are willing to discuss and agree together. It will set a precedent for the inevitable disagreements of this nature to come. Good luck.