Is everyone's baby in a routine?

[rainmonkey]

I don't mean structured routine but i've been looking at other pages and most people seem to know how many breast feeds their baby has and at what times.

I have no idea.

My LO has anywhere between 5-9 feeds a day. She wakes up at all different time in a morning from 6-10. She goes to bed when she shows signs of tiredness usually between 7-9. Mostly she'll sleep all the way through the night others she'll wake 2/3 times. She feeds first as she wakes up and before bed and then any other time during the day she wants. She'll usually go every 3 - 3 and half hours but sometimes she'll want more after only an hour or two. It usually takes around 15 minutes to feed her but sometimes she'll feed for 40 minutes. I don't think she goes at the same times each day either. Also it doesn't matter or many times she's been up in the night to how many feeds she has.

I've not got a problem with this. She's gaining weight well and is content and satisfied but is it "normal"? Should i aim to have her in some kind of routine or just let her carry on as she wants?

Thanks for any replies.

 

[tinytabby]

I don't really know how many feeds my lo has, she's still fed on demand.

She mostly goes to sleep at night at around the same time, that's as much of a routine as she has now.

We are beginning to put her onto solids now so I expect her to fall into a routine naturally.

I found going with the flow so much easier than trying to get her into a routine.

 

[rainmonkey]

Yeah me too i believe that she has a better understanding of her needs than i ever will so i just let her do what she wants. I just didn't know whether it would be better for her to know what's coming or easier to regulate her feeding making sure she gets enough. Although i'm sure she does. We'll just carry on doing what we're doing then. It's working very well for us so why change

Thanks for replying.

 

[Sprat]

The only routine i have instigated is the bath, feed, bed. Bath at 6, feed anywhere between 6.30-7 and bed between 7-7.30. He doesn't always go to sleep then and when we first started it he rarely went to sleep then so of would just try again later but it has got more common for him to go to bed for the night then. The rest of the day is random.

 

[polaris]

I think they do tend to fall into more of a routine later on, especially after solids are well-established as there are regular mealtimes.

With DS, I used to keep track more of how often he was feeding but he wasn't in any sort of a routine with feeds until six months. With DD I don't have time or motivation to keep track of feeds. I'm sure she will fall into a routine in her own time too.

 

[Casey3]

We still don't have a feeding routine and he's almost 14 months lol. There is a general pattern to the day but he's never been fed on a schedule. Some days he goes a couple hours without asking for milk and other days like today he asked every 10 minutes it seemed (possibly because I was sick yesterday and he spent a lot of time with daddy and I was pretty dehydrated so he was making up for it today- they always have a reason for things so I trust he knows what he needs!). I just feed on demand and never deny it, it always worked well for us

 

[bananaz]

lol I have no idea how often my baby eats, so we are definitely not in a feeding routine! Maybe one of these days I'll count and find out. I feed on demand and generally she demands every 2-4 hours, or more often during growth spurts.

 

[staralfur]

No routine here at 10 months, we still feed on demand, and it works for us!

 

[armywife11]

We had a routine but she set it herself. I nurse on demand so there are always differences each day but I know she will nurse before naps (up until this past week when she started changing up her schedule she would take four naps), right before bed, once at night, and first thing in the morning.

She goes to bed at the same time every night so I always have a rough guess when she will want to nurse but I always follow her cue.

 

[Tacey]

No discernible pattern at all here!

 

[Dragonfly]

Didnt do that with mine, never counted feeds of noted times. Fed when hungry, slept and worked in to own routine, Baby led. The other way would have been stressful and to be going against what my babies would have needed and when.

 

[stephie_corin]

I am trying to get a routine in advance of going to work as I want to continue breastfeeding. It's tough though!

 

[Tess.ie]

The only routine we have is bedtime between 6-7pm and get up round 7am, other than that Chloe sets her own schedule, especially for feeding! Id like to get into a routine of feeding more during the day and sleeping more at night but she has other ideas

 

[Clucky as]

The only routine I have is to wake at 8am every day. Sometimes he wakes earlier but if he is still asleep I will get him up. That way the day sets off right. say if we have an appoint I will time it so we get up at a certain time so his feeds time right so he isn't due right on appoint time. So wake between 7 and 8. I do try and do bedtime routine between 7:30 and 8 pm so he is asleep by 9-9:30. Bit late I know but any earlier he doesn't sleep well. and he feeds roughly every three hours during the day and once thru the night. if he wants feeding I'm not gonna make him wait. I keep thinking maybe he should be on the 4 hour feed, but if he needs it I'm gonna give it to him.

 

[aliss]

I have no idea how often mine does or how often we wake at night (a lot...). We have the same 7pm bedtime routine (which works for our toddler too).

I think people spend way too much time looking at the clock and numbers. How many girls freak out over ounces or "it's 6:17pm should I feed him???" ... good grief. Talk about driving yourself mad for no reason!

 

[toby1331]

We have a routine but it's only because I'm back at work and LO has set one! Wake up is between 6-7 (7 is if I'm lucky on the weekends!). She eats about every two hours. I only paid attention to this because I needed to know how many bottles to leave when I'm at work. Bedtime is about 7. She has set this time. She normally STTN. She has only really started to get a nap schedule in the last week or so. We have tried to pay attention to her cues and build a routine around it.

 

[Bevziibubble]

I have no routine at all. I'm very baby-led and feed on demand. LO naps on me when she is tired, nothing done at set times.

If it's working for you and baby then carry on. Feeding on demand is great

 

[rainmonkey]

Thanks for all your replies ladies. So glad i'm not the only one. It is much easier to do things their way isn't it! Why people battle to feed their babies to a set pattern or to sleep when they're clearly not tired is beyond me. Babies aren't stupid, they know what they need. I like that she's in control it'll teach her independence later on

 

[BigAl]

I always wondered about this, when people say oh they have x number of feeds. I honestly don't have a clue, it's just something that never crosses my mind to think about. It drives me mad when HV asks how much he feeds, and then huffs when I say no idea.

 

[PitaKat]

We're not in a routine either. My LO is still fed on demand.