Comments on: Schedules for Breastfeeding and Formula-Fed Babies

By: Debbye

Debbye — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 22:56:12 +0000

@ Jill-
Short naps are very common. Usually as baby’s brains develop, the naps lengthen. Usually at around 6 months or so. Your little one sounds like a pretty good sleeper, so she may lengthen those naps all on her own very soon! Good luck!

@ Heather-
Thank you for sharing such great information! I too battled the hindmilk issue..
Best wishes!

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 27 May 2011 09:58:03 +0000

Nicole, you’re absolutely right, it’s not fair to blame moms at all for breastfeeding problems. I have certainly had my fair share of problems and unfortunately I got so much bad advice even through medical professionals it was hard to know what to listen to. That’s why I think it’s very important to point out that scheduled feeding in the early months can lead to a lack of supply (as happened in my case, I was feeding every 4 hours at the suggestion of my lactation consultant, as my baby was gaining weight well. This turned out to be disastrous for my milk supply.) Anyone planning to encourage scheduled feeding in a breastfed baby should be aware that it can lower your supply. I know it works for some moms but never worked for me. My baby could go just fine on a 4 hour schedule but I did not produce enough milk after 2-3 days.
If baby is getting not enough hindmilk because of moms OVERSUPPLY, it is possible to deal with this issue while continuing to nurse on demand, by switching sides every x hours.
http://www.mother-2-mother.com/blockfeeding.htm
(My LC showed me how to feel for milk remaining in the breast… the breast should feel softer with no lumps when it is fully drained.. I appreciate that some women who have larger breasts might find it difficult to tell, without practice. Personally I had to learn because i get plugged ducts if I don’t make sure the breast is drained well.)

By: Jill

Jill — Wed, 25 May 2011 17:05:01 +0000

I am glad I read this article today. My daughter is 3 months and I am breastfeeding. She still eats every 2-2/12 hours during the day, but only getting up once to eat at night if at all. I sometimes find it stressful that she won’t go longer between feedings since I am a stay at home mom with a 2 year old to care for as well. And on top of that her naps usually only last 30 minutes or less. She’s so overtired by time 6:30pm hits, she nurses for a very short period of time and falls fast asleep. She’ll then usually wake up an hour or less later to eat more, but then sleeps until 4 or 5 am to eat again and then back down. I guess it was nice to hear that her “schedule” is normal. Any suggestions to why she might be taking such short naps? I do rock/walk with her until she is almost asleep, but not completely asleep before putting her down.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Wed, 25 May 2011 14:55:33 +0000

In reply to Carol.

@Carol I know the feeling of having a baby who doesn’t want to miss the party! 🙂 Some babies do not lengthen their naps until they are routinely taking just two naps per day, evenly spaced in the day. Hang in there! Thank you for sharing your breastfeeding story! It goes to show all babies are different and I’m glad the Lactation Consultant was able to help!

@Natalie That’s great you’ve developed a solid routine with your baby and can enjoy the days as they come. Thank you so much for sharing!

@Laurie That’s great you’ve found what works for your daughter! At 11 months, I’d expect her naps to be approximately 3 1/2 to 4 hours apart, if that helps. I know it’s tricky! I agree about the healthy relationship with food. The good thing is that it’s learned behavior to overeat. My sons can be in the middle of a cookie and say “I’m full.” and put it down. It shocks me every time! I don’t know if I could. 😉 Thanks for commenting!

@Heidi I’m glad things are going well with your son! I’m sure allergies must present more challenges than the average family, but it sounds like you are doing great! 🙂 Thanks for commenting.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Tue, 24 May 2011 23:33:13 +0000

My nine month old son has always been predictable in the sense of having the same stretches of time between naps and eating. The hour changed more when he was younger, but recently it’s become more consistent. He still breastfeeds every 2-3 hours and is very hungry for it when it’s time. At night he goes much longer stretches. His digestive system is very sensitive though and he has several food allergies. Since he was born it has been his digestion that has interfered with sleep more than anything else, even though he and I both avoid all allergens that we have discovered. I have had to learn to let go of my image of total order regarding our lives together and learn to accept that every day is a bit different. I think it has actually been good for me to have to let go of needing to always be in control of how things go.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Tue, 24 May 2011 20:10:43 +0000

My almost 11 month old daughter has done well with going to sleep and waking for the day at nearly the same time each night, and has a routine schedule for her non breastmilk meals to the point that she also has her BM at around the same time each day. However, we have yet to find the perfect daytime routine/schedule which yields consistent napping and cures us of night waking. We tried less frequent feedings and found these to cause her to wake every 2-3 hours at night. When she was about 8 mos, we moved back to breastmilk every 2-3 hours and it has yielded the best sleep so far. During the week, she is bottle fed her breastmilk though so in my mind it eliminates the fore/hindmilk issue as I drain boobie on the pump and she gets it all mixed together in the warming process.

For us, offerring her the bottle every 2 hours seems to trigger her to know “ok, this is my awake and later I will sleep.” sometimes on the weekends I go up to 3 between breastfeedings if we are out and about and she is generally ok with this.

My greatest concern though has always been her eating HABITS. I want her to develop healthy eating habits as she grows and begins to make her own choices. Having a healthy snack, breastmilk, is my way of starting her positive food relationship early.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:39:16 +0000

My baby was one of those inconsistent babies – still is, in fact. But the thing is, I didn’t realize that a “routine” didn’t have to be by the clock. It took me many months to realize that a routine/schedule could just be doing the same things in the same order and being awake for a certain period between naps. In that way she actually was pretty consistent during the day… she always wanted to nurse immediately upon waking, and she played for a certain amount of time, then she wanted to nurse and go to sleep for a while. How long she slept varied a lot.

It wasn’t until she went to 3 naps a day at 6-7 months old that she was far more predictable about naps in terms of what time. And still, waking up wasn’t by the clock so things would shift by an hour or more each day. Even now, at 2 naps a day and 1 year old. Our day always depends on a lot of factors.

On one hand that could drive me crazy. On the other hand that has made for a very versatile, adaptable baby! I have the ability to shift things around to suit our day. And for the most part she’s always been a very happy, energetic, outgoing child, as long as she gets naps in there somewhere. Having a child has definitely taught me to go with the flow!

By: Carol

Carol — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:10:42 +0000

Hi Nicole,
I enjoy reading your newsletters, I have an 8 month old that has been difficult to get on a schedule, even now…Thankfully he is finally sleeping good at night (from 7 to 11 hours straight in a period of 11 hours) but since then he is been very inconsistent with his naps. He is very active and he does not want to miss out on anything during the day…Now we are trying to do two naps one in the morning and one in the afternoon but they sometimes are short naps (30 to 45 minutes) but sometimes he does only one.
Anyways I wanted to comment on the breastfeeding issue, I was breastfeeding him on demand and from one breast in one feed and then changing to the other breast to “empty my breasts” and provide my baby with the hind milk and he was not gaining enough wait, the lactation consultant told me to feed him for 10 to 15 minutes from each breast and not to last more than 20 minutes in each but feed him from both breasts. Doing this he started to gain weight properly and not as I was doing at the beginning!

By: Nicole

Nicole — Tue, 24 May 2011 16:43:21 +0000

In reply to Katie.

@Katie I think both my boys were 3-4 months old before we could even think about going past two hours! 🙂 I’m glad we are not alone and thank you for sharing!

@Naomi Wow! I have heard of very predictable babies down to the pooping schedule. I just can’t even imagine what that looks like. A Type-A personality’s dream. 😀

@Heather Hmmm… I don’t think I would have known when my breast was empty or not. They were sometimes when I was overly full, but, overall, once we were past the newborn stage, they stayed the same until I went way too long without breastfeeding. If he only ate on one side, I’d always start on the other at the next feeding. And, if he ate on both sides, I’d start the opposite side at the next feeding. I was pumping a lot, though, so it was a bit different in that both were drained during pumping sessions. I don’t know that all Breastfeeding moms would know whether their breast was emptied. Of course, you can always offer the same side, first. I always hesitate to blame the moms, though, because the moms I talked to were already working on it with their doctor and/or LC. They could have done everything “right” and it doesn’t mean it worked out the way they expected it to, just like many things with parenting.

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 24 May 2011 16:28:45 +0000

Moms whose babies were not getting enough hindmilk by feeding every 2 hours, were probably following not breastfeeding properly.
One side should be fully drained before starting on the next. Even if that takes 2-3 feeds to accomplish. And a baby who feeds that frequently will probably only need to be fed off of both sides later in the day, as supply drops, if at all.